Cherry Almond Muffin
intro
Tender, moist quick-bread muffins studded with juicy fresh summer cherries and warm almond flavor, topped with crunchy sliced almonds for a portable, fruity baked treat.
Ingredients
Steps
Prep oven and muffin tin
Preheat your oven to 190°C (375°F) with a rack positioned in the middle. Line a 12-cup standard muffin tin with paper liners, or lightly grease each cup with non-stick cooking spray to prevent sticking during baking.
Mix dry ingredient base
In a large 3-liter glass mixing bowl, whisk together 240g (2 cups) all-purpose flour, 100g (1/2 cup) granulated sugar, 10g (2 tsp) baking powder, and 3g (1/2 tsp) fine sea salt for 30 seconds until fully combined, with no visible clumps of baking powder. Scoop 1 tablespoon of this dry mix into a small separate bowl and set aside for later.
Whisk wet ingredient mixture
In a medium 1.5-liter mixing bowl, whisk 1 room-temperature large egg until fully smooth, then stir in 180ml (3/4 cup) room-temperature whole milk, 85g (6 tbsp) slightly cooled melted unsalted butter, and 5ml (1 tsp) pure almond extract. Whisk for 20 seconds until the mixture is uniform, with no streaks of unincorporated egg visible.
Fold batter and cherries
Toss 200g (1.5 cups) pitted, halved fresh sweet cherries in the reserved 1 tablespoon of dry flour mix until every cherry piece is lightly coated—this prevents cherries from sinking to the muffin bottoms during baking. Pour the entire wet mixture into the dry ingredient bowl, and fold gently with a rubber spatula only until no dry flour streaks remain; do not overmix, as small lumps in the batter are expected and produce tender muffins.
Portion batter into tins
Scoop the batter evenly into the prepared muffin tin cups, filling each cup exactly 2/3 full (approximately 60g of batter per cup) to leave space for the muffins to rise as they bake. Sprinkle the top of each unbaked muffin evenly with the 30g (1/4 cup) sliced almonds and 15g (1 tbsp) turbinado sugar to create a crunchy, caramelized top crust.
Bake and cool muffins
Place the filled tin on the middle rack of the preheated 190°C (375°F) oven and bake for 18-22 minutes, until muffin tops are domed and golden brown, and a wooden toothpick inserted into the center of a middle muffin comes out with 1-2 moist crumbs (not wet batter). Let muffins rest in the tin for 5 minutes, then transfer them to a wire cooling rack to cool for 10 minutes before serving.
Tips
2.Coating cherry halves in a thin layer of flour before adding them to the batter keeps them evenly suspended in the muffin, rather than sinking to the bottom during baking.
3.If fresh cherries are unavailable, substitute frozen pitted cherries (do not thaw before use) to prevent excess juice from making the batter soggy.
OMG these cherry almond muffins are SO good! I whipped them up for my kids’ after-school snack yesterday and they devoured the whole batch in 10 minutes. I used frozen sweet cherries since fresh are out of season right now and it worked perfectly. 10/10 will be making these for the next neighborhood potluck too!
Game changer! I’ve been trying to find a quick, easy weekday breakfast for meal prep and these check every box. The almond extract gives such a cozy, warm flavor that pairs so well with the tart cherries. Mine baked up perfectly fluffy in exactly 22 minutes in my oven, no burnt edges at all.
I swapped the all-purpose flour for a 1:1 gluten free baking blend and these turned out incredible! My whole family (even the non-gluten-free folks) raved about them at our Sunday brunch. The crunchy almond topping is *chef’s kiss*, don’t skip it!
Super nervous to try these because I’m terrible at baking, but the easy difficulty rating sold me! Wait, is it okay to use maraschino cherries if that’s all I have in the pantry right now? I don’t have time to run to the store before my book club tonight.
Brought these to my office potluck yesterday and people were begging me for the recipe before I even left! I added a little drizzle of almond glaze on top (powdered sugar + a splash of almond milk + tiny bit of almond extract) and it took them over the top. So easy to throw together even on a busy work night.
Made these to pack for our day hike in the mountains last weekend and they held up so well! Not too crumbly, the perfect amount of sweetness, and the cherry-almond combo gave me the energy boost I needed to make it to the summit. Will be adding these to my regular hiking snack rotation.
My three kids are notoriously picky eaters and they all asked for seconds of these muffins! I cut the granulated sugar by 25% and swapped half the all-purpose flour for whole wheat pastry flour to add a little extra fiber, and nobody could even tell the difference. Perfect low-fuss weekend bake that doesn’t require a ton of fancy, hard-to-find ingredients.