Cherry-Filled Mini Muffins

Spray a mini muffin pan (24-cup size) with nonstick spray. Preheat oven to 400ºF.

Wash and pit the cherries, leaving the stem intact. (Optional: remove the pit and the stem.)

With an electric mixer, beat butter and sugar together for 2 minutes. Beat in eggs, one at a time. Beat in milk and almond extract. Thoroughly stir in the flour and baking powder by hand.

Divide batter among muffin cups, about 2 heaping teaspoons per cup. Put one cherry into each cup, pushing it in almost to the bottom. (Blot them with a paper towel first if they look messy. This will keep the juice from seeping out all over the tops of the muffins while baking.)

Bake 10 minutes.

Put muffin pan on baking rack and run a thin knife around the edges of all the muffins. I usually don’t have any problems with these sticking, but occasionally some cherry juice will cause one to stick a little. Let cool 10 minutes before removing from pan to cool completely.

Sprinkle with sifted powdered sugar when completely cooled.