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Cardamom-Spiced Pistachio and Apricot Muffins
Pistachio flour—which we make by grinding nuts into all-purpose flour—along with sour cream give these muffins a tender, flavorful crumb. Dried apricots plumped in orange juice bring floral, fruity notes, and cardamom contributes warm sweet, spice. A drizzle of orange glaze and a final sprinkling of chopped apricots and pistachios give the muffins a bakery-style finish. If you prefer to skip the glaze, simply scatter the apricots and pistachios reserved for garnish onto the batter before baking. We tested both raw and roasted pistachios in this recipe. Either works well; just be sure they are unsalted.
12
muffins
Tip
Don’t forget to remove the zest from the oranges before juicing them. The zest is easier to grate when the fruits are whole. Also, it’s fine if there are still some small pieces of pistachio in the flour after grinding; these bits add texture and color to the finished muffins.
45 minutes
(15 minutes active), plus cooling
For the muffins
-
166
grams (1 cup) dried apricots, finely chopped
Directions
-
01To make the muffins, heat the oven to 350°F with a rack in the middle position. Generously mist a standard 12-cup muffin pan with cooking spray. In a small microwave-safe bowl, combine the apricots and 3 tablespoons orange juice. Microwave on high until the apricots absorb the juice, about 45 seconds. Reserve ¼ cup apricots for garnish; set the remainder aside.
Reviews
January 1, 2025
Light and wonderful!
Made these without the glaze. Somewhat labor intensive as I ground the cardamom by hand from pods. The batter was so thick it was almost like a dough, and I was near sure I had made a mistake somewhere. But nope, they were incredible, and very large. Definitely will make again, probably with the glaze.
January 27, 2026
Thank You for Your Response to My “Dry as Dust” Review
I did in fact reserve the quarter cup of pistachios for topping before adding the other dry ingredients.
January 26, 2026
Batter or dough? Dry as dust.
Like a previous reviewer, my muffin “batter” was more like biscuit dough. It looked like it needed to be kneaded to come together— very dry. A skewer might have come out clean before they were baked. I weighed all ingredients so I’m not sure what went awry. I placed the reserved apricots and pistachios atop the muffins before baking as I wasn’t going to glaze them. The apricots charred. All-in-all the worst muffins I have ever made. Not much flavor; inedible without copious amounts of butter. What a waste of time and good ingredients!
November 23, 2025
A new favorite muffin recipe
Highly recommended these muffins! Sweet, tangy, and nutty, while they're nice with the glaze, they're flavorful enough without the extra sugar. In a pinch, I made them with salted pistachios that had been just sitting in the cupboard and shelled myself. To compensate I used unsalted butter instead of salted, and cut down the amount of added salt. I also ground all the pistachios and didn't reserve any in larger chunks so that the salt would be evenly distributed. They turned out fine.
December 12, 2024
Tasty and beautiful
LOVED this recipe. Beautiful looking and lots of great taste between the apricots and the orange. I recommend weighing the flour. (eg, 358 grams of our Cdn flour is 2-1/4 cups instead of the 2-3/4 cups in recipe)
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