makes one dozen
I originally made this recipe with 1/2 cup (4 ounces) of sugar, then one day inadvertantly only used 1/4 cup. My friend from Paris agreed it was even better, so I'll let you use your judgement—it works great with either proportion. And if you decide to try these without lime—I already did for you, then omit the baking soda.
2 cups (8.5 ounces/240 grams) all purpose white flour
1/4 cup (2 ounces/58 grams) granulated sugar
1 tablespoon (15 grams) baking powder
1/4 teaspoon (1 gram) baking soda
1/2 teaspoon (2 grams) coarse salt
6 tablespoons (3 ounces) cold butter, cut into 12 pieces
1 cup (225 ml) whole milk, plus more as needed
1 cup pitted, cherries, sliced in half (7 ounces weighed before pitting)
Freshly grated zest and juice of 1 lime
2 teaspoons (10 grams) coarse sugar, optional
Preheat oven to 400ºF. Grease one 12-cup standard size muffin tin; set aside.
Add flour, granulated sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt to a deep bowl. Whisk to combine. Add butter and using a pastry blender, or your fingers (my preferred method), blend until it forms a sandy-looking mixture. Stir in the lime zest.
Pour in the milk and lime juice and stir, using a wooden spoon, until just mixed and there are no visible traces of flour (add additional milk, 1 tablespoon at a time, if needed). Gently stir in the cherries. Spoon into the prepared muffin tins and sprinkle tops with an even amount of coarse sugar, if desired.
Bake 24 minutes, until tops are golden and a skewer inserted comes out clean (it's okay if there's cherry juice on it). Remove from oven and let cool 15 minutes in the tin, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely before serving.