Black Forest Cherry Cupcakes

Hi everybody! The Fresh Pioneer is back and I have a tasty little treat this week. We've had such a great time this week in our little valley. Everything is coming up... delicious!

 Behold,  a little of our 70 lbs of blueberries (Darrow and Olympia, not mixed) These are mostly eating berries, but you can cook with them if you want. Sweet, healthy, organic, and 1.50 a lb! You just can't beat that. We try to eat as locally as possible, living a sustainable lifestyle (not buying things that are shipped out of state or country when we can buy them locally) and summer is THE TIME to get all our food stocked up for the long, cold winters. We've shared about half of them, but the rest are in the freezer, ready to be used in muffins and such right around January!

Yesterday, we went to pick blackberries. Some years, we don't get much. It's a wild patch on the banks of the river near our house. This year? Crazy! Big, plump berries and so many of them! We got about 3 gallons. And I fell in the bushes. Backwards. Hubby fished me back out, but my backside looks like I've been fighting cats. We've shared them, eaten a bunch, made a double batch of cobbler, and the rest are (yes, you guessed it) put up in the freezer for winter.
                                       
Now, we did make some cherry pies this year, but we didn't get any canned, so for this recipe, I had to buy a can of cherry topping. This sort of thing always makes me a little leery. I mean, sure, it's got cherries, but this can't be good for us, right?
But then I remember that it's meant for chocolate cupcakes and chocolate cupcakes are not high on the list of the most natural, antioxidant-rich food, either, so I just shrug and plop that can into my cart.

After you open that can, mix it in a bowl with 1/2 tsp of almond extract and 2 TBS sugar. Don't skip the almond, this is important because it gives us that rich layering of flavors and smells divine.
                                 
Poke a hole in your cupcake (after cooking- I'm assuming you call can make cupcakes, so we'll jump to the chase) and hollow out a little space. Just enough for about 3-4 cherries and a little goop. (There's probably a word for the stuff, but not sure what it is.)
                              
 The cupcakes are looking fancier already!

 A whole bunch of them, waiting to be topped.

 You can use whichever frosting you like, but since the cherries were so rich, I thought we'd just use whipped cream. It's not so sweet, nice and light, and still covers up the cherries. I topped that with a little toasted almonds.
                                                            
I won't post any picture of the eating, because frankly, it was sort of gruesome. All that moaning and red smears. *shiver* Like a bunch of zombies devouring cupcakes. But I'll cut one open so you can see how nicely the cherries look in the final product.
I've never made this recipe before, but it's definitely going in the "classic" file. It's easy, interesting, just a bit sophisticated, and absolutely delicious.
Until next time, my friends!