Summer Fruit: Ginger Peach Muffins

Now that Memorial Day has passed. Bring out the sunscreen, BBQ, and those amazing summer fruits. Stone fruits are starting to make their way into the market and in Santa Cruz they are just about ripe. A great match for Ginger Peach Muffins. The recipes calls for peaches that are ripe but still firm so that they can hold up to the bit of sauteing.  Perfect.

I love baking muffins to share with others and this recipe is full of wonderful peach and spicy ginger flavors. Kim Boyce's book Good to the Grain incorporates whole grains into her delightful recipe. A perfect combination of whole grains and sweet bursts of fruit... Ready for summer?  I am.

Using Oat flour gives this muffin a nutty flavor that mellows out some of the in your face flavor that ginger can give off.  I didn't want to use all the ginger that the recipe called for and used less of the candied ginger in the batter.  Next time I am also going to add more peaches to the top of the muffins as they added a bright burst of flavor.

One thing to make sure of is to let the muffins cool just a bit before twisting them out of the muffin tin... you will soon see that I can be a bit of an impatient baker and lost one in the process.

It's best to enjoy these muffins the day they are made, but they should hold up well if tightly covered for about 2 days, if they last that long.

Ginger Peach Muffins adapted from
 Kim Boyce: Good to the Grain


Makes about nine giant muffins 
( I would bet using mini- muffin tins would be good as well)


Ingredients
Peach topping:
3 small ripe but firm peaches
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
1 tablespoon honey
1 & 1/2 to 1 & 1/4  teaspoon fresh grated ginger. Depending on your taste. (Make sure to grate it finely otherwise you can get some of the little ginger threads in the fresh grated ginger)


Dry mix:
1 cup oat flour (found at health food stores)
3/4 cup all purpose flour
1/2 whole wheat flour
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 dark brown sugar packed
1 teaspoon baking powered
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon kosher salt
Wet mix:
3/4 stick or 3 oz unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly
3/4 cup whole milk
1/2 cup + 1 tablespoon sour cream
1 egg
2 tablespoon finely chopped crystallized ginger
1 teaspoon fresh ginger


Butter muffin tins
Set oven to 350 F with rack placed in the middle of the oven


Grate ginger (as finely as you can) and place in a bowl. The recipe called for using some ginger for the topping of the muffins. I did not do this but I did use some raw sugar sprinkled on top to help give the peaches and the muffin tops some added carmelization and crunch.


Peach Topping
Halve the peaches and slice to about 1/4 inch thick. Add butter, honey, and ginger to a mid-sized skillet.
Cook until melted. Add the sliced peaches. Stirring until the cooked syrup begins to bubble. Toss the pan to coat all the peaches take off the flame and let them sit and be happy.


Sift dry ingredients together in a large bowl.


Mix wet ingredients to the bowl.  Now this is where I changed things up a bit. I added less crystallized ginger, only about 2 tablespoons, and then added about 1 teaspoon fresh grated ginger.  Add to the wet ingredients and whisk.
Add the wet ingredients to the dry and stir gently until combined.


Scoop batter into 9 buttered muffin tins. I used an ice cream scoop to do this, the batter should be slightly mounded above the edge.  I filled every other muffin tin leaving space around the muffins to make sure that they did not run together when they puffed up.
Toss the peaches to coat them with the yummy pan juices. If the peaches are on the smaller end I would use two to three slices per muffin. I only used two and wanted a bit more peach flavor and texture.


Tuck one or two slices of peach over each muffin into the batter and place another slice on top of the muffin. Sprinkle the top with some raw sugar or you could even place a few finely chopped candied ginger pieces.


Bake for 24 to 28 min rotating once during the baking. My Dirty Oven took about 28 min. They are done when the tops of the muffins are golden brown and the edges of the peaches are caramelized.


Take the tins out of the oven and (let cool for a couple of min) then gently twist the muffins out of the tins and let them cool on their sides or transfer to a cooling rack. This makes sure that the bottom does not get soggy.  I lost one solider in this process.


Enjoy with some yogurt or even a bit of vanilla ice cream.  Let the muffins cool before tasting as the oat flour can be a bit gummy if not cooled entirely.
Time to get dirty!