Cherry Muffins (One-Bowl)
Easy cherry muffins made with Greek yogurt for a tender, moist crumb. Works with fresh or frozen cherries, with optional chocolate chips.
Equipment
Ingredients
- ¾ cup granulated sugar (210 g)
- 2 large eggs
- ½ cup neutral oil (or melted butter) (120 ml)
- ¾ cup plain, 2%, or whole-milk Greek yogurt (180 g)
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- ½ teaspoon almond extract
- ¾ teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 ¾ cups all-purpose flour (240 g)
- 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- 1 cups fresh or frozen cherries (pitted if fresh), roughly chopped (140 g)
- ½ cup semi-sweet chocolate chips (optional, see notes) (90 g)
- 1 tablespoon flour for tossing cherries (optional; prevents sinking)
- coarse sugar for topping (optional)
Instructions
- Preheat & Prep: Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line a standard 12-cup muffin tin with paper liners or lightly grease.
- Mix the Wet Ingredients: In a large bowl, whisk together the sugar and eggs until foamy and lighter in color, about 1 minute. Add the oil or melted butter, yogurt, vanilla extract, almond extract, and salt. Whisk until smooth.
- Add the Dry Ingredients: Sprinkle the flour, baking powder, and baking soda over the wet ingredients. Stir with a spatula until just combined, being careful not to overmix. It’s okay if there are a few lumps.
- Add in the Cherries + Chocolate: Roughly chop the cherries (you’re looking for about quarter pieces here, not a tiny dice, but not whole either). If using frozen cherries, do this while they are frozen, do not defrost first.
- Toss the cherries with 1 tablespoon flour to prevent sinking, then gently fold them into the batter along with the chocolate chips, making sure they are evenly distributed, but being careful not to overmix.
- Scoop: Divide the batter evenly among the 12 muffin cups (try to get even distribution of the cherries and chocolate in each muffin if possible), filling each about ¾ full. You may need to leave a little batter in the bowl to avoid overfilling the muffin cups.
- Bake: Sprinkle with coarse sugar, if using. Bake for 20-23 minutes, or until puffed and golden, and a tester comes out clean or with a few moist crumbs.
- Cool & Store: Cool in the pan for 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
Notes
- Fresh or Frozen Cherries: Both fresh or frozen cherries work in this recipe. If using fresh, make sure they are pitted prior to the rough chop. If frozen, keep frozen until the last minute, since the more they defrost, the more cherry juice will bleed into the batter. Either way, a tiny bit of bleed will occur, which just lends a nice marbling to the batter.
- Sweet Cherries: I tested this recipe with sweet cherries, so I can’t speak to how they’ll work with sour cherries.
- Almond Extract: I tested these muffins with both almond and vanilla extract and the combination is what makes these taste bakery-level. The almond extract is subtle but it's the thing that really brings out the cherry flavor.
Nutrition
Serving: 1 (of 12) | Calories: 268kcal | Carbohydrates: 33g | Protein: 5g | Fat: 13g | Saturated Fat: 3g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 6g | Monounsaturated Fat: 3g | Cholesterol: 28mg | Sodium: 260mg | Potassium: 117mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 17g | Vitamin A: 52IU | Vitamin C: 1mg | Calcium: 57mg | Iron: 2mg
