Ginger Peach Muffins

Ginger Peach Muffins

I have always loved reading good books. One of my favorite genres is cookbooks. Nonfiction at its best. Wait. Cookbooks count, right? I would’ve done a book report on one in fifth grade had it been allowed. I have stacks of them sitting around my house. A pile on top of the refrigerator. Two sitting on the dining room table. A few on the coffee table. And a handful more on hold at the library. I study the recipes. I read the notes. I devour the pictures.

My current favorite cookbook is Good to the Grain: Baking with Whole-Grain Flours (Amazon) by Kim Boyce. Boyce experiments with all kinds of wonderful combinations, starting with different flours. She includes many that are familiar : whole wheat, barley, buckwheat, multigrain, oat, and rye flour. She also moves into new flour territory : amaranth, quinoa, teff, spelt, and kamut.

Author Heidi Swanson  sums up the benefits of baking with a wider palette of flours by saying :

“There was a point in my life when I realized limiting myself to baking with all-purpose flour was like limiting myself to painting with just one color. Kim Boyce’s collection of beautifully rustic recipes inspires us to move enthusiastically into the rich palette of flavorful whole-grain flours and explore all they have to offer.”

I was eager to start “painting with more colors” in my kitchen. I made my flour list and headed to Bob’s Red Mill bulk section which had everything my little heart desired (WinCo’s bulk section carries many BRM products as well). 30 minutes and 8 bags of flour later, I was ready to start baking.

This muffin recipe was one of the first ones I tried. It combines oat flour, whole wheat flour, fresh peaches, and ginger into a light, flavorful muffin. If you’re not crazy about ginger, you could substitute cinnamon instead.

Peaches are in season right now, and the weather is cooling off again. Perfect combination. Grab some peaches, fire up the oven, and make these muffins today. They would be great with a cup of coffee and a good book. A cookbook, perhaps?

Ginger Peach Muffins

Recipe from Good to the Grain by Kim Boyce
Yield : 12 muffins

Ingredients

2 T. + 1 t. fresh ginger, grated

Peach Topping:
1 large or 2 small peaches, ripe but firm
1 T. unsalted butter*
1 T. honey

Dry Mix:
1 cup oat flour
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup whole-wheat flour
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 t. baking powder
1 t. baking soda
3/4 t. salt

Wet Mix:
3/4 stick (3 oz.) unsalted butter,* melted & cooled
3/4 c. whole milk
1/2 c. sour cream
1 egg
3 T. crystallized ginger, finely chopped

1. Preheat oven to 350. Coat muffin tins with cooking spray.
2. Grate the ginger into a large bowl. Some will be used for the topping & some for the batter.
3. For the topping, slice the peaches about 1/4″ thick; set aside. Put the butter, honey, and 1 t. of the grated ginger in a medium-size skillet. Melt the mixture over medium heat, stirring to combine. Cook until the syrup begins to bubble, about 2 minutes.
4. Add the sliced peaches, coating them with the syrup; set aside.
5. Combine the dry ingredients in a large bowl. Add the wet ingredients to the bowl with the grated ginger and whisk until thoroughly combined.
6. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and gently combine.
7. Scoop the batter into the prepared muffin cups. Lay one slice of peach over each muffin, tucking a second slice over the first one and partway into the batter. (Leftover peach slices are great over yogurt or ice cream.)
8. Bake for about 20-25 minutes, until golden brown. Take out of the muffin and cool slightly in the tins. Remove the muffins to a cooling rack.

* I often don’t bother with unsalted butter. If I don’t have it on hand, I just use regular, salted butter and slightly decrease the amount of salt called for in the recipe. Learn the difference between salted or unsalted butter.

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If you’ve never baked with silicone before, muffin pans are a great place to start! I find them easier to get clean than a traditional metal tin and they’re nice and flexible to pop your goodies out when they’ve cooled a bit. This 12-cup muffin pan from Keliwa gets great reviews and is fairly inexpensive!

Looking for more delicious muffin recipes?

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