Cherry muffin recipe with streusel

Plump, juicy cherries are the star of this cherry muffin recipe. Topped with a cinnamon almond streusel and drizzled with a simple glaze, these muffins are mixed by hand and ready in about 30 minutes. Like most of my fresh cherry recipes, these muffins are made with sweet, not sour, cherries.

I’ll give you variations and substitutions where I can, plus helpful tips and tricks for success. Read on for this info as well as the recipe. If you’d like to skip straight to the recipe, use the jump to recipe button at the top of the post.

You may also be interested in my strawberry peach muffins and my easy blueberry muffins recipes. For ease of browsing, you can find all of my muffin recipes in one place.

Whether you are a beginner level baker or a seasoned pro, this recipe works for everyone. Muffins are a great starting point for those that are new to baking because they don’t require anything more than a bit of mixing and stirring.

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Why you should make this recipe

• Quick & Easy – Muffins are great, even for beginner bakers.
• Grab and go breakfast – Muffins make an easy breakfast on the go.
• Versatile – You can swap out cherries for other fruit to make different versions of this recipes.

Cherry muffins with almond streusel

Muffins are always best on the day the are baked, which is why I normally save them for the weekends, because we can slow down enough to actually enjoy them.

Cherry season is fairly short, so get them while you can. When it’s over, I turn to frozen cherries to make these muffins.

The muffins are topped with a cinnamon almond streusel and then drizzled with a simple glaze once cooled. They are quick, easy, and delicious.

Ingredients

Common pantry ingredients are used for this simple muffin recipe. Aside from the fresh cherries, you probably have everything you need already!

I used the cinnamon streusel recipe from my banana muffins for the topping. It pairs beautifully with the fresh cherries and can be used on any kind of crumble. Below is everything you’ll need to make this cherry muffin recipe.

• Flour – All purpose flour is the backbone of these muffins.
• Vanilla – Adds wonderful flavor to this cherry muffin recipe.
• Baking powder – Provides lift to make muffins rise.
• Salt – All baked goods need salt.
• Milk – Provides moisture to the batter. Use any milk you prefer.
• Cherries – Sweet summer cherries are the star in this recipe.
• Eggs – Provide moisture and structure to the muffins.
• Brown sugar – Adds sweetness and a different flavor than white sugar.
• Sugar – Adds sweetness to the muffins.
• Butter – Unsalted butter lets you control the amount of salt in the recipe.

How to make streusel topping

The streusel recipe for these cherry muffins is super simple. No cutting in butter or working the mixture between your fingers.

Mix the sugars, flour, oats, almonds and cinnamon together in a small bowl. Pour the melted butter in and mix with a fork to combine.

Try not to break the chunks of streusel into really small pieces, as it will melt into the cherry muffins instead of staying on top like it is supposed to. You want big pieces of streusel to sprinkle over the tops.

The muffins themselves are not overly sweet, so the addition of the streusel topping is especially nice. It not only gives it a bit of texture, but it also gives the muffin a little extra sweetness.

For a little extra something, make a simple glaze with powdered sugar and milk to drizzle over the tops.

What is the muffin method?

The muffin method, which isn’t just for muffins, is basically this:

• Dry ingredients in one bowl
• Wet ingredients in another bowl
• Pour wet into dry
• Stir just until it’s all incorporated
• Bake your muffins

I love an easy recipe like this. There is comfort in knowing that it is a simple, straightforward task and you are all but guaranteed a good result.

Especially when that result is warm muffins full of fresh fruit and buttery streusel topping. If you want to get deeper into it, you can read all about the muffin method.

Cherry muffin recipe FAQ’s

Here are a few helpful tips and tricks for success. One word of advice when making muffins – make sure that the milk and eggs are room temperature before you start.

Why does this matter? Because when you pour melted butter into cold milk, it will immediately clump up instead of incorporating properly into the mixture. When everything is room temperature, this doesn’t happen.

Variations and substitutions

Try a different fruit in the muffin batter to make variations of this recipe. If you don’t feel like making the glaze or the streusel, leave them off. They muffins will still taste great!

You can substitute cow milk for almond milk in the muffin batter, if you prefer.

Helpful tools and equipment

• A cherry pitter is without a doubt your most valuable tool when it comes to working with fresh cherries.
• I prefer using a rubber spatula to stir the batter, as it’s easier to scrape the bottom of the bowl to incorporate the flour instead of stirring with a spoon.
• Nonstick muffin pans are perfect for those who don’t want to use paper liners.
• If you are going to use paper liners, go straight to commercial bakeware, like this traditional muffin pan. 
• Tulip style paper liners – these are the exact same liners that I used.
• A 2 ounce scoop will give you uniform muffins. I highly recommend using it.

What other recipes can I make with fresh cherries?

Here are some of our favorite cherry recipes. I make most of them almost every summer.

• Cherry crumb cake
• Fresh cherry daiquiri
• Cherry crisp recipe
• Cherry hand pies from scratch
• Sour cream cherry scones
• Pickled cherries
• Cherry clafouti
• Cherry chutney

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