Chocolate and cherry muffins

When Christmas approaches, it's nice to make some lovely homemade cakes, perhaps with the help of your children. So an afternoon game can be transformed into an afternoon of creativity, gluttony and, especially, fun with mum – maybe also letting her know what the youngsters would like from Santa Claus! We suggest a fantastic Christmas treat to make during the holidays with the help your children: it’s a Christmas muffin decorated with a lovely hand-made sugar reindeer. Don’t panic: making these decorated muffins is not that difficult! Follow our instructions and, if you are clever, let your imagination run riot and invent new and different animal shapes, Christmas decorations, etc etc! Once you’ve made all your muffins and decorated them, place them all on a beautiful serving tray and hope that they will survive at least a few days before being stolen by little hands and devoured one after the other!

Chop up the cherries and flour them lightly to prevent them from sinking into the dough. Coarsely chop the chocolate. Put the butter and chocolate in a heatproof bowl and melt over a pan of gently simmering water. In another bowl, beat the eggs with the sugar and a pinch of salt. Add the cherry syrup. Pour in the melted chocolate and butter. Sift the flour directly onto the mixture and stir with a wooden spoon. Add the chopped up cherries to the flour and mix. Grease a muffin pan with melted butter, sprinkle with a little sugar and pour in the mixture, filling the moulds to 2/3 capacity. Bake in preheated oven at 200°C for about 20-25 minutes. Allow to cool before you turn them out.