Peach Cobbler Muffins

A couple of weeks ago I wrote about my love for summer fruit in my Cherry Garcia muffin blog post. Ever since then I've been thinking of ways to incorporate the beautiful summer fruit we have in abundance at the moment into my muffin recipes. A super traditional summer dessert is a peach cobbler, a soft and juicy baked fruit dish topped with flaky biscuits. That was the inspiration behind these muffins. Ripe peaches or nectarines cut into chunks and folded into a cinnamon-scented batter and topped with a cinnamon streusel.

Cinnamon Streusel
3 Tbs sugar
1/4 cup flour 
1/4 tsp cinnamon
pinch of salt
2 Tbs oil

Batter
2-3 peaches or nectarines
2 cups flour (all-purpose, whole wheat, spelt)
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 cup milk (any type)
1/3 cup vegetable or canola oil
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup sugar

In a small bowl mix together the streusel until it resembles wet sand and set aside.

Preheat the oven to 375°F/190°C

Line a standard-size muffin pan with paper liners

Dice the peaches or nectarines into small cubes and set aside.

In a large bowl mix together the flour, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon until combined. 
In a liquid measuring cup mix together the milk, oil, eggs, and vanilla. Stir the wet ingredients into the dry and add the 1/2 cup sugar.
Fold the diced fruit into the batter.
Scoop the batter into the prepared muffin tin and sprinkle each muffin with some cinnamon streusel slightly pressing the streusel into the batter. 
Bake for 18-20 minutes.

Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins

We all know that old saying: when life gives you lemons make lemonade. How about using that fresh lemon juice and make some lemon poppyseed muffins instead. They're bright and citrusy and with those little bits of crunchy poppy seeds, they make for a delicious summer snack! Most recipes for this classic muffin recipe use dairy products, but this recipe is dairy-free just use any non-dairy milk!

Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins 

2 1/2 cups flour 

2 tsp baking powder 

1/4 tsp baking soda 

1/2 tsp salt 

3 Tbs poppy seeds 

1 Tbs lemon zest (one lemon)

1/4 cup fresh lemon juice (about 1 1/12 lemons) 

1/3 cup milk of your choice 

2/3 cup vegetable or canola oil 

2 eggs

3/4 cup sugar 

Lemon Glaze 

3/4 cup confectioner's sugar 

2 Tbs lemon juice (1/2 lemon) 

Preheat the oven to 375°F/190°C

Line a standard-size muffin pan with paper liners or spray with oil. 

In a large bowl whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, poppy seeds, and lemon zest. 

To get the most juice out of the lemons roll them on the counter using a little bit of pressure. Cut the lemon in half width-wise and squeeze over your hand to catch any seeds. 

In a liquid measuring cup mix together the lemon juice and milk. Add the oil to the lemon milk mixture and mix in the eggs as well. 

Add the liquid mixture to the dry ingredients along with the sugar. Stir together until just combined. Scoop into the prepared muffin tin and bake for 15-18 minutes. Allow the muffins to cool for  5 minutes in the pan and then remove them from the pan and place on a cooling rack. 

While the muffins cool, make the glaze. In a bowl mix together the sugar and lemon juice if the glaze is too loose add a bit more sugar if it's too thick add a little splash of water. 

Once the muffins are cool drizzle the glaze over the top. To prevent making a mess on your counter place the cooling rack on a piece of parchment so the excess glaze drips on to the paper and not your counter. 

Store in an air-tight container for up to 3 days (you'll eat them all before then) they also freeze beautifully. 

Yield: 12 muffins 

Cherry Garcia Muffins

Last week when I was in the shuk, the large beautiful market place in the heart of Jerusalem that is bursting with amazing fresh produce and spices, I bought more cherries than any one person can eat. The produce in Israel is seasonal and local which means we only have certain produce certain times of the year. We might not be able to get some fruits throughout the year, but that's ok because the few weeks that they are available they are so incredibly delicious that you're ok with the fact that you can't have a peach in December.

Late spring is when the market starts filling with the fruits of summer; peaches, nectarines, apricots, cherries, plums, watermelon, to name a few. When these fruits are available you buy them in abundance like I did with the cherries last week.

The other day I was munching on some of these cherries and I got to thinking how I can add them to a muffin. I'm always trying to come up with new muffin recipes and now that it's summer I was thinking of ice cream flavors that can be turned into a muffin. My favorite ice cream flavor is cookie dough, but I didn't think that would translate well into muffin form and I would much rather just eat raw cookie dough. I'm sure many of you are familiar with the Ben&Jerry's ice cream flavor that is packed with chunks of chocolate and cherries, Cherry Garcia, and I thought that would really work as a muffin. The sweet-tart cherries with the creamy rich dark chocolate are an amazing combination. Pack those delicious flavors into a light and tender muffin and you've got yourself a great summer treat.

Cherry Garcia Muffins
1 1/2 cups flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/3 cup oil
1/2 cup milk of your choice
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup sugar + 1 Tbs sugar
2 cups of cherries about 30-35
100 grams/3.5 oz dark chocolate bar cut into chunks or 1/2 cup chocolate chips

Preheat the oven to 400°F/200°C
Line a muffin tin with paper liners or spray with oil.

In a large bowl mix together the flour, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon until just combined. In a liquid measuring cup mix together the oil, milk, egg, and vanilla. Stir the wet ingredients into the dry and add 1/2 cup sugar.
Using a cherry pitter or a straw push the pits out of the cherries and cut in half. Or you can use your fingers to pull the cherries apart and remove the pit.
Fold the pitted and halved cherries and the chocolate chunks into the batter.
Scoop the batter into the prepared muffin tin and sprinkle each muffin with the remaining one tablespoon of sugar.
Bake for 15-18 minutes.