These cherry muffins are my answer to “what muffin batter will work well with any summer fruit?” – strictly because this topping feels like it could combine with any fruit you throw at it, and I know this batter will do the same.
What I love is how the sweet cherries (I don’t recommend using sour here) melt down into jammy pops of flavor throughout the moist muffin batter. You can leave them whole (a bold choice, but one I did for the photos!) or you can halve them to make sure you have pieces of fruit all throughout.
This blog post will be fleshed out soon, but for now please enjoy the recipe below, and let me know of any questions!
Cherry Muffins with Salty Pistachio Sugar
These muffins are everything I love about summer fruit. The cherries bake down into bursts of sweet, jammy flavor dotted throughout the moist, not-too-sweet muffin base. You can use this recipe for any fruit you have, but I find the crispy, salty-sweet pistachio topping goes particularly well with cherries. It's one of my favorite summer baking recipes, but if you have frozen berries, it's just as delicious out of season, too.
Equipment
- 1 cherry pitter
- 1 Whisk
- 1 piece of parchment paper
- 1 jumbo muffin tin or regular muffin tin
- 1 chef's knife
Ingredients
For the cherry muffins
- 2 large eggs
- 113 grams salted butter 1/2 cup, melted
- 110 grams granulated sugar 1/2 cup
- 110 grams dark brown sugar 1/2 cup
- 85 grams full-fat greek yogurt 1/3 cup
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 280 grams all-purpose flour 2 cups
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon Diamond Crystal kosher salt use half if using Morton’s
- 80 grams milk of choice 1/3 cup
- 320 grams fresh sweet cherries pits removed, 2 cups
For the salty pistachio sugar
- 28 grams unsalted pistachios 2 tablespoons, shelled
- 50 grams turbinado sugar 1/4 cup
- 1 teaspoon flaky salt
Instructions
- Position a rack to the center of the oven and preheat to 375°F.
- In a large bowl, whisk together 2 eggs, 113 grams of melted butter, 110 grams of granulated sugar, 110 grams of brown sugar, 85 grams of greek yogurt and 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract.
- Add the 280 grams of all-purpose flour, 1 teaspoon baking powder, 1/4 teaspoon baking soda, and 1 teaspoon of salt.
- Begin stirring this into a smooth batter, adding the 80 grams of milk in splashes at a time to keep the batter loose.
- When the batter is smooth, set aside. Pit and halve the cherries then fold them into the batter.
- Finely chop up 28 grams of pistachios and add them to a small dish. Add in 50 grams of turbinado sugar and 1 teaspoon of flaky salt. Mix this together with your fingers.
- Line a muffin tin with parchment paper cups and scoop the batter until it is just shallow of the top of each tin. Sprinkle each muffin with enough pistachio sugar to cover the top.
- Bake for 30-33 minutes if you are making jumbo muffins, or 20-25 minutes if you are making standard sized muffins. You will know they are done when you no longer hear any "bubbling" of the batter and the tops are set. (The toothpick trick won't work here, unfortunately, you'll run into some cherries!)
- Serve warm or serve later, it's up to you!
crazy excited to try these. My youngest daughter is celiac and I was hoping you could suggest a different flour (s) instead of all purpose? Thanks so much.
I love love LOVE King Arthur Baking’s 1:1 Gluten-Free blend as my gf sub! It keeps everything nice and tender while still being gluten free!
I am happy to report they can be made gluten free with a 50:50 mixture of buckwheat flour and corn flour. I prepared them like that for my GF husband and they turned out beautifully.
Thank you for this!!
do you think this would work as a loaf?
Hi! Sorry for my delay but yes! A loaf tin will work with this recipe, it will be slightly domed, though!
Ok, amazing recipe. I only had pecans on hand and they were a perfect substitute. Had two right out the oven. 👏🏻
Was so excited to see this recipe pop up on Instagram because I have a pile of beautiful cherries in the fridge. They smelled heavenly coming out of the oven. The pistachio and cherry is such an elegant combo 🙂
The combo sounds bomb! I love your sweet creations. Thaank you. What do you think is the best way to store them to keep the crunchy top? How long will they taste good? warm greetings to you.
Hello! These will keep well at room temperature for five days, but to keep the top crispy, I suggest reheating them in the oven at 350°F for 5-7 minutes or until the tops feel dry and crisp 🙂
Delicious! I added some pistachios into the batter for a little more texture. Love jammy cherries in these muffins!
Hi Justine!
Thank you for the recipe. I wanted to make it as a cake to celebrate my friend’s birthday – would that be possible?
Thank you!
Hi there! It should be! It would be great in an 8-inch round cake pan 🙂
Hello, I currently live in Japan where I don’t have an oven but I do have an air fryer. Are the baking instructions different if I’m using an air fryer? What tips would you suggest when baking in an air fryer? Thank you so much.
