There is something irresistible about a bakery-style muffin: tall, golden, generously topped, and packed with flavour from the very first bite.
Our Cherry Almond Muffins take that classic bakery muffin experience and make it even better with one of my favourite baking tricks: almond flour.
The Almond Flour Trick for Better Muffins
Replacing a portion of all-purpose flour with almond flour adds incredible moisture, tenderness, and a delicate nutty flavour to baked goods. In this recipe, I swap 1/2 cup of all-purpose flour for 1/3 cup almond flour, creating a muffin with a soft, rich crumb that stays fresh longer than a traditional muffin.
Then we take it over the top.
Packed with Fresh Cherries and Topped with Crunchy Almonds
Of course, we absolutely pack that batter with big, juicy cherries! Every bite delivers sweet summer fruit, buttery almond flavour, and a tender crumb. A generous sprinkle of sugar before baking creates that beautiful crackly bakery-style top, while sliced almonds add a delicate crunch and extra almond flavour.
Your result? Muffins that feels special enough for a weekend brunch but easy enough to make for a weekday breakfast.
Our Best Bakery Muffin Tips
First of all, Don’t Overmix Your Batter. This is a traditional ‘Tea Muffin’ base from the 1940’s, so we use all our energy in that first critical step of combining our fat with our sugar, then beating the living crap out of our eggs. Once we get to the flour/dry mix we take a step back on the muscle and fold or stir to combine.
A tender muffin comes from a gentle hand. Stir only until the flour disappears. That is one of the reasons I don’t use a mixer for muffins. It takes very little effort to combine. A few lumps are perfectly fine.
Toss Your Cherries in Dry Mix. Cherries are juicy little suckers, and rich with colour. After pitting and chopping, you’re dealing with a lot of cherry juice that can easily taint your batter purple or blue. Personally, I don’t like that look. To me, it looks like Play-Doh. What I want is a clean, creamy coloured crumb, accented with deep, red-purple cherries.
So we pull a ¼ cup of dry mix and toss it with the waiting cherries before folding them into the batter. This helps prevent the fruit from bleeding into our batter and sinking to the bottom of the muffin.
Fresh or Frozen Cherries? Honestly, both work beautifully.
• Fresh cherries provide the best texture during cherry season.
• Frozen cherries can be used year-round. Don’t thaw them first— toss with the flour mixture, same method as the fresh cherries, then fold in, so that the frozen juices are well coated, in the same manner. Be sure to add a few extra minutes to the baking time, if needed.
What Are Tulip Muffin Wrappers?
The wrappers we’re using are called ‘Tulip Muffin Wrappers’. They’re tall, folded paper liners designed to create a bakery-style muffin shape.
Unlike traditional muffin liners, which sit flush with the sides of the muffin tin, tulip wrappers extend above the edge of the pan. The extra height allows muffins to rise upward, creating those beautiful, oversized tops you see in bakeries and coffee shops.
The can be a little messy to load your batter into until you get the hang of it, but persevere if your testing them out for the first time. I use a portion scoop to fill for this very reason.
This style of muffin liner also makes muffins easier to remove, and provides a little more protection for delicate crumbs. This gives your homemade baking a professional looking finish.
Why I Love It
I love baking recipes that have a professional method that dramatically improves either taste, texture, appearance or moisture content. Almond flour is one of those ingredients that easily transforms a recipe. It doesn’t overpower flavour—it simply makes everything better. Taste, texture AND moisture.
Cherry and almond is timeless combination. The buttery richness of almond pairs perfectly with the bright sweetness of cherries, creating a muffin that tastes nostalgic and fresh.
Combined with our ‘fruit and flour’ dredge, that improves appearance, this recipe truly gives a simple muffin a whole lot of professional baking love.
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Bakery-Style Cherry Almond Muffins
- Total Time: 1 hour 5 minutes
- Yield: 1 dozen 1x
- Diet: Vegetarian
Description
Bake like a pro. Bakery-Style Cherry Almond Muffins are packed with juicy cherries, almond flour for extra moisture, and topped with sugar and sliced almonds for crunch and texture. A tender summer muffin recipe perfect for breakfast or brunch.
Ingredients
- 1/4 cup light oil, or shortening, melted
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs, beaten
- 1 teaspoon almond extract
- 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/3 cup almond flour
- 5 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2/3 cup milk or half and half cream
- 2 cups fresh cherries, pitted and roughly chopped
- 1/4 cup sliced almonds
- 2 - 3 tablespoons coarse sugar or additional granulated sugar, for topping
Instructions
- Prepare the Oven and Fruit: Preheat oven to 400°F (205°C). Line a 12-cup muffin tin with tulip muffin wrappers or standard muffin liners. Pit and chop cherries, reserve until needed.
- Prepare the Batter: In a medium bowl, whisk together oil and sugar until creamy. Then beat in eggs and almond extract (optional) until smooth and slightly bubbly. In a second large bowl, whisk together all-purpose flour, almond flour, baking powder and salt. Pause, and scoop out about ¼ cup of dry ingredients, to coat your fruit when needed. Then add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients or vice versa – up to you. Fold lightly to BEGIN to combine. Then add milk or cream until JUST mixed.
- Add Your Fruit: Toss reserved dry ingredients with waiting prepared cherries, to coat. Then add both fruit and any remaining flour etc. to your batter. Fold and press your fruit into your batter, until just combined. Do not overmix.
- Fill and Bake: Divide batter evenly between muffin cups, filling each about ¾ full. Sprinkle generously with sugar. Top with sliced or chopped raw almonds. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, until golden and a toothpick inserted into the centre comes out clean. Cool in the pan for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack.
Notes
Make It Your Own. Try these variations:
• Add lemon zest for a brighter citrus flavour.
• Replace cherries with blueberries, raspberries, or peaches.
• Add white chocolate chips for a sweeter bakery-style muffin.
• Add a pinch of cinnamon for a warmer flavour profile.
• Replace sliced almonds with toasted pecans or walnuts.
- Prep Time: 40 minutes
- Cook Time: 25 minutes
- Category: Breakfast
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
