This recipe for Tart Cherry Muffins with Almond & Vanilla will produce twelve delightful homemade muffins with an “everyday” kind of vibe.
Tart Cherry Muffins with Almond & Vanilla
Course: BreakfastCuisine: American, British12
standard muffinsIngredients
250g (2 cups) all-purpose flour
2 generous tsp baking powder
½ tsp fine sea salt
167g (1½ sticks) unsalted butter, softened
170g (3/4 cup) superfine sugar
2 large eggs
½ generous tsp vanilla extract
¼ tsp almond extract
125ml (½ cup) whole milk
2 generous Tbs sliced almonds
300g (2 cups) frozen tart cherries
3 generous Tbs turbinado sugar
Directions
- Line 12 standard-size muffins cups with paper liners. Set aside.
- Stir the baking powder and salt into the flour; set aside. Beat butter and sugar until pale and fluffy, 2-3 minutes on medium speed (4 of 10), scraping down once, half-way through. Stir in the eggs on lowest speed until well blended. Add the vanilla and almond extract to the milk. Stir in the flour mixture in 3 additions, alternating with the milk mixture in 2 additions, beginning and ending with the flour. Scatter the almonds over the batter, and then fold in cherries by hand, in 4 additions – in an effort to evenly distribute them. Spoon the batter into the muffin cups. Transfer to the refrigerator, and let rest 30 minutes before baking (for taller domes).
- Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 425°F.
- Sprinkle 1 generous teaspoon of the turbinado sugar over each muffin. Bake for 5 minutes, then reduce to 350°F until there is significant browning around the edges, and a toothpick comes out clean, 20 minutes.
- Cool on a rack. As the muffins cool, they will crack and the tops will become more interesting visually.
These humble muffins have a strong homemade vibe. The tart cherries will remind you of pie, for sure. The crumb tastes like classic white cake. They may not be the muffins that you take to a bake-off, but you will love having them for breakfast.
To have them for breakfast, by the way, I strongly recommend that you split one into chunks, microwave the chunks just long enough to get them warm, top with an exceedingly generous dollop of plain yogurt, bless with granola, and drizzle with cherry syrup. This will elevate the muffin into something remarkable. (If you don’t want to make your own cherry syrup, use the syrup from a jar of premium cocktail cherries, like Luxardo or Traverse City Whiskey.)
Or, warm them up, top with cranberry sauce and whipped cream.
Social Learning
These muffins are best day-of. After that, they slowly deteriorate, more in texture than flavor. They become increasingly dense. On the third day, they start to become a bit cloying – though no so much that you won’t want to eat them – and the cherries don’t stand out the way they did on day one.
You could experiment with cutting the butter down to 1 stick, and the sugar down to ½-cup.
If you’re impatient with straight-from-the-fridge butter, microwave it for 2 minutes at 10% power.
You can make your own superfine sugar with regular sugar and a coffee grinder. It won’t take long … no more than 7 seconds should do it. Be careful not to turn it into powdered sugar. If a little bit of lingering coffee dust winds up in your sugar, no one’s gonna know. Same with the lingering bit of sugar that winds up in you next coffee grind.
Tart Cherry Muffins with Almond & Vanilla
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Amarene e mandorle, ottimi questi muffins!!!!
Thank you!
I could go for a few of these right now. Great recipe.
Thanks!
In my “coffee” grinder, I’m more likely to get a hint of cumin or coriander… never coffee! I have never thoght to look for frozen tart cherries. But I will now. Cherry and almond are such good companions, and I love a good muffin. My question sis how on earth did you let them last three days to see that they got a bot cloying on the third day> They mightn’t even make it a full day in our house. Putting frozen cherries on the shopping list for this weekend. Any hints as to where I might find them?
Actually, after making these, I was thinking that tart cherries might make a good addition to a spice cake … but maybe not cumin or coriander. 🙂 Good question about where to find. I spend the summers in a major cherry producing region, and that’s where i found them, and even at that, only when in season, which is weird, because they were frozen, and it was at a really nice local produce shop. Maybe what you’d do is use canned cherries. In which case, I’d probably try them out as-is, rather than freezing them, to see how I liked the texture.
Thanks, Jeff… I started looking last weekend and found frozen tart cherries (organic, to boot) at Fry’s, a local grocery chain. Canned ones are no problem — I use those (packed in water, not syrup) for my mother’s cinnamon cherry cobbler. But I am so happy to find these frozen cherries — tart cherry pies and muffins a’comin’!
Perfect! Do you ship? 🙂
Tart cherries, almonds, and vanilla extract make a wonderful summer combination, which is rich yet fresh and light. And these are some delicious looking muffins for sure!
Thanks, Ben!
They are fantastic for afternoon tea or even breakfast! Muffins always taste the best when fresh out of the oven.
Thank you, Angie!
Very creative and delicious looking muffins
Thank you, Javier!
I have never had tart cherry muffins. These look great.
Thanks, Hena!
These sound like the kind of muffins I’d happily wake up for, tart cherries, almond, and that soft cake like crumb? Yes please.
Thank you!
This sounds like a really great recipe.
Thank you, Lori!
These muffins look like such a great breakfast treat Jeff! I bet that cherry tang would keep me coming back for more!!
Thanks, Neil!
Mmmmm, I can almost smell these baking from here! I love tart cherry.
Thanks, Tracy!
We always see blueberry muffins…don’t know why sour cherries aren’t used more often. They sound great.
Thank you!
I love a good muffin, but I don’t think I’ve ever played around with sour cherries in muffin form. This needs to happen. And the idea of drizzling them with yogurt and granola AND cherry syrup? You just elevated this to fancy brunch level!
Thank you, David!
These look so yummy!! Perfect combo!
Thanks, Heather!
Jeff, I could ensure these muffins would not last the day (laugh). I just need a good cup of coffee, and couple of these tart cherry muffins.
Velva
They are lovely with a cup of coffee!
Tart cherries are a favourite so I’m sure we would love them. Having a muffin like this for breakfast would be wonderful, particularly with the yogurt and the blessing of granola! What a delicious way to begin the day.
Thank you, Eva!
I love tart cherries. I can just imagine how good these taste. They look amazing especially tasty when I can see all the parts on the plate. I’m ready to dig in!!
Thanks, Judee!