Cherry almond muffins, bursting with cherries and brown sugar streusel, are so deliciously decadent you'll never believe they are reduced sugar.

Recipe Notes
This recipe calls for a few of items that may not be readily available on your supermarket shelves. Thankfully (or not so thankfully, depending on your perspective), everything on the face of the earth is available on Amazon these days.
First of all, I used Stevia Blend in these cherry almond muffins to reduce the amount of sugar a bit. The package claims that Stevia Blend is twice as sweet a sugar, which I don't think is quite true. So, you'll notice that this recipe calls for ⅔ cup Stevia Blend or 1 cup granulated sugar.
Second, almond paste. This lovely mixture of ground almonds and sugar is sometimes available in my local supermarket, but not always. Also, it's much cheaper to order a four pack of the stuff than purchase them one at a time off my supermarket's shelves. You can also just make almond paste, if you like. Here's a good recipe.
The third item that your local market might not have in stock is completely optional - Tulip Style Baking Cups.
These awesome muffin liners stick up a lot higher than the muffin pan, allowing you to fill each cup with more batter and still top with a generous amount of streusel. Also, when the muffins are done baking, you simply use the pointy tulip tops to lift them from the pan onto a wire rack to cool. Unfolded, they make a nice little "plate" from which to eat your muffin.
I love them, but again - they are optional. Please note, however, that this recipe makes 12 large muffins if using tulip style baking cups and 24 small muffins if using regular baking cups.
Other Muffin Recipes You Might Like:
- Mixed Berry Muffins with Streusel
- Healthy Chocolate Banana Muffins
- Lemon Blueberry Muffins
- Gluten-Free Blueberry Muffins with Streusel
📖 Recipe
Cherry Almond Muffins
*NOTE: This recipe will yield between 12-24 muffins, depending on the size of your muffin liners. The muffins pictured in this post were baked in tulip style baking cups, which allow more muffin batter per cup. If you use standard baking cups, this recipe will yield 24 smaller cherry almond muffins.
Ingredients
FOR THE STREUSEL
- ¾ cup brown sugar
- ¾ cup unbleached all-purpose flour
- ¾ teaspoon cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ⅓ cup old fashioned oats
- 6 tablespoon butter, melted
FOR THE MUFFINS:
- 2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 4 tablespoon butter, at room temperature
- 8 oz almond paste
- ⅔ cup Stevia Blend (or 1 cup granulated sugar)
- 2 large eggs
- 1 cup plain yogurt, full fat or 2%
- 2 cups canned sweet cherries, drained, each cherry cut into 4 pieces
- 2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon almond extract
- 13 oz cherry preserves or cherry jam
Instructions
MAKE THE STREUSEL:
- Combine all the dry ingredients in a small bowl. Pour in the melted butter and mix until all the dry ingredients are moistened. Cover, and set aside.
BAKE THE MUFFINS:
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees and line muffin pan with paper liners.
- Dump the flour, baking powder and salt into a medium size bowl and mix with a wire whisk to combine.
- Combine the butter, Stevia Blend (or sugar), and almond paste in the bowl of an electric mixer and beat on medium high speed for 2 minutes. Scrape down the sides of the bowl. Add the eggs one at a time, scraping down the sides of the bowl and beating at medium speed for 30 seconds after each addition. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and add the yogurt, vanilla and almond extracts. Beat on medium speed just until combined.
- With a rubber spatula or wooden spoon, stir in the dry ingredients and then the cherries.
- Divide the batter between muffin cups - 12 cups if using tulip liners, 24 if using regular muffin liners. Dollop the cherry jam or preserves on top of each muffin, distributing the jam evenly between muffins. Evenly distribute the streusel across all the muffins.
- Bake for 20-35 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center of one of the muffins comes out mostly clean.
- Let cool on a wire rack.
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Vidhi Dalmia says
hey, I have been into baking pretty much my entire life and everything I made was a fail. I am 16 now and so much better thanks to all your recipes. they are life saver!!!!!!! I just wanted to ask if I can hold back the cinnamon in the streusel. I have never been a huge fan of cinnamon. haha! love all your recipes
Rebecca Blackwell says
This comment just made my whole day Vidhi! I'm so happy to hear that you like these recipes! You could absolutely reduce the amount of cinnamon in these muffins. In fact, you could leave it out altogether if you like, or replace it with any other spice you like. If replacing the cinnamon with something else, just be careful to not add too much. Some spices are much stronger than others. Start by adding just a little bit - 1/4 to 1/2 of a teaspoon - taste, and then add more if you like. You could also replace the cinnamon with a touch of vanilla or almond extract.
I hope that helps! Please let me know if you ever have any other questions! xo