I have the perfect recipe for the glacé cherries still lurking in the larder from Christmas! Better get baking before the new year healthy eating truly kicks in…

For 10 glorious muffins, you will need:

6 oz butter, slightly softened
6 oz golden caster sugar
6 oz plain flour
2 free range medium eggs
2 oz cocoa powder
1 tsp baking powder
1 small tub of glacé cherries (200g, roughly)
150 g dark chocolate (I used the Green and Black’s Cooking chocolate)

Preheat the oven to 180C.

Slice the glacé cherries in half.

Cream the butter and the sugar together in a large glass bowl. Add the eggs, one at a time, and briefly whisk together. Sift in the flour with the cocoa powder.

Whisk together again.

Add the cherries and stir.

Bake in the oven for 25 minutes until springy to the touch.

For the icing, simply melt a bar of dark chocolate in a small glass bowl over a saucepan of boiling water and pour onto the baked muffins.

Allow the muffins and icing to cool completely before putting them in the fridge to set fully.

They will still be beautifully shiny but delicately crispy. The cherry on the festive season!

I put a few cherry liqueur chocolates on top of ours for another chocolate dimension. Or you could sprinkle with icing sugar or extra grated chocolate.