Cherry Ricotta Muffins

I spent way too long this afternoon making a batch of Cherry Ricotta Muffins with the last of my leftover ricotta. I'm not posting a photo of these because the photo that came with the recipe looked infinitely better than mine turned out. Those look golden brown and delicious, with big chunks of cherries throughout. Mine were pale and anemic (they just wouldn't brown for me), and all the cherries sunk to the bottom. Plus they stuck inside the paper muffin cups terribly, so they were all misshapen and weird when you pulled the muffin paper off. (There were other issues, too, like the batter being thin and runny and messy, and the fact that there was twice as much of it as there should have been, necessitating last-minute scrambling for more pans and paper liners, and so on.)

The verdict: yummy, but the results weren't worth all the trouble and expense. (Fresh cherries are out of season, and both canned and dried are very expensive. I went with dried, but I'm not sure I'd make these again even with fresh because of the time it would take to pit them.)