Banana Muffins with Sweet Cherries

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Moist, tender and addictive. These Banana Muffins with Sweet Cherries are the bomb! If you’re looking for an easy banana bread recipe (but in muffin form) you’ve arrived, my friend.  Search no further.

This recipe also shares two secret fool-proof techniques for making moist and tender muffins every single time.  Hurrah!!

Banana Muffins with Sweet Cherries Recipe

Howdy! Chef Alli Here. Let’s Get You Cookin’….Shall We?? 🙂

These have got to be my all-time favorite muffins, probably just because they remind me of when my Grandma Lucille used to make me a banana layer cake for my birthday – talk about yummy, especially since it was covered in cream cheese frosting.

So far, nobody can eat just one of these muffins once they get started.  (Talk about the ultimate compliment.)

If you’re a muffin fan like I am, check out my Chocolate Chocolate-Chip Muffins. This recipe is one of the most popular treats on my entire blog!

Along those same lines, also give the Chocolate Peanut Butter Muffins, too.  Or, maybe you’re like my sons and husband and find moist and tender Cinnamon Rolls to be bomb? Go for it.

What to Love About Easy Banana Muffins with Cherries and Pecans – 

1. They are moist, moist, moist!!
2. Talk about a great way to use up those over-ripened bananas that don’t get eaten.
3. This recipe can be doubled to bake a batch now and a batch for later.
4. These muffins freeze great to eat later.

What ingredients do you need to make Banana Cherry Muffins?

• Granulated sugar
• Butter
• Eggs
• Mashed super-ripe banana flesh
• Vanilla extract
• All-purpose flour
• Baking soda and kosher salt
• Pecans
• Maraschino cherries

How to Make Banana Muffins with Cherries in 5 Easy Steps 

1.  In a large mixing bowl, make the muffin batter. Using an electric mixer, cream the sugar with butter until light and fluffy; add the eggs and beat well once more.  Add the mashed bananas and vanilla, beating once more to make sure the batter is well combine.
2. Meanwhile, combine the flour, baking soda, salt, pecans and cherries in a small bowl. Using a silicone spoonula or large mixing spoon, GENTLY FOLD the flour mixture into the batter, just until the ingredients are barely combined. Don’t over mix! 
3. Divide the batter between 12 well-greased muffin tin cups.  Bake the muffins, uncovered, on the center oven rack of a preheated 350 degree F. oven for approx. 20 minutes or until the muffins are golden brown and spring back to the touch on top.  Don’t over bake!
4. Remove the muffins from the oven, placing the muffin tin onto a cooling rack. Immediately cover the muffin tin with foil, letting the muffins cool completely.
5. Once the muffins are cooled, remove them from the muffin tin to an air tight container.

Two Secret Techniques for Making Moist and Tender Muffins Every Time:  

1.  Once you add the dry ingredients to the moist ingredients, do not over mix.  Gently FOLD the dry ingredients into the moist ingredients, just until they are barely combined.  Over working the batter by doing lots of stirring at this point makes for some tough and chewy muffins.  Don’t do it!!
2. Secondly, be sure you cover the hot muffins with aluminum foil immediately after you’ve removed them from the oven.  The foil covering helps create condensation from residual heat that is contained and gently works its way into your muffins making them super moist.

Common Questions Asked About
This Recipe

What tools are helpful for making muffins? 

• I like to use a cookie dough scoop for portioning out my batter and filling the muffin tin cups – it makes the job lots easier.
• For many kitchen tasks, such as stirring muffin and cake batters or sautéing vegetables, I really love using silicone spoonulas (aka silicone spatula spoons). Because their blade is curved, spoonulas fit the shape of bowls and skillets really well, making kitchen tasks much more enjoyable.
• If you find you enjoy using silicone spoonulas as much as I do, you’ll want to have them in various sizes.  I also find narrow spatulas  to be super handy for removing ingredients from jar and small containers.
• A heavy-duty muffin tin is a great addition for making any type of muffin.  If the muffin tin is made of a heavier construction like this one, you will get better browning on the bottom and sides of each muffin.

Why does this banana muffin recipe call for super-ripe bananas?  Won’t any mashed bananas work? 

• This is a great question! The browner the peel and the more over-ripened the banana, the better for making banana bread or banana muffins.  This is because during the ripening process the starches in the banana convert to sugar and the banana flavor is also much more pronounced.

I’ve heard you can put over-ripened bananas in the freezer to use later on for making banana bread.  Is this true? 

• Yep.  You can do this one of two ways: throw the too-ripe-to-eat bananas directly into the freezer as is (skin-on), or you can go ahead and remove the bananas from the peel, placing them into a freezer bag.  I prefer the freezer bag method so I don’t have to peel the bananas when I’m ready to use them and also to better protect the bananas from freezer burn.

If I prefer to make this recipe without the pecans or the cherries, will it still be good? 

Sure thing.  I really like the sweetness and pretty color that the cherries add, as well as the crunch from the pecans, but these banana muffins are still delicious if you opt out of these two ingredients.

More Sweet Treat Recipes to Enjoy – 

• VERY BERRY FRENCH TOAST BAKE 
• TWO-INGREDIENT CARAMEL PECAN STICKY BUNS 
• GLAZED CRANBERRY AND WALNUT CRESCENT ROLLS 
• HONEY BUN CAKE 
• EASY BAKED CINNAMON SUGAR DONUTS 
• SUPER MOIST CHOCOLATE CHOCOLATE-CHIP MUFFINS 

Printable Banana Muffins with Sweet Cherries Recipe 

Banana Muffins with Sweet Cherries

Moist, tender and addictive. These Banana Muffins with Sweet Cherries are the bomb! If you're looking for an easy banana bread recipe (but in muffin form) you've arrived, my friend.  Search no further. This recipe also shares two secret fool-proof techniques for making moist and tender muffins every single time.  Hurrah!! 

Servings: 12 muffins

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Prep Time 15 minutes mins

Cook Time 20 minutes mins

Total Time 35 minutes mins

Ingredients

 

• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup butter softened
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup mashed super-ripe bananas the blacker and mushier, the better, 3-4 medium bananas usually makes about 1 cup mashed bananas
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 1/2 - 1 tsp. kosher salt
• 1/3 cup toasted chopped pecans
• 1/2 cup drained and chopped maraschino cherries

Instructions

 

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

  In a large mixing bowl, using an electric mixer, cream sugar with butter until light and fluffy; add eggs, one at a time and beating well.

  Add the mashed bananas and vanilla; beat once more, making sure the batter is well combined.
• In a small bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, salt, pecans and cherries. Using a spatula or large spoon, gently fold the flour mixture into the banana mixture, just until ingredients are barely combined. Don’t over mix!
• Using a cookie dough scoop, divide the prepared batter between 12 well-greased muffin tin cups.

  Bake the muffins, uncovered, on the center oven rack for approx. 20 minutes or until muffins are golden brown and spring back to the touch on top. Don't over bake!
• Remove the muffins from the oven, placing the muffin tin onto a cooling rack.

  Immediately cover muffins with a sheet of foil and let cool completely. Once cooled, remove the muffins from the muffin tin and store in an air tight container.

  Muffins will keep at room temperature for 2-3 days. Muffins also freeze well.

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Chef Alli

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