I spent the first three weeks of sour cherry season walking right on by them. Part of it was the $12 a box price tag. The other part was that I had no clue what I would do with them, so I couldn’t justify the $12 a box price tag.

But I finally succumbed and doled out a hefty portion of my market budget for a quart or two. Coming out on the other side of it, though, I can say it was worth it. Also as the season has lingered on the price did come down a bit.

After the cherries themselves convinced me to make some compote out of them, I tasted it and was like I’m eating exactly what I love about cherry pie. Okay, I get it. I get what the big deal is. Then it was only a matter of figuring out what to put it in that wasn’t cherry pie. Because, as I’ve already embarrassingly admitted, I don’t really like pie.

I know...I know.

So first, these popsicles happened. But I was left with a good amount of compote still to use. Which was not really a problem. I could have left well enough alone and just had a half pint jar of it in my fridge for a few weeks to come -- to swipe on toast or swirl into yogurt or top ice cream with. What I did though, was swirl it into some muffin batter and then covered that with a crumble, because, it just made sense at the time.

Barely sweet gluten free batter, swirled with puckery sour cherry compote, topped with buttery sweet oat crumble was definitely a good decision. Let me know if you think so too...

Sour Cherry Oat Muffins

Adapted from this Canelle et Vanille recipe

Ingredients:

Oat Crumble:

1 cup old fashioned oats (gluten free if needed)

¼ cup coconut palm sugar (or brown sugar)

¼ cup coconut flour

pinch of salt

3 tablespoons butter

Muffins:

3 eggs

½ cup raw sugar

1 cup full fat greek or other yogurt

½ cup melted butter

1 teaspoon almond extract

1 cup brown rice flour

½ cup millet flour

2 tablespoons tapioca starch

1 tablespoon baking powder

½ teaspoon salt

1 cup cherry compote (recipe here)

Directions:

Heat oven to 350 degrees.

In a medium sized bowl combine oats, coconut palm sugar, coconut flour, and salt. Cut the cold butter into the crumble mix and mush together with your fingers or a pastry cutter until butter is mixed into the oat mixture well. It should clump if you press it together in your hands. Set aside.

In a large bowl, whisk together eggs, sugar, yogurt, melted butter, and extract to combine well. Add flours, tapioca starch, baking powder, and salt and whisk well to combine.

Line a muffin tin with cupcake liners. Fill each wrapper about three quarters of the way with batter. Next dollop about 1 tablespoon of cherry compote onto the batter of each muffin. Take a tooth pick or other type of skewer and artfully drag the compote throughout each muffin to create swirls.

Lastly sprinkle a little bit of oat crumble on top of each muffin.

Bake in oven for about 20 to 25 minutes until they are golden brown and a cake tester comes out clean.

Note: You might have oat crumble leftover if you don’t use it all on top of the muffins. Simply line a sheet pan with some parchment paper and spread the crumble out on it. Bake it in a 350 degree oven for about 10 to 15 minutes or until golden and toasty. Once cooled, place in an airtight container and use on yogurt or ice cream like you would a granola.

Makes 1 dozen muffins.