Dried Cherry/Orange Muffins

This is a must-try recipe...the combination of dried cherries and orange in a muffin is to die for!
The bread cloth pictured above was made and given to me from a dear friend and I thought it looked like spring with the cross-stitched pansies!
The hot pink daisy is a gift from Maggie :)

I have been making these muffins for many years and sometimes I make regular-sized ones but thought the mini's would be nice for a change!

Looking closely, I hope you can detect a slight glaze on top of the muffin pictured above. When the muffins come out of the tins, you immediately dip the top into a glaze consisting of sugar and orange juice!!! So tasty!!!

I made some of the muffins in regular mini muffin tins and then some in the decorative pans pictured below. The tins came from Olsen-Sayles Gift Shop a number of years ago and they turn out an adorable little bite-sized muffin.

Dried Cherry/Orange Muffins:

1/2 cup butter, softened
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup dried cherries
1/2 cup nuts, chopped
3/4 cup sour cream
2 cups sifted flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
1 tbsp. grated orange rind

Cream butter and sugar thoroughly. Add sour cream alternately with the dry ingredients. Fold in orange rind, dried cherries, and chopped nuts. The batter will be stiff.
Line muffin tins with liners or spray with Baker's Joy and fill 3/4 full with batter.
Bake at 375 degrees for 10-15 minutes depending on size of tin you use.

Glaze:

1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup orange juice

Stir together and when the muffins are removed from pan, dip into the glaze mixture.