Chocolate Chip Cherry Muffins

Back at it again! I spent most of yesterday seriously on edge, glued to the TV, thanks to hours of tornado warnings from the local news. I was spellbound all afternoon by my weather.com app for the iPhone, tracking a huge storm all the way from Jasper, IN as it made its way through Louisville, KY to Lexington, KY to Portsmouth, OH... and on to us. It took from 2 pm to 5:30 pm to track this storm and I spent my nervous energy making muffins. Hey, at least I was productive!

I chose Chocolate Chip Cherry Muffins yesterday.

I assembled all my ingredients on the counter, checked my iPhone, and then nervously paced over to the window.

I mixed all my dry ingredients, mixed all my wet, and then measured out my chocolate chips and my dried cherries. I again checked my iPhone and nervously paced over to the window to take a peek at the ominous sky.

I was finally able to finish mixing the batter, fill the muffin cups, and pop them in the oven for 20 minutes. They had been out of the oven and on the cooling rack for about 30 minutes when the storm hit Ashland.

This was my first real tornado scare. For an hour or so, there was complete chaos here. We had the local news on and tornado warnings were flying in for our county and counties around us. People were calling into the news and reporting seeing funnel clouds all around us. The tornado siren went off in downtown Ashland. The sky outside was a color I've never seen in my entire life! The hubby, his mother, her dog, our dogs, and I hightailed it to the basement and hid for what felt like forever, until the warning expired. There didn't end up being a touch down in Ashland but it was an insanely scary experience. I'm extremely thankful our area wasn't one that was hard hit, but horribly saddened that some nearby communities were affected by storms that touched down.

Here's my Tornado Muffins Chocolate Chip Cherry Muffins recipe-

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups flour
2 1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup sugar
1 egg
1/2 cup canola oil
3/4 cup buttermilk
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup mini chocolate chips
3/4 cup dried cherries

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Mix dry ingredients in large mixing bowl (flour-sugar).
3. Mix wet ingredients in a medium bowl (egg-vanilla).
4. Add wet ingredients to dry, mix until just combined. Don't over mix.
5. Fold in chocolate chips and cherries.
6. Line a muffin pan with paper liners. Fill cups 3/4 full. Bake in oven 15-20 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean.
7. Cool in pan 10 minutes. Remove to baking rack, cool completely.

Good Luck! May these muffins not bring a tornado to your house! I am, of course, kidding :)