It snowed in Portland over the weekend. Like actual now, not just a dusting. Then it promptly rained and froze over so every surface was covered in a thick sheet of super slick ice. REALLY FUN GUYS. I mean, SO FUN. We have a super steep driveway, and we attempted to go out into the world Monday morning, but that was a hilarious pipe dream. It was like the Ice Capades minus the coordination, spandex, and grace. We stayed in and I baked a variation of these muffins twice with oats in them before realizing 1) I don’t really like oats in my muffins and 2) I was out of oats by then anyway. For round three, I took it as a sign and omitted the oats altogether.
The results ended up becoming these tender, almond scented muffins with crisp, toasted almond tops and sweet jammy middles. The batter is a variation of the same batter used in my Orange Ginger Cream Cheese Muffins from a few months ago but instead of all the spices and zest, a dose of almond extract. The fruity centers are just spoonfuls of your favorite jam (mine happens to be raspberry) and the topping is just a scatter of sliced almonds that gets all toasted and crisp as the muffins bake.
- ½ cup milk
- 2 eggs
- ¾ cup sugar
- ½ cup unsalted butter (melted and cooled)
- 1 teaspoon almond extract
- 1½ cups all-purpose flour
- 1½ teaspoons baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
- ¾ cup jam
- 1 cup sliced almonds
- Preheat the oven to 350°F. Spray or butter a muffin tin well.
- Whisk the milk, eggs, and sugar together in a bowl. Whisk in the melted and cooled butter and almond extract.
- In another bowl, stir the flour, baking powder, and kosher salt. Fold in the wet ingredients until just combined. Divide the batter between the 12 muffin cups, filling each about ¾ full. Stir the jam in a bowl to smooth it out a bit and spoon a tablespoon of jam in the middle of each muffin–use the back of the spoon to make a little well as you fill the muffins. Sprinkle the tops of the muffins with a heaping tablespoon of sliced almonds. Bake the muffins on the center rack of the oven for about 22 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the batter comes out clean. Cool the muffins on a wire rack for about 5 minutes before turning out and cooling completely.
Adapted from these Orange Ginger Cream Cheese Muffins.
Oh these look absolutely perfect. And so easy too. Think I’ll try making these with my two year old this weekend. Beautiful photos 🙂
These looks so incredibly tempting! OMG, my sister would freak over them. Got to make em! Yumness!
These look so good! I think I’ll try to get up a little earlier and make them for breakfast. Raspberry is my favorite jam too! ALSO that cat mug! Pretty. Everything you do is oh so pretty!
Happy New Year, lady friend!
These muffins sound so satisfying! Love the jam in the middle!
Love the little squidge of jam in the middle!
Gurlllll I’m in all sorts of love with that jam center. So pretty!!! Hope your family is staying warm 🙂
mmm, almond extract is one of my favorite, favorite things. these muffins look divine!
Thank you!
Ahh these look so good! We got hardly any snow in Eugene before it turned to freezing rain. So much fun. Not.
I don’t mind snow at all. The freezing rain is the worst!
Oh man, I busted my butt so hard walking to my car Monday morning! Then took a good long look at the road by my house and (carefully) made my way back inside. Anyyyways, these muffins look amazing!
UGH! So awful! I was so terrified that I was totally going to eat it on the ice. I stayed in for like 2 whole days.
These beauties are happening in my kitchen in the very near future….
Thanks Nicole, let me know if you do!
Yum! Yeah, the snow was so pretty. And then the freezing rain set in . But such a good excuse to bake!
♥ Heather
The freezing rain is the killer!
Jam… Oh Jam!!! Lucky we have not had any snow.. Because if it snows in the South (mainly Atlanta) the whole city will look like an episode of The Walking Dead.. No thank you no ma’am…. I’m making these muffins this morning because I’ve been DROOLING over these ever since seeing them on Facebook.
I’m glad you guys haven’t had any snow! We were stuck inside for 2 days and it wasn’t cute.
I made these yesterday. They are DELICIOUS. They are also super forgiving! I had just poured the wet ingredients into the dry when I realized I’d forgotten the butter/almond extract. So I just melted the butter and added the almond right then and mixed everything together after that. They totally turned out.
I upped the amount of almond extract because I’m crazy about almond. I used cherry preserves because cherry/almond is one of my favorite combos. I also made a few without jam for a friend who is weird and hates cherries. I topped those with almonds and brown sugar. Everything turned out perfectly. Will definitely make again.
Thank you for the great recipe!
I’m so glad you like them and that they worked out!! Cherry and almond are always a winning combo 🙂
We got rain in LA this past week – for a split second I thought it was snow and then realized it was just a very light drizzle. Still, I took it upon me to stay indoors and eat muffins.
Inclement weather always gives you a good reason to stay in and eat carbs!
Off topic: what a cool mug with cats!
Thanks! It’s from Anthropologie 🙂
These look amazing!! Im a huge muffin fan so I need to make these ASAP!
YAY! Thanks, I hope you love them!