Peach & Raspberry Muffins

Hello! It’s school holidays and Mr 11 asked can we make sushi. Oh, how he’s grown, he’s always requested chocolate chip cookie baking in the hols, how did we get to sushi so fast?!

Spring is coming along nicely with a few days that have been more like summer, even had the ole sunscreen out, so today I’d like to share this summery (or should I say ‘springy’) fruity, super easy and delicious muffin recipe. 🙂

I always have a tin of peaches in the pantry, frozen raspberries or blueberries in the freezer and usually natural yoghurt in the fridge, so if I have to whip up some muffins without going to the supermarket, these will be the ones.

They are mixed with natural, unsweetened yoghurt like all of my other muffins making them tender (I’d like to also say ‘moist’ but apparently it’s on the most hated word list, lol….so now I refrain!) and I like to press a peach into the tops before they go into the oven so they look cool!

I’m not going to dribble on today like I can, just try them and let me know how they turn out! 🙂

INGREDIENTS

410 g / 14 oz can of peaches in syrup (a standard sized tin, the weights vary slightly)
115 g / 4 oz butter
½ cup castor sugar
2 large eggs (I use size 7’s)
2 cups standard flour (loosely packed)
3 teaspoons baking powder (yes….3!)
1 cup fresh or frozen raspberries
½ cup + 2 tablespoons of plain, unsweetened, natural yoghurt

Optional – x 12 standard-size muffin cases or x 6 large Texas-size muffin cases
Decorating – Icing sugar (confectioners sugar) for dusting

Makes x 12 standard-size muffins (7 cm W x 3 cm D holes) or x 6 large Texas-size muffins (8.5 cm W x 4 cm D holes)

Notes

You can switch the raspberries for blueberries but change the yoghurt measure to ¾ of a cup (as they are not as moist as the raspberries). 🙂
You can also switch the peaches for pear halves. they go great with raspberries or blueberries.

STEP BY STEP

First liberally spray the muffin tin with non-stick cooking spray or place your cases into the holes.

I don’t bother spraying the insides of the muffin papers but you can give them a light spray if you like. It may also depend on the quality of them as to how easily they come away from the muffins or cupcakes.

Next, preheat the oven to 170°C fan bake oven or 190°C conventional oven, on bake, with a rack situated in the centre of the oven.

Getting started on the muffins, first strain the peaches through a sieve.

Then remove either 6 of the biggest ones (if making Texan-sized muffins) or 12 of the smaller ones (if making standard-sized muffins) and then roughly chop up the rest.

Melt the butter in a small saucepan over a low heat or on HIGH in the microwave for approx. 1 min, 20 secs (or until done).

Add the melted butter to a large bowl (no need to let it cool down) and add to it the castor sugar.

Using a large spoon, mix the two together until they are just combined.

I was told that using the butter hot gives the muffins a better colour so I use it straight away. I also think it gives the muffins a fudgy texture as it melts the castor sugar a bit.

Now add both of the eggs and quickly mix them in well.

I didn’t take a pic of this! What sort of ‘step by step’ in this! OCD is not impressed by any means!

Next, throw on (literally) the flour, baking powder, the chopped peaches the raspberries (or blueberries) and the yoghurt.

If ‘throwing’ in the flour and baking powder together worries you, you can sift or stir them together in a separate bowl first and then add them.

Fold it all together until it’s all just combined. Usually, I leave a bit of flour around the edges of the bowl so I know it’s not over mixed.

Muffins are like scones, they don’t appreciate a lot of handling. Over mixing will cause them to be denser and not as ‘fluffy’ in texture.

Now carefully spoon the muffin mixture into the sprayed tin or cases (either 6 large or 12 small), being careful not to push the mix down as they will rise less and be denser in texture.

I wait until I have distributed the whole mix before I check that they all have the same amount in them because like I said they hate being played with. Then I take bits from the bigger ones and place it on top of the smaller looking ones, still not pushing the mixture downwards…..more like moving it around, not down. For example, I will take some from a larger one and add it to a gap on top of a smaller one or I will move some mix sideways to fill in a gap but I still try not to push the mix down.

If you are using those muffin papers that are higher than the tin be careful to try not to get any batter on the paper as it will cook on there and they won’t look a nice.

Now gently press a flat finger into the top of each and…..

…..place a peach slice into the top of each (so the outside of the peach slice is facing up and gently press the ends down so they are less likely to pop out when the muffins are rising in the oven).

Place them in the oven and bake the smaller ones for 20 minutes and 30 minutes for the Texas-sized ones or until they are a medium brown all over, feel firm when you gently press the centres and a small, sharp knife inserted into the centres comes out clean.

Leave them in the tin for 10 minutes before gently removing them or you can be rough like me and just flip the tin upside down, give the bottoms a tap, and they should fall out!

Then flip em back over and…..

…..if you like to, dust them with icing sugar using a sugar shaker or a little sieve.

Keepin’ em fresh – They are best kept in the pantry in an air-tight container and are perfect eaten on the day. The second day they’re still okay but not as awesome as they are on day one, so I like to warm them up for 15 seconds in the microwave to freshen them up a bit….just above room temperature.