Believe it or not, I’ve actually never baked anything with cherries before. Probably because I love them and will eat them all right after buying them. Rainier cherries are my absolute favorite and getting a paper bag full while walking through the produce and flower section at Pike Place is the best way to do it in my book. But, when you can’t do that, I suppose these cherry almond muffins are a great alternative.
These muffins are very flavorful. They have a great warm nutty flavor from the almond flour and almonds on top. The cherries add bursts of great color and flavor. Apparently I love making muffins with nuts and fruit, as evidenced by my Blueberry Walnut Muffins.
These come together pretty quickly, and you can totally leave off the streusel topping but I wouldn’t recommend it because it’s fantastic with it.
Key Ingredients
- Cherries – I used fresh Bing cherries. Frozen probably could be used but I didn’t test them so I can’t guarantee. Any sweet cherry though would be great.
- Almond Flour – My first recipe test with this was with only almond flour. Those muffins did not hold together and always seemed under-baked. So I opted for half almond flour and half AP.
- Slivered Almonds – These add more almond flavor and crunch to the streusel
- Orange Zest – I loved the little bit of extra brightness zest added. I did also try using lemon zest, which could be swapped out if you don’t happen to have an orange.
Ingredients
- 120 g AP flour 1 cup
- 112 g Almond flour 1 cup
- 100 g Granulated sugar ½ cup
- 1 tbsp Baking powder
- ½ tsp Salt
- 2 Large Eggs room temperature
- ¼ cup Whole or 2% milk room temperature
- 2 tbsp Vegetable/Canola oil
- ¼ cup Unsalted butter melted
- 2 tsp Vanilla
- 1 Med Orange, zested
- 150 g Cherries, pitted & chopped
Streusel
- 100 g Brown sugar ½ cup
- ½ cup Sliced almonds
- 3 tbsp Unsalted butter melted
- 60 g AP Flour ½ cup
Instructions
- Line a baking tray with muffin liners or grease pan. Set aside
- Preheat oven to 400°F
- Prep the streusel. Mix together flour, almonds and brown sugar and then pour the melted butter over, mixing until you have a coarse mix.
- In a small bowl, whisk together AP flour, almond flour, salt and baking powder
- In a larger bowl, whisk together melted butter, oil and sugar.
- Add eggs in one at a time into the wet mix, incorporating completely.
- Add in milk, vanilla, and orange zest, mix together and then stir in cherries.
- Add the dry ingredients into the wet, stirring in gently until just combined.
- Spoon batter into prepared pan, filling each liner about ¾ full. Spoon heaping spoonfuls of the streusel mix over the top of each muffin.
- Place the muffins in the oven and bake at 400°F for 5 minutes, then reduce to 350°F. Bake for about another 22 minutes, the tops of the muffins will be golden brown.
- When muffins are done, transfer to a wire rack for cooling and let cool slightly before enjoying. Store in an airtight container.
