Cherry-Almond Muffins

Personally, I think these are wonderful and they're a hit for the whole family! It does make about 35 dozen muffins so you might want to 1/2 the recipe.

4 1/2 Cups flour

2 Tbsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1 1/4 Cups sugar

3/4 Cups softened butter (I use 1/2 cup butter & 1/4 cup shortening)

4 eggs

1/2 Tbsp. vanilla extract

1/2 Tbsp almond extract

2 Tbsp. lemon juice

3/4 Cups milk

2 Cups sour cream

1 cup slivered almonds

4 cups pitted and chopped cherries or 1 lb. of dried cherries re-hydrated (I take the dried cherries and soak them in hot water then drain off the water. It's a lot less work and it's cheaper!)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Grease muffin tin or use papers. Mix butter, eggs, vanilla and almond extracts, lemon juice, milk and sour cream until blended. Add flour, baking powder, salt and sugar and mix. If using an electric mixer fold in nuts and chopped berries and mix by hand or you'll smash the cherries too much. Bake for 27 to 30 minutes. You might want to check at 20 minutes just in case your oven cooks hotter than mine does. You can serve with cream cheese frosting if you want, but I like them without.