Vegan Cherry Almond Muffins (with FRESH cherries!)

The cherries were really good this season. Sweet and juicy. We definitely took advantage of all the delicious cherries, too. We ate a lot of them as is but we couldn't help but bake with them too. Seeing as cherry season is over, you can always save this recipe in your back pocket for next year or make these muffins with dried cherries.

These muffins were great! Not too sweet, so they really let the cherries shine through. They have a nice almond flavour as well. These muffins make the perfect snack!

Vegan Cherry Almond Muffins

Adapted from Chef Amber Shea

Ingredients
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup whole wheat pastry flour
1/3 cup sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/3 cup canola oil
3/4 cup unsweetened original oat mylk (we are obsessed with baking with oat milk now thanks to America's Test Kitchen!)
6 oz. vanilla non-dairy yogurt (we used almond/cashew cultured yogurt)
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp almond extract
1 cup sliced almonds, toasted if desired
3/4 cup fresh cherries, pitted and chopped

Directions
1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees, and grease a 12-cup muffin tin.
2. Sift the flours, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt into a large bowl.
3. Make a well in the center of the bowl and add the oil, mylk, yogurt, and extracts.
4. Mix gently just until combined. Add cherries and almonds. Fold in and be sure not to break the cherries too much.
5. Fill the muffin cups about 75% of the way.
6. Bake for 16-20 minutes. Remove from oven and cool on a rack.