Cranberry Muffins with Toasted Almonds

What better way to celebrate Hurricane Irene than with baking? It's been a while since I've had time to bake and with the forced shut down of NYC, I'm spending it in the kitchen.
The recipe was inspired by Allrecipe's Raspberry Almond Muffins:

Ingredients:
1 cup slivered almonds
2 cups all-purpose flour
2/3 cup white sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
4 tablespoons dried buttermilk  

1/2 cup butter
2 eggs, beaten
2 teaspoons almond extract
1 cup water
1 1/2 cups cranberries

Directions:
1.     Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).
2.     Arrange 3/4 cup almonds in a single layer on a medium baking sheet, and bake in the preheated oven 5 to 10 minutes, until lightly toasted.
3.     Reduce oven temperature to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
4.     In a medium bowl, mix flour, sugar, 3/4 cup almonds, baking powder, baking soda, salt and dried buttermilk.
5.     In a separate medium bowl, mix butter, eggs, almond extract and water. Blend into the flour mixture. Fold cranberries into batter. Spoon into the prepared muffin pan. Sprinkle with remaining almonds.
6.     Bake 20 - 25 minutes in the 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) oven, until a knife inserted in the center of a muffin comes out clean.

Ahah...as you can see, there aren't any almonds sprinkled on top of the muffin. It's because I toasted the almonds a bit too much and if I left them on top, they would have burned.

I could feel the potential of this muffin but it needs a bit more tweaking since it's a bit dry and the taste of toasted nut is too prevalent. The verdict of this recipe is try again.