These almond poppy seed muffins are soft, moist, and full of rich almond flavor with a tender crumb and tall domed tops. Made from scratch with sour cream for added moisture, they bake up beautifully and deliver bakery-quality results in a home kitchen.
In a larger mixing bowl combine the eggs, buttermilk, sour cream, oil, melted & cooled butter and almond extract. Stir to combine with a spatula.
4 large eggs, ¾ cup (170g) buttermilk, ½ cup (114g) sour cream, ½ cup (100g) neutral oil, 4 Tbsp (57g) unsalted butter, 2 tsp almond extract
Gradually mix in the dry ingredients, mixing just until combined. The batter will be very thick!
Leave the bowl on the counter and allow it to rest for 15 minutes. During this time, preheat the oven to 425ºF.
For bakery style muffin tops, line a 12 count muffin pan with 6 muffins liners, meaning you’ll only fill every other muffin well with batter. Filling every other well allows the muffins to spread and dome without running into each other. Fill the liners with at least ½ cup of batter, the batter should be domed before going into the oven. Press sliced almonds on top of the muffins and sprinkle with sanding sugar.
Sliced almonds, Sanding sugar
Bake for 7 minutes at 425ºF, then keep the muffins in the oven, and turn the temperature down to 350ºF and bake for 14-16 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Allow the muffins to cool in the pan before removing. Repeat with the remaining batter, making sure to bump the temperature back up to 425ºF.
Notes
Gluten-Free: Use a 1:1 gluten-free baking flour blend in place of all-purpose flour. I used King Arthur’s Measure for Measure Gluten Free Flour with great results.For mini muffins: I suggest baking them at 425ºF for the first 5 minutes, then lower to 400ºF for the remaining bake time, which might be 5-10 minutes, but it could be longer, it just depends on how full you fill them. I still do recommend doing the every other method when filling the pan if you overfill the holes.