Fresh Peaches and Cream Muffins (Monday Muffins!)

When my daughter was 9 years old, she wanted a peach tree for Christmas.  The logistics of finding and wrapping a peach tree in December in Virginia aside, we were renting our townhouse and knew we'd be moving in another year-ish (given the standard "military future uncertainty" spin on things).

No peach tree that Christmas.  However, after we moved here and became homeowners,  we set about making our back yard a more edible landscape.  Thanks to my spouse's hard work, part of the patio became a strawberry patch and raspberry canes went into a back corner with blueberry bushes and recycled raised beds along the fences.  My daughter got her peach tree--two of them, in fact, one dwarf variety and one not-so-dwarf variety.  In the spring the trees have beautiful blossoms, in the summer their thick foliage provides a dense patch of shade.

My daughter carefully tends the trees--removing diseased leaves, thinning the branches and then the fruit, so that each peach has plenty of room and air circulation.  But her dream of harvesting her own peaches has not borne fruit, so to speak.  Apparently the fauna of our backyard can read the Certified Wildlife Habitat sign and think that the peaches, and blueberries for that matter, are for them.  It's OK, they are eating unripe peaches, and we can get fresh ripe peaches nearby to make these lovely muffins.

If you've been making ice cream lately, you may have half a cup of heavy cream left over.  (If not, go out and buy a pint of heavy cream and use 1 1/2 cups for a batch of ice cream so you'll have a leftover.)  Use it in these muffins!  They taste so rich "almost like peach poundcake" my daughter said while polishing off the leftovers on the second day.  I used more sugar than I usually use in a muffin (1/3 cup vs my usual 1/4 cup, when I remember to add the sugar) and only 1/2 cup of whole wheat flour, but this muffin recipe remains one that I'm happy to offer my kids as a snack or breakfast, not just reserved for dessert. 

NOTE: This recipe is not gluten free as written, because I used all purpose and whole wheat flours. To adapt this recipe for a gluten free diet please substitute the gluten free flour blend of your choice, or make your own--here are some options:
http://glutenfreedoctor