Hi Tiffany! I’d suggest lowering the temperature by 25 degrees, air fryers tend to run hotter!
Made these swapping butter for olive oil, adding amaretto and lemon zest and reducing the sugar just a bit. They came out wonderful! Yielded 10 standard-sized muffins for me. Thanks for another great recipe <3
Just made these and am loving them! Perfect salty/sweet balance. I added about 1/2-3/4 tsp of ground cardamom because I can’t help myself. Didn’t have enough muffin tins so baked off the extra batter in a mini loaf pan and it baked up beautifully. I would absolutely make these again!
These are absolutely delicious, just right up my alley. Thank you!
Sweet cherries meet salty crunch these muffins are pure magic!
Can frozen cherries be used?
Of course! Just thaw them before and drain out any excess water if you can 🙂
Hii! If I only have tart cherries to use should I not attempt or use more sugar or maybe it’ll turn out well just different?? Thanks!
Hi Beth, I don’t suggest using more sugar – but if you don’t mind sour/tart cherries, they can work in the recipe just as well! Or if you have other berries, maybe use half tart cherries and half of your other berries? Just suggestions!
I’ve never left a review on a recipe, but this deserves 100000/10. I had cherries sitting in my fridge when this was posted, so it felt like fate to make it the next day! The combo is perfect—I simultaneously want to put the salty pistachio sugar on EVERYTHING and also reserve it for just this very perfect recipe.
This makes me so happy!!!! I’m so thrilled you liked it <3
Justine I cannot say how amazed I am by your recipes everytime ! I find it magic how the palet you chose fits so perfect to the kind of flavours and textures that I am into ! Thank you for bringing so much extra food joy into my life ! I am a baker in Copenhagen and take a lot of inspiration from you and the recipes you create ! Made a variation of these (with 25% wholegrain) for the bakery today and people loved it :)))
Big hugs,
Iris
Mine are in the oven now!! I subbed macadamia bites first pistachios and grated some fresh orange zest to the crumbly topping, we are all waiting by the oven door! The batter was the best I’ve ever tasted 🍒🍒❤️❤️🥰🥰
I’ve made these 2 times now. First time was cherries, second time, this morning, I used plums. Holy crap! They are so freaking good. Easy to follow and turns out incredible! Thank you!
Amazing texture and flavor, the sugar and pistachio on top give a very good crunch to the muffin. I served it at a friends party and everyone loved them.
I wonder if this could be made with almond flour? Looks incredible.
I’d suggest the King Arthur Baking 1:1 blend as the best way to make it gluten free! Almond flour can absorb a bit too much moisture for these.
Holy freaking moly…. First recipe I’ve tried on yours, although been watching your content on YT and just being inspired. Best thing I’ve ever baked. Used the GF flour you recommended in a prior comment. Like.. I’ve never made bakery worthy food. But this was spectacular. Thank you!!
Oh my gosh these are so good! I added a little buckwheat flour, it gave it a little extra bite. Delicious! Thank you!
Hey! If I wanted to make these dairy free, what do you suggest I sub the greek yogurt with? thanks!
Hi there! I’d recommend a coconut yogurt if you have one that is on the thicker side! You can also strain it in cheese cloth for 20 minutes to make it a touch thicker.
I have so many summer cherries in my fridge and am looking forward to trying this recipe! I don’t have any greek yogurt but have lactose free sour cream- might that work as a substitution or no? Any times for a dairy/lactose free substitution? Thank you!
That should work! I also love coconut yogurt as my go-to dairy free yogurt sub!
LOVE these! Just made them this morning before work… it made me late but my boss loved the muffin so much she didn’t care 🙂 I often cut back on the sugar, so I did 90 grams of each (instead of 110) and they were still plenty sweet; I might even cut back a little more next time. These would also be sooo good with some almond extract and sliced almonds on top in place of the pistachios. Super yummy way to take advantage of cherry season!!
Hey Justine!
I saw in your tutorial for these you used a grill— if I wanted to do the same what settings would you recommend? Excited to try!!🌟
Hey! Okay, so I have a gas grill and I set all my burners to high to pre-heat the grill. I pre-heat it to about 450°F, then I turned the right two burners to low heat. Once the grill was maintaining an internal heat of 380°F for about 10 minutes, then I put the cherry muffins on the right two burners and cooked them for 25 minutes!
Love this recipe. Slight modification – I made pistachio syrup and used the pistachio pulp from the drained syrup for the top of the muffins. So delish!
Third time making these today ~ so so delicious, thank you Justine! The last two times I added in a little almond extract 🙂 I love almond + cherry together! Have a great rest of your August and thank you so much for this amazing recipe, everyone in my life loves them. <3