Cleaning Out the Freezer: Peach Muffins
Note: Since I am still on my delirious food tour of Philly, frolicking merrily with friends I love and far too busy to update you on the fun I’m having while I’m having it, I penitently offer you a post I wrote before leaving about some very delicious muffins I recently made. See–I planned ahead because I care. (I also knew it was impossible not to have ridiculous amounts of fun with Rachel, Sara, Becca, and Mary.) I leave for New York tomorrow, and I hope to have a little time to tell you all about the amazing places I’ve been so far in Philly–the Italian Market, Reading Terminal Market, Sabrina’s Café, White Dog Café, and Dock Street Brewery. Stay tuned!
One of the best things about the change of the seasons is the coming ready of different crops. Right now, apples are blushing and growing heavy, greens are sprouting tall, and squash are swelling full and bright. Other times of year have other gifts to offer. Last May, the Unicyclist and I took advantage of the first peaches of the year at Schnepf Farms in Queen Creek. The orchards are about a half hour from our home, and they grow several different varieties in pesticide-free orchards. We spent a morning there among the trees, enjoying the evidence of natural pest control–I came across several of the little alligator-like lacewing larvae as we picked, and an assassin bug stowed away in one of our flats of peaches. Both creepy-crawlies are beneficial insects that keep crop-munching pests under control.
We came back with a small mountain of fragrant peaches and apricots that filled the house with a wonderful scent. Then, a friend came by with about 20 pounds of peaches a neighbor had giver her from a tree in their yard. The peaches she brought were even more juicy and sweet. Softly furred, delicate, sunset-colored, we ate a half dozen fresh peaches or more a day. However, a couple days passed and the peach pile still loomed large. It was time to get down to business. Peach crisp. Peach jam. And a whoooooole lot of frozen peaches to enjoy later. All we had to do was wash them, pit them, and cut them in generous slices.
Since fresh peaches are long gone from this neck of the wood, I decided last weekend that it was time to enjoy some of them again. I pulled out a bag of my frozen peaches and chose, after a bit of deliberation, that muffins were the destination. This recipe is loosely based on the blueberry muffin recipe in Rose Levy Beranbaum’s The Bread Bible. They turned out great–dense and moist, sweet and tasting richly of peaches. While you may not have such amazing peaches hiding in your freezer, try it with fruit you do have squirreled away, or experiment with what’s fresh now. Recipes are frameworks, not rules.
Peach Muffins
Ingredients
4 T unsalted butter
1 c rapadura (unrefined sugar)
2 large eggs
1 1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
2 c whole wheat flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
2/3 c plain, unsweetened yogurt
1 1/2 c frozen peaches, thawed and coarsely crushed or chopped
1 tsp cinnamon
1 T mesquite meal (optional)
1/2 c dried currants
3/4 c toasted walnuts (put them in a dry cast iron skillet over medium heat and swizzle them around until they are brown and fragrant)
Preheat the over to 375 degrees with the rack in the middle of the oven. Either grease two dozen muffin tins with butter or line them with paper wrappers.
In a large bowl, cream the butter and rapadura. Beat in the eggs and vanilla, then add the yogurt. In a small bowl, whisk together the whole wheat flour, baking soda, cinnamon, mesquite meal, and salt. Add half the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients, mix, then add the remaining dry ingredients. Stir just until mixed. Fold in the peaches, currants, and walnuts.
Fill the muffin containers three-fourths full. Fill any leftover muffin cups half-full with water. Bake the muffins at 375 for 20-25 minutes and until golden, or when a toothpick inserted in the center of a muffin comes out clean.
Tip: If you use paper liners instead of greasing the tin, be warned that it’s easy to overbake the muffins because they don’t brown as easily on the edges even though the bottom may be quite dark. Be sure to check them using the toothpick.
After you take the tins from the over, remove the muffins from the tin and let cool on a wire rack. Extra muffins freeze well, so feel free to save some to enjoy later!
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