Cherry Almond Poppyseed Muffins

Those of you familiar with Costco probably know about their muffins. They're roughly three times the size of a regular muffin and contain about a week's worth of fat and calories. They're pretty much round pound cakes. My husband had told me multiple times before we got married how much he loved this one particular flavor of muffin from Costco, and when the family dog got into the batch a few days before the wedding he was pretty disappointed.

Soon after my husband and I were settled into our new place I had the itch to bake something one Saturday and decided to make some muffins for my husband. I asked him what flavor it was that was his favorite and he said, "Poppyseed"

"Lemon poppyseed?" I asked.

"Yes, that sounds right. Lemon poppyseed." He answered.

So I set off to find a recipe for lemon poppyseed muffins. I baked up a batch and they had a lukewarm reception. Something wasn't quite right with the taste, he said. Not to be deterred, I tried another batch, but they weren't much better. Throughout the week I tried a couple more recipes and none of them quite measured up to what my husband was looking for in a muffin. I finally gave up.

Fast forward a few months and my husband is at Costco with me. We end up in the bakery section and I ask him if he wants to buy some muffins. He walks over and picks out a dozen almond poppyseed muffins and brings them back to the cart. Apparently Costco doesn't even make lemon poppyseed muffins. The reason all those lemon poppyseed muffin recipes never passed the taste test with my husband is that lemon just doesn't taste like almond.

Since that discovery I've avoided making muffins altogether, but when I found an almond cherry muffin recipe I decided it sounded too good to pass up. I added poppyseeds for my husband and made half the batch without cherries in case he didn't like them. It turned out that he liked them both ways and the recipe was a definite keeper. I love the combination of cherries with the almond flavoring and the poppyseeds give it just a bit of crunch. It's not a healthy recipe by far, but they are very moist and worth the splurge every once in a while. I have to say, finally having a muffin recipe be approved by my husband did give me a feeling of satisfaction. It didn't hurt to finally know the right flavor to make them.

Cherry Almond Poppyseed Muffins

Ingredients

• 2 1/4 cups flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 T poppyseeds
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 8 T (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temp
• 4 large eggs
• 1 1/2 cups sour cream
• 1 tsp almond extract
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 cup chopped dried cherries

Directions

1. Heat oven to 375 degrees. Grease and flour 2 muffin tins or line with paper muffin cups.
2. In a medium bowl, combine flour, baking soda, salt and poppyseeds. In a large mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar until fluffy. Beat in the eggs, sour cream and extracts. Add the dry ingredients and mix to combine. Do not overbeat. Fold in the cherries.
3. Fill muffin cups 2/3 full of batter and bake 20-25 minutes or until tops are lightly browned and a toothpick inserted in the center of the muffins comes out clean.

Prep Time: 10 min Cook Time: 20-25 min Yield: 24 muffins

Recipe Source: adapted from Penzey's Spice Catalog, Winter 2012

Posted in: Breads, Breakfast