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Almond Cherry Muffins

These moist muffins are filled with sweet cherries and have a lovely almond scent.
YIELD 5 -6 jumbo-size muffins or 12 standard-size muffins

Ingredients

  • 1 ¾ cups (250 grams/8.8 ounces) all-purpose flour
  • 2 teaspoons baking powder
  • ¼ teaspoon baking soda
  • ¾ cup (150 grams/5.3 ounces) granulated sugar
  • ¼ teaspoon salt
  • 1 large egg , slightly beaten
  • 1 cup yogurt
  • ⅓ cup canola oil (or vegetable, safflower)
  • ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1 teaspoon almond extract*
  • 1 ½ cups (300 grams/11 ounces) cherries, halved and pitted**
  • ½ cup slivered or sliced almonds (better if toasted), plus extra (not toasted) to sprinkle on top

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 425F/220C. Grease 12 muffin cups or line with muffin liners.

  2. In a large bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Add sugar and mix to combine.
  3. In a medium bowl, mix egg with yogurt, oil, vanilla, and almond extract. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and fold with a wooden spoon or rubber spatula just until combined. Do not over mix. The batter should be quite thick and lumpy. Fold in almonds and cherries gently to prevent staining.
  4. Divide the mixture between the muffin cups, filling almost fully to the top. Sprinkle with sliced almonds if desired. Bake for 3 minutes, then reduce the oven temperature to 375F/190C. Continue to bake for an additional 12-17 minutes for standard muffins, or an additional 22-27 minutes for jumbo muffins. They are ready when a toothpick inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean. If they start to brown too much, cover them loosely with aluminum foil. Cool for 10 minutes, then move to a wire rack to cool completely.
  5. Muffins are best the same day they are made, but can be kept at room temperature in an airtight container for an additional 1-2 days. Muffins can also be frozen for up to 2 months.

Recipe Notes

*If you don’t have almond extract, you can leave it out and have delicious cherry muffins instead.
**Refer to the above post for more information about frozen and dried cherries, and how to prevent cherries form bleeding into the batter.