Vegan Chocolate Chunk Cherry Muffins

These Vegan Chocolate Chunk Cherry Muffins are the perfect breakfast treat. They are soft, fluffy, and loaded with fresh cherry and chocolate chunks. If you love cherries, then you have to try these wonderful muffins!

Have you ever had a fresh cherry muffin before?

I've had many different types of muffins over the years; chocolate chip and blueberry seem to be the most common. But I've never had a fresh cherry muffin before I made these. The muffins that you see in the image above are batch number 4! Yes, they are so good that we kept eating them before I could get some photographs.

And I kept tweaking the recipe a bit of course, as I always want to share the best possible recipe with you. So let me just say that these are the best muffins! They bake up beautifully soft, fluffy, and moist. Also, the recipe is so easy (even if you never bake). The ingredients are easy to find as well.

So what do you need?

Vegan Chocolate Chunk Cherry Muffin Ingredients:

For vegan chocolate chunk cherry muffins, you will need the following ingredients:

• All-Purpose Flour- Or try using whole wheat pastry flour for a healthier muffin.
• Baking Powder- I use both baking powder and baking soda as leaveners since we are omitting eggs. They help the muffins to rise properly.
• Baking Soda
• Salt- Just a little salt helps bring out the flavor.
• Coconut Oil- I use melted coconut oil for this recipe, but you can use any vegetable oil that you prefer.
• Brown Sugar- Brown sugar helps to keep the muffins extra moist.
• Cane Sugar-  I use this Vegan Cane Sugar.
• Vanilla Extract- Vanilla adds a lovely flavor to the muffins.
• Non-dairy Yogurt- I use So Delicious unsweetened coconut yogurt. But feel free to use any non-dairy yogurt as long as it's unsweetened.
• Tapioca Flour- Tapioca flour acts as a binder and is great to have on hand. I use this brand, but if you can't get your hands on some you can substitute half the amount of cornstarch.
• Water
• Chocolate Baking Chunks- Enjoy Life baking chunks are vegan and readily available. You can also use chips or mini chips if you prefer.
• Cherries- I use fresh cherries, although frozen would work as well.
• Course Sprinkling Sugar- This is optional but I highly recommend it as it adds sparkle and crunch to your muffins. You can use sugar in the raw, which is vegan certified.

How to make Vegan Chocolate Chunk Cherry Muffins

Follow these instructions and you will have warm, chocolate cherry muffins in no time:

• Prep muffin pans and oven. Preheat oven to 350°F (177°C) and line a 12 cup muffin pan with paper liners, or lightly spray with non-stick spray. Set aside.
• Mix the dry ingredients. In a large bowl, whisk the flour together with the baking soda, baking powder, tapioca flour, and salt. Set aside.
• Mix the wet ingredients with the sugars. In a medium size bowl, stir the melted coconut oil together with the non-dairy yogurt, both sugars, water, and vanilla extract. Mix until well incorporated.
• Combine the wet and dry ingredients together. Pour the wet mixture in with the dry and mix until just combined. Fold in the cherries and chocolate chunks.
• Bake. Divide the batter evenly among the muffin cups (the cups should be almost full). Bake for 20-22 minutes or until toothpick comes out (mostly) clean.
• Cool. Allow muffins to cool for 15 minutes before removing from cups.
• Serve. Enjoy your muffins warm or room temperature.

Muffin Tips and Storage

 Light colored aluminum muffin pans work the best. I use these and love them.

 If you are using paper liners, you may want to double them to prevent greasy bottoms. Or you can use foil liners, which helps prevent this. You can also check this trick out, which I read works great. 

Muffins will stay fresh for up to 5 days at room temperature. Just be sure to store them in a sealed container.

I really hope you enjoy this recipe as much as we do. Let me know if you try it.

Happy Eating!

Crystal