These cherry vanilla muffins are soft and delicate from buttermilk. They can be made with either sweet or sour cherries and are perfect for brunch!
I went cherry picking for the first time this past weekend! It was so much fun and I can’t believe I waited this long to pick my own.
Cherries taste amazing straight from the trees. The heat of the sun makes the juices burst in a way that reminds me of freshly roasted berries.
I’ve always loved to go apple picking in the fall but I think cherry picking is one of my new favorite spring traditions.
My friends and I picked 50 pounds of sour cherries to make a Romanian liqueur called vișinată. It won’t be ready for a few months and I’m anxiously awaiting the results.
In the meantime, I’ve created a buttermilk muffin recipe highlighting sweet bing cherries to celebrate the season. I didn’t pick these but they arrived in my CSA basket.
I used a gorgeous cast iron pan to bake the muffins and you can win the exact same pan in this week’s MightyNest giveaway! Use the widget below to enter. Edit: the giveaway has ended!
Homemade Buttermilk Substitute
Did you know you can make homemade buttermilk from scratch to use in this recipe? Save yourself a trip to the store by checking out my post How To Make Buttermilk Substitute!
Cherry Vanilla Muffins
Ingredients
- 8 1/2 ounces all-purpose flour (approximately 1 3/4 cup)
- 1/3 cup granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 cup buttermilk
- 2 large eggs
- 2 tablespoons pure vanilla extract
- Optional: 1 tablespoon kirsch cherry liqueur
- 2 ounces unsalted butter, melted and cooled (plus more for greasing the muffin pan)
- 3/4 cup finely chopped cherries (either sweet or sour)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F and lightly grease muffin tins with softened butter.
- In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt. In a separate bowl, whisk together the buttermilk, eggs and vanilla extract (note: this is where you'd add the kirsch if using).
- Pour the wet ingredients into the dry followed by the butter and cherries, using a spatula to stir the ingredients together until just combined. The less you mix, the more delicate the muffins will be.
- Evenly scoop the muffin batter into the prepared pans, filling 3/4 - 4/5 of the way up.
- Bake for 20-22 minutes, or until cooked through. Allow to cool for 5 minutes and then remove carefully from the pan (I find gently twisting works best).
Notes
Please read my full post for additional recipe notes, tips, and serving suggestions!
Nutrition
Recipe Troubleshooting
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Cherry season is done where I’m at. Well I can find some in the stores but they aren’t the same. Can I substitute dried cherries?
Sure, dried will work. So will frozen, if those are decent.
Great! Thank you!
I wanted muffins but I’m sick of the more “traditional” muffins, and decided to try these. Just put these in the oven, using gluten free flour & coconut milk with vinegar (I’m celiac & allergic to casein). Can’t wait to see how they turn out!
Those are some big substitutions! Let me know if it works!
They turned out great! They’re super delicious!!
That’s awesome! If you don’t mind my asking, which gluten free flour did you use? I’m often asked for recommendations.
Viva la freshly harvested fruit! These look so light and fluffy and fabulous…is your concoction ready yet…that’s a lot of cherries!
I can’t see the recipe because an ad for gummy vitamins pops up in front of it and no way to close it. Will look somewhere else
Do you mind if I ask whether you’re on a desktop browser or using mobile (phone or tablet)? I barely have any ads on the desktop web browsers for my site, but I haven’t paid as much attention to what the ad company is doing with my mobile ads. Maybe I need to crack down on them.
I love cherries and had some dried cherries left over from another recipe so I decided to make these. They’re very good. I found the vanilla flavor to be a bit overwhelming at first, but my husband likes them and I’m looking forward to having them for breakfast tomorrow after the flavors have had some time to marry. Thanks for the recipe and I always love your pictures!
I just pulled these out of the oven a s they are amazing!! I didn’t have cherry liqueur but used rum extract instead. They are delicious! Thank you for your recipe.
Is it 2 ounces PLUS 4 tablespoons butter?
No, it’s either/or. 2 ounces = 4 tablespoons :)
I added chocolate chips and pecans because I wanted to use them up and they turned out beautifully.
On the flour, 8 1/2 ounces doesn’t equal 1 and 3/4 cup. Which should I use? Thanks!
Hi Lauren! Anytime a recipe offers both weight and volume for flour, your safest bet is always to go with the weight measurement (ounces or grams). That will give you exact results. A cup of flour can weigh anywhere from 3 1/2 to 5 ounces depending on how it’s measured (for example, if you spoon the flour into the measuring cup vs dunking the measuring cup into a flour bin). I always recommend the kitchen scale.
Awesome!! Thank you so much.
I don’t have a kitchen scale. If I just measure out 1 3/4 cup flour, will these turn out right? Thank you!
Hi Janet! Every time someone asks me this question, I wish I could afford to buy a giant stockpile of scales so I could just send you one. Yes, you should be fine, but I recommend using the Scoop & Sweep Method to measure your flour, which means dunking your measuring cup into the bag or bin of flour, then using a knife to level off the top, sweeping away the excess flour. That will get you close to the correct weight. I recently wrote a post about why it’s so helpful to weigh flour for baked goods. You can end up with vastly different results depending on how the flour is weighed! A kitchen scale is a great, inexpensive investment.
Cherry vanilla is my favorite flavor! Could I make this as jumbo muffins? (Your strawberry muffins were perfect!)
Thanks,
Connie
I think that should work just fine!