These bright pink cherry muffins are studded with maraschino cherries and topped with both a cherry glaze and a whole cherry. A fun and festive treat that’s perfect for parties, snack time or just for when you have a hankering for something sweet.
If you’re a maraschino cherry fan, you will adore these cherry muffins. Each muffin is moist, tender and chock full of cherries!
I find that people typically have a strong preference when it comes to maraschino cherries. You either love them or you hate them! I’m in the love category, so these pretty pink maraschino cherry muffins are a dream come true for me. They’re so bright and festive for any celebration, and your kids will be thrilled to come home to them for an after school snack.
How do you make cherry muffins?
This is a pretty basic muffin batter with flour, sugar, eggs and oil. A bunch of chopped maraschino cherries get folded into the batter, along with some cherry juice to give the muffins their pink hue.
The muffin batter gets evenly spooned into a muffin tin and then baked until light golden brown.
You can either serve the muffins as-is, or add a pink cherry glaze. I’ve made them both ways and you can’t go wrong even if you choose to skip the glaze.
The glaze really does take these muffins over the top, and is a simple mixture of butter, powdered sugar and cherry juice. You can make the glaze as thick or as thin as you like, just add more cherry juice to thin it out, or more powdered sugar to thicken it back up.
The finishing touch on these cherry muffins is a cherry on top! You could also add a few sprinkles and serve these at a birthday party for an unexpected treat.
Can you freeze muffins?
You can freeze these cherry muffins, but I’d recommend that you hold off on adding the glaze if you’re planning to freeze them. You can add the glaze to the defrosted muffins right before serving.
My kids are already asking for another batch of these cherry muffins, and I’m totally happy to oblige!
More sweet treats you’ll love
Cherry Muffins
Ingredients
For the muffins
- 3/4 cup sugar
- 1/2 cup milk
- 1/2 cup vegetable oil
- 1 egg
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 cups all purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 16 ounce jar maraschino cherries chopped (reserve juice for later use!)
- 2 tablespoons reserved cherry juice
- cooking spray
- 12 whole maraschino cherries
For the glaze
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- 1 tablespoon butter melted
- 1 1/2 tablespoons reserved cherry juice
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Coat a 12 cup muffin tin with cooking spray.
- Place the sugar, milk, vegetable oil, egg and vanilla extract in a large bowl. Whisk to combine.
- Add the flour and baking powder, then stir until just combined.
- Add the cherries and cherry juice to the bowl, then stir gently until well mixed.
- Spoon the batter evenly into the muffin tins.
- Bake for 12-14 minutes or until edges are just browned. Cool the muffins completely before adding the glaze.
- To make the glaze, whisk together the powdered sugar, butter and cherry juice until smooth. If you'd like a thinner glaze, add more cherry juice, 1 teaspoon at a time.
- If you prefer a thicker glaze, add more powdered sugar, 1 tablespoon at a time until desired consistency is reached.
- Spoon 2 teaspoons of glaze over each muffin then immediately top each muffin with a cherry. Let the glaze harden, then serve.
Notes
Nutrition
This post was originally published on July 14, 2015 and was updated on September 24, 2018 with new content.
These muffins look amazing. I love cherry anything. I can’t wait to give them a try. Yum.
I’d definitely be a fan of these muffins. The glaze is surely a bonus too!
These muffins are so pretty and I bet they’re tasty too. I love trying out new muffin recipes.
My kids think these look amazing. I guess I need to make them now lol
Those chopped maraschino cherries look like a delicious addition to muffins. My kids would love these!
I love cherry in baked goods so much. These pictures are gorgeous. I would love to try this recipe one day.
These look so amazing! Every one in my household is a major cherry lover. The biggest problem I would have making this recipe is my kids always eat all the maraschino cherries before I get to use them.
What a perfect treat for Valentine’s day. They are so cute!
This recipe looks so much fun to make. I’ve never had cherry muffins before. However, I’m a huge fan of cherries.
These look absolutely amazing! I have never made cherry muffins but my husband and my son both love cherries so much. I will have to make these as a fun surprise for them. They would eat them all in one sitting.
My kids love cherries, and I know that they would like this recipe! I will have to keep it in mind for our next party.
You sparked an intense interest in my taste buds with these cherry muffins FOR SURE! They look PERFECTLY MADE!!
I am a huge fan of cherries! These muffins look so scrumptious. They would make a perfect treat, that’s for sure.
These muffins are great! I was looking for a good alternative to blueberry muffins and these cherry muffins fit the bill. My whole family loved these muffins.
this sounds good. Something new to try as well. thanks for sharing this recipe.
Simon
I think we all have those embarrassing pictures. Heck, I am still trying to figure out my camera. lol
These muffins look delicious!!! I love cherry anything! Pinned!
Cherry muffins sound like my heaven! I love anything cherry and these muffins would be no different!
These sound so delicious! My almost 3 year old has decided cherries are his favorite, so I’ll have to try these!
Cherries are probably my hubby’s favorite fruit, so I’m pretty sure he would LOVE for me to make these! That glaze on top looks so good, too!
These muffins sound so delicious, and I love blueberries! I’ll have to try a batch of cherry and one of blueberry, too. Thanks for sharing!
They would be great with blueberries too!