Peach Muffins

I absolutely love inventing recipes.  Recently, Melissa (an old 4-H friend of mine who I haven't seen in about 20 years) of Magee Family Farm asked me if I would be interested in developing some peach and nectarine recipes for them to share with their customers.  Would I?  YES!

I received a 20 lb. box of the most gorgeous white peaches and nectarines.  Literally every piece of fruit was perfect.  My instructions from Melissa were straightforward- invent whatever I want, keep it pretty simple, and let her know what is good.

I would have been happy to just eat them all as is, but that wasn't the assignment!

I decided to make muffins.  For my first experiment, I added cooked and mashed nectarines to my basic muffin recipe (reducing the liquid accordingly), then folded in chunks of nectarine.  The muffins were good and the texture and moistness were just right, but the nectarine flavor didn't come through as much as I'd like. 

Attempt #1

I tried again, this time reducing the nectarine mash further and adding a heavy sprinkling of sugar on the muffin before baking.  Better, but still not enough nectarine flavor.

Attempt #2

I switched from nectarines to peaches and upped the amount of mashed fruit.  I added a cinnamon sugar dusting to the top.  Yum!  The peach flavor isn't very prominent, but it's there.  This is a delicious muffin. 

Attempt #3

Peach Muffins

                                 2 peaches, peeled                  1/2 c. milk           
                                 2 c. flour                                1/3 c. oil
                                 1/2 c. sugar + 1 T.                 1 egg       
                                 1 T. baking powder                1/4 tsp. cinnamon
                                 1/2 tsp. salt              
                                   

Dice one peach and add to a small saucepan.  Cook over low heat for 2-3 minutes, mashing with a potato masher as it cooks.  The peach will look like watery applesauce.  Remove from heat and transfer to a medium bowl.  While it cools, dice second peach and set aside.   In a large bowl, combine flour, 1/2 c. sugar, baking powder and salt.  When the peach mash is cool, add milk, oil, and egg and mix well.  Stir the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients, stirring just until moistened.  Fold in diced peaches. 

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Fill 12 paper lined muffin cups (about 3/4 full).  Combine remaining 1 T. sugar with cinnamon and sprinkle evenly over the muffins.  Bake 20-22 minutes or until done.  Cool on wire racks.

Makes 12.