Pistachio & Almond Muffins

Pistachio and Almond based baked goods and desserts are my absolute favorites! Every time we are out of town on vacation, we always try to hit up the local bakeries and coffee places in hopes to find pistachio or almond based pastries like croissants, macarons, or muffins; if it has pistachio or almonds, I love!! I think my favorites so far have been some of the spots we went to last time we visited San Diego. There was a place called Bread & Cie that had an amazing pistachio croissant and Copa Vida had a delicious almond croissant. I'd definitely recommend to try those if you visit SD.

Anyhow, I was really craving something with pistachios or almonds; something that I can have for breakfast, or an afternoon snack. So I ended up making the muffins with both almonds and pistachios. I worked with the ingredients that I had in my pantry. Needless to say, I was just experimenting and to my surprise, these turned out perfect. I also ended up adding cardamon to add a little Indian flavor to these. The muffins turned out perfectly moist and yummy. I had my family taste these and they absolutely loved them, too. I hope you love them, too! My recipe is pretty easy to follow. If you have everything ready to go, these can be done in less than 30 minutes. Also, you can easily turn this into cupcakes as well by filling the liners just above halfway, and adding icing on top. I'd think a pistachio buttercream or whipped cream icing would be delicious on them! Enjoy!

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Pistachio & Almond Muffins

Ingredients:

- 1/2 cup of unsalted pistachios (shelled)

- 1/2 cup of unsalted almonds

- 1 cup of all purpose flour

- 2 tsp of baking powder

- 1/4 tsp of salt

- 1/2 to 1 tsp of ground cardamom

- a pinch of dry green food coloring (optional)

- 1/2 cup of softened unsalted butter

- 1 cup of brown sugar

- 3 large eggs

- 1/2 tsp of vanilla

- 1/3 cup of heavy whipping cream

- 2/3 cup of milk

- 1/4 cup of crumbled, or pieces of almond and pistachios for topping

Directions

1 - Grind the pistachios and almonds in a food processor until they are coarse grounds.

2 - Mix the dry ingredients in a bowl and set aside: all purpose flour, ground pistachios, ground almonds, baking powder, salt, ground cardamom, and green food coloring powder (optional).

3 - Cream the butter and brown sugar together in mixer, or with a hand mixer until its well combined.

4 - Add eggs and vanilla to the cream and butter mixture and mix it until the eggs are well combined.

5 - Mix in the whipping cream and milk.

6 - Add the dry ingredients and mix it until it becomes a batter.

7 - Line the muffin or cupcake pan with liners and fill them up with a scoop of the batter about 3/4 full. (I used an ice cream scooper)

8 - Top the muffins with the whole pistachios and almonds, or the crumbled mix.

9 - Bake the muffins for at 350 degrees for about 18-20 minutes or until they are done.

10 - Take the muffin of the oven and cool them for at least 30 minutes. Enjoy!

Note: If you'd like to use liquid food coloring, don't add it to the dry ingredients; add it after step 5 to so that it mixes with the other liquid ingredients.