Brown Butter Peach Crumble Bars

 Farmer's markets, fresh flowers, peaches and brown butter shortbread bars. Just some of my favorite things from this summer.

I have been so busy this summer that I have not been able to blog as much as I have wanted. However, the baking is still happening. While the toddler is sleeping I am trying to get photos off of the camera and into the blog-o-sphere. 

These are an easy crumble bar, but browning the butter ahead of time gives them a nutty flavor that is just lovely. The fresh peaches add sweetness and it all just screams summer fun. I hope you agree!

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.