I woke up in the middle of the night with an irrepressible urge to bake something with peaches. That was 3am this morning. I really ought to be in bed but alas it just did not work out. If I really want to legitimize my strange sleep schedule, I could have said I am a true fan of the Summer Games. I’m sure that excuse will come in handy starting tomorrow. As for today, there was no excuse why I was up at that hour.
After watering all the plants in the house and checking my email, my urge to bake still didn’t go away. So I ate a peach. The proverbial eating a peach over the sink with juice running down my hands held true. A peach at its seasonal best really did not need to be tinkered with. It is perfection wrapped in the prettiest shade of red, orange, and gold. What was I thinking?! I was about to send a few innocent peaches into the blazing heat of an oven!
That feeling lasted about 30 minutes. Next thing I knew, I got out my mixing bowls and scaled out ingredients for a batch of Ginger Peach Muffin.
I love these breakfast treats. The muffins certainly cannot replace the sensual experience of biting into a ripe peach. However, its warmth and that little zing from ginger were what I craved this rainy morning. The suffocating heat we’ve been experiencing this summer was nowhere to be felt. The overnight thunderstorm even brought on a bit of chill in the air. Steaming mug of coffee and a fresh peachy muffin felt just right.
Ginger Peach Muffin
adapted from Buttermilk Blueberry Muffin from The Grand Central Baking Book
makes 10 muffins
Ingredients
- 212g or 7.5oz all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
- 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
- 2 tablespoons finely chopped crystalized ginger
- 85g or 3oz unsalted butter, melted
- 75g or 2.75oz granulated sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon almond extract
- 2 large eggs, room temperature
- 125mL or 4 fluid oz buttermilk, room temperature
- 2 small firm but ripe peaches, diced (about 1 cup)
Method
- Preheat oven to 350F. Line a 12-cavity muffin pan with liners.
- In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients including flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, ground ginger, and crystalized ginger.
- In a medium mixing bowl, whisk thoroughly melted butter, sugar, and almond extract. The sugar brings down the temperature of the butter so it doesn’t clump up or cooks the eggs unintentionally. Whisk in eggs until smooth.
- Make a well of your dry ingredients and pour in the melted butter mixture. Pour in buttermilk as well. Fold very gently with a large spatula and stop just when you see large pockets of flour. Fold in peach dices and stop when it is just mixed. The batter would be thick and lumpy.
- Portion into prepared muffin tin. I got 10 muffins out of the batter using a 1/4-cup ice-cream scoop.
- Bake for 25-30 minutes until golden and toothpick comes out clean. Unmould after 5 minutes and cool on wire rack. Of course, I would recommend that you gobble it all up before the muffins completely cool down. A generous smear of mascarpone is particularly good.
