Vanilla Almond Damson Muffins

Damson/Quetschen season is really such a lovely time. You will find damsons in shops around Luxembourg from early August, but the real damson season actually only starts in October, when the old regional damson varieties get ripe.

There are so many lovely Quetschen recipes out there – like my take on the classic Quetschentaart or my upside-down damson cake, which is very popular. For this recipe, I’m making handy muffins – it’s really such a simple recipe, and you can also make it with other fruit, like apples, pears, blueberries or mirabelles. A good one to have up your sleeve!

Ingredients

200g damsons
70g butter
80g sugar
1 egg
70g Greek yoghurt
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 tbsp Amaretto
125g flour
1 tsp baking powder
½ tsp bicarbonate of soda
a pinch of salt
50g flaked almonds
1 tbsp cassonnade

Method

Preheat the oven to 180°C fan.

Stone the damsons and cut into quarters.

In a bowl, beat the butter and the sugar until creamy. Add the egg and mix until fully incorporated, then add the yoghurt, vanilla extract and Amaretto and beat again.

In a separate bowl, mix the flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda, a pinch of salt and 25g of flaked almonds. Add to the egg mix and mix until you get an even batter.

Fold through the damson quarters.

Line a muffin tin with 8 paper cupcake cases (or grease the tin if not using any paper cupcake cases). Distribute the batter between 8 muffin holes.

In a little bowl, mix the remaining 25g almonds with the cassonnade, then sprinkle over the muffins.

Bake the muffins in the preheated oven for 25 minutes, then leave to cool on a wire rack.