Peach Blueberry Muffins

I like to use fresh fruit when I’m baking, but I have been known to use a wide variety of frozen and canned fruit, as well. These shelf-stable (or freezer-stable) options let me use my favorite fruits all year round, so I can enjoy ripe berries in the winter and homemade pumpkin bread in the spring if I am in the mood for it. These Peach Blueberry Muffins combine two wonderful summer fruits – peaches and blueberries – into a muffin that can easily be enjoyed all year round.

The muffins start out with ripe peaches. You can use fresh peaches (in season), frozen and defrosted peaches, or jarred peaches. If you are using jarred peaches, choose fruit that is packed in juice instead of syrup and drain it well. The peaches should be pureed until quite smooth. This puree is stirred into the muffin batter and brings a delicious peach flavor into every bite. Using the puree also means that you won’t have any soggy bites of muffin, which you can encounter with fresh peach chunks that they give off a lot of moisture when baking. The peachy batter has blueberries – again, fresh or frozen can be used – stirred into it before baking. Be generous with the blueberries.

The finished muffins are soft and fluffy, with a nice high rise that makes them look very attractive. They have a soft, floral peach flavor and bursts of intense berry in just about every bite. I topped my muffins with a sprinkle of coarse sugar before baking to give the muffin tops a little texture and to add some additional sweetness. The muffins are at their very best when they are fresh from the oven, but they’ll remain nice and moist for at least a day or two after baking if you store them in an airtight container.

Peach Blueberry Muffins
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 large egg
2 tsp orange zest
3/4 cup peach puree (approx 2 medium, ripe peaches)
1/4 cup milk
8 oz blueberries, fresh or frozen
coarse sugar for topping

Preheat oven to 375F. Line a 12-cup muffin tin with paper liners.
In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
In a large bowl, whisk together sugar, vegetable oil, egg and orange zest until well combined. Stir in half of the flour mixture, followed by the peach puree and milk. Stir in the remaining flour mixture, stirring until no streaks of dry ingredients remain. Fold in blueberries until well-distributed. If using frozen berries, toss them in a spoonful of flour before adding them to the batter.
Divide batter evenly into prepared muffin cups and sprinkle with coarse sugar
Bake for 20 minutes, or until muffins are golden and a toothpick inserted into the center of each comes out clean, or with only a few moist crumbs attached. Transfer muffins to a wire rack to cool before servin.

Makes 12.