Damn straight, cherry pie!

2 posts in one morning, I'm on a roll......

I got the urge to bake – big shocker right?

I get bored of muesli for brekkie and wanted something more interesting but I thought I’d better be good and come up with something low fat so I don’t stray from my diet. Plus I got some cherries on special at Morrisons, so I came up with some low fat cherry & almond muffins. Now I’m pretty sure that there is a recipe for Cherry & almond muffins or something in VWAV – but don’t quote me, as i’ve not made them. But here is my low fat version anyway (by low fat I mean lots of fruit, no oil, no sugar and only 3 WW points and they’re a decent size too!!):

Dry Ingredients:
230 g flour (2 cups)
4 tbsp (¼ cup), slivered (or battered with a rolling pin - not ground into powder though!)
1 teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
1 tsp salt
200g Cherries, stoned

Wet Ingredients:
100g (⅓ cup) fruit puree (I used 1 tub Clearspring pear puree, which you can get in the supermarket!)
185 ml (¾ cup) Alpro Light, unsweetened Soya Milk
1 tsp Almond extract
4 tbsp (¼ cup) Agave Nectar
4 tbsp (¼ cup) Maple Syrup

Method:
Mix together the dry ingredients. Stone the cherries and chop them into quarters (you can chop them smaller but I like them chunky). Mix them into the flour mixture (this helps stop them all sinking to the bottom of the muffins).

Combine the wet ingredients and mix well. Make a well in the dry ingredients and pour the wet into the well. Mix until just combined, a few lumps are ok just don’t overmix.

Pour into muffin tins, lined with paper cases and bake at 180°C/350°F until a knife comes out clean and they are lightly browned (it took about 25 minutes in my oven).

I got 9 out of this mixture because I like them tall, but you could make them stretch to 12 if you only half fill them.

Money shot:

Cooking to: The Offspring - Greatest Hits