These Cherry Swirl Almond Muffins One of the best uniquely flavored almond flavored muffins with a bright sweet and tart cherry butter swirl throughout and topped with sliced almonds.
This was inspired by my other muffin recipes, especially because my toddler loves muffins and I enjoy experimenting with all the different flavor combinations and making an ordinary muffin, extraordinary!
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How to Make Cherry Swirl Almond Muffins
Making these Cherry Swirl Almond Muffins couldn't be easier and I've included some tips and tricks for making muffins as well.
- Step 1: Preheat oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit and place muffin liners in 12 cup muffin pan, set aside.
To make the muffin batter, start by mixing all of the dry ingredients together in a bowl and setting aside. This includes the all purpose flour, almond flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt.
Then in separate mixing bowl, use an electric mixer with a beater blade attachment to cream together the softened butter, sugar, and brown sugar.
Add in the eggs, almond extract, and vanilla extract, mixing until combined. Add in the sour cream and milk, then mix until uniform. Fold in the dry ingredients until a thick muffin matter forms.
2. Step 2: Fill the muffin liners half way, then dollop in 1 Tablespoon of the cherry butter or preserves in each well. Finish off the rest of the batter filling each well evenly in the pan. Use a knife to gently swirl the cherry butter around into the batter.
Note: You could also dollop the cherry butter in the muffin batter in the mixing bowl gently swirling it in and then scooping it out into the muffin pan. The reason I like to add the cherry butter individually is to ensure each muffin gets an entire tablespoon of the cherry butter, but you can do this anyway it works best for you and the process would be faster if you wanted to gently swirl the cherry butter in the muffin batter ahead of time. Just don't mix it too much or it will blend in and we are aiming for a nice jammy swirl throughout the muffin!
3. Step 3: Let batter rest for 5-10 minutes. Add sliced almonds on top of the muffins right before baking. Then bake the muffins at 425 degrees Fahrenheit for the first 5 minutes and reduce down to 375 degrees for the remainder of the time - approximately 17-22 more minutes for a total of 22-27 minutes depending on your oven. Muffins are baked when puffy on top and nice and golden brown.
You can also check by inserting a toothpick in the enter of the muffin and ensuring you only get a few crumbs or a clean toothpick, noting no actual wet batter present.
Let cool in the pan for 5-10 minutes before removing and transferring to a plate or cooling rack. Enjoy!
Variations for Almond Muffins
This easy almond muffin recipe is super versatile. All you need to do is switch out the cherry butter in this recipe for a different type of jam or preserves and you have yourself a different flavored muffin. Blueberry and raspberry jam or preserves are also amazing for a blueberry almond and raspberry almond variation!
You can also replace the almond extract with vanilla extract entirely and modify the topping to a crumb topping or different type of chopped or sliced nut.
How to Store Almond Muffins
These baked almond muffins store well in an airtight container at room temperature for 2-3 days. I always recommend consuming muffins within the first few days for the best flavor. Muffins are a great quick bite for breakfast as you're headed out or an easy mid day snack - which is usually how my toddler prefers them!
Muffins can typically be frozen for a few months, but I do not recommend freezing these particular almond muffins due to the cherry butter swirl and sliced almonds on top. Although the baked muffins can be frozen, the texture would likely change and not be as good as when they're freshly baked.
Top Tips for Baking Muffins
- To ensure a quick rise with a signature domed muffin look, let your muffin batter rest on the counter for 5-10 minutes before baking.
- Fill the cupcake liners at least ¾ to all the way full to the top using a thick muffin batter. Use all of the muffin batter divided evenly between the dozen wells in the muffin pan. Muffins can be filled higher than cupcakes because of the way they are formulated to rise with a big puffy dome on top.
- Preheat and bake at a high temperature around 400-425 degrees Fahrenheit for the first 5 minutes of baking and then reduce the temperature down by 50 degrees to 350-375 degrees Fahrenheit accordingly to finish baking the rest of the way.
- Use parchment paper squares as liners to make for an easy impressive way to elevate the muffins. I especially like to use these liners when adding a crumb topping like in my pumpkin banana muffins recipe because it helps contain the topping! It is also a fun way to present a muffin and it elevates the look of them.
- Use a cookie scoop or ice cream scoop to scoop the muffin batter evenly in the cupcake/muffin pan.
More Muffin Recipes...
Looking for other recipes like this? Try these:
Cherry Swirl Almond Muffins
Equipment
- 12 cup muffin pan
- mixing bowls
- measuring cups & spoons, or a digital food scale
- muffin liners
- electrix mixer fitted with a beater blade attachment
Ingredients
- 1¾ cups all purpose flour (210g)
- ¼ cup blanched almond flour (25g)
- 3 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ cup butter (1 stick) (softened at room temperature)
- ½ cup sugar (100g)
- ¼ cup brown sugar (54g)
- 2 large eggs
- ½ cup sour cream or greek yogurt
- 3 Tablepsoons whole milk
- ½ teaspoon almond extract
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- ¾ cup cherry butter or preserves (12 Tablespoons total = 1 Tablespoon per muffin!)
- ⅓ cup sliced almonds (for the topping)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 425℉. Place cupcake/muffin liners in muffin pan, set aside.
- To make the muffin batter, start by whisking all of the dry ingredients together in a bowl and setting aside. This includes the all purpose flour, almond flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt.
- In a separate mixing bowl, use an electric mixer with a beater blade attachment to cream together the softened butter, sugar, and brown sugar.
- Add in the eggs, almond extract, and vanilla extract, mixing until combined.
- Add in the sour cream and milk, then mix until uniform.
- Fold in the dry ingredients until a thick muffin matter forms.
- Fill the muffin liners half way, then dollop in 1 Tablespoon of the cherry butter or preserves in each well. Finish off the rest of the batter filling each well evenly in the pan. Use a knife to gently swirl the cherry butter around into the batter. Note: You could also dollop the cherry butter in the muffin batter in the mixing bowl gently swirling it in and then scooping it out into the muffin pan. The reason I like to add the cherry butter individually is to ensure each muffin gets an entire tablespoon of the cherry butter, but you can do this anyway it works best for you and the process would be faster if you wanted to gently swirl the cherry butter in the muffin batter ahead of time. Just don't mix it too much or it will blend in and we are aiming for a nice jammy swirl throughout the muffin!
- Let batter rest in the pan for 5-10 minutes. Add sliced almonds on top of the muffins right before baking. Then bake the muffins at 425℉ for the first 5 minutes and reduce down to 375℉ for the remainder of the time - approximately 17-22 more minutes for a total of 22-27 minutes depending on your oven. Muffins are baked when puffy on top and nice and golden brown. You can also check by inserting a toothpick in the enter of the muffin and ensuring you only get a few crumbs or a clean toothpick, noting no actual wet batter present.
- Let cool in the pan for 5-10 minutes before removing and transferring to a plate or cooling rack. Enjoy!
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