Buttery, moist, soft Vegan Cherry Muffins. Full of almond flavour & bursting with juicy cherries in every bite!
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Almonds and cherries are the perfect marriage and you're going to love them in these soft and fluffy vegan cherry muffins.
And the good news is you can also use dried or frozen cherries if you don't have fresh. That means you can make them even when cherries aren't in season.
Ingredients
This is what you will be needing to make my vegan cherry muffins and why:
- All-purpose flour or oat flour - You can use regular all-purpose flour or you can use oat flour. Both give great results. (The muffins in my photographs are made with oat flour). The quantity of flour varies slightly for each so make sure you take note of that when making them.
- Almond flour - Just like my vegan almond cake, these muffins are made with almond flour. It gives the muffins a lovely buttery flavour. It also acts as the "fat" in this recipe. There is no other fat source so it is really important it isn't subbed for anything else.
- Sugar - It must be a light coloured sugar for this recipe or it will take away from the lovely cherry and almond flavours. Sugar is important for structure as well as sweetness in cakes/muffins so don't omit it.
- Baking soda and baking powder - In egg-free recipes it's important to use both to make up for the leavening eggs would otherwise provide.
- Apple cider vinegar - Reacts with the baking soda to create lift.
- Salt & almond extract - Flavour!
- Applesauce and non-dairy milk - For moisture and binding. Any dairy-free milk will do such as oat milk, soy milk, cashew milk, or almond milk.
- Slivered almonds - For decoration and texture.
IMPORTANT: Check your baking powder and make sure it does not contain aluminum. This is because the aluminum can react with fruits like cherries and raspberries and turn everything a lovely shade of blue. It can also affect the flavour a little. Aluminum-free baking powder is easy to get at most grocery stores.
As for equipment, nothing more than a 12 well muffin pan is required. I love my USA Pan Muffin Pan. No liners are required because it releases so well. A cherry pitter would be nice too if you're using fresh cherries to avoid stained fingers.
How To Make Vegan Cherry Muffins
Wondering how to make eggless cherry muffins? It's as simple as mixing the dry ingredients together, adding the wet ingredients, folding through the cherries, then spooning into your muffin pan. Full and detailed ingredient quantities and instructions are in the recipe card below.
Success Tip - Be sure to follow my tip about starting the oven really high and turning it down after 5 minutes. It helps make muffins extra light and fluffy!
Variations
Some ideas for making this Vegan Cherry Muffin recipe your own:
- Omit the almond extract and add some chocolate chips
- Use blueberries or raspberries instead of cherries
- Make orange cherry muffins by adding orange zest and orange extract instead of almond extract
- Fancy them up with piped vegan cream cheese frosting
- Drizzle on a simple powdered sugar glaze. Mix half a cup of powdered sugar with 2 to 3 tablespoons of water or non-dairy milk. Just enough milk to make a thick drizzle-able glaze. Stir until smooth then drizzle over the cooled muffins.
More Cherry Recipes
Recipe
Vegan Cherry Muffins
Author:WATCH HOW TO MAKE IT
Ingredients
- 2 cups (250 grams) all purpose flour , see recipe notes for gluten-free option
- ½ cup (60 grams) almond flour
- 1 cup (200 grams) cane sugar
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 tablespoon baking powder , it must be aluminum free
- ½ teaspoon fine sea salt
- 2 teaspoons almond extract
- 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
- 1 cup (254 grams) applesauce , unsweetened
- ½ cup (120 mls) plant-based milk
- 1½ cups (336 grams) fresh pitted, frozen or dried cherries , (no need to defrost if frozen)
- ½ cup (40 grams) flaked or slivered almonds
RECOMMENDED EQUIPMENT
INSTRUCTIONS
- Preheat oven to 425°F and prepare a muffin tin. Either grease it or line with liners.
- Add the flour, almond flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder and salt to a bowl. Mix together well.
- Add the almond extract, vinegar, apple sauce and milk (use milk ONLY if using all purpose flour and not oat flour), to another small bowl or jug and mix thoroughly.
- Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and stir gently until it is just combined. Do not overmix.
- Add the cherries and stir them gently through, then spoon the batter evenly into the prepared muffin tins so they are about ¾ full. Sprinkle the tops with the flaked/slivered almonds and get into the oven as quickly as you can.
- After 5 minutes in the oven turn the temperature down to 375°F (don't open the door) and cook for another 12 - 15 minutes. A tooth pick inserted into one of them should come out clean after that time. If it doesn't give them a minute or two more.
- Once cooked leave for 5 minutes in the pan, then remove and transfer to a cooling rack.
NOTES
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NUTRITION
This recipe was originally published on September 22nd 2016. I've updated it with some new content and a video and am now republishing it for you. I hope you enjoy it. Thank you for following A Virtual Vegan!
Jen says
I don’t think oats are gluten free?
Melanie McDonald says
Certified gluten-free oats are very easy to find in most grocery stores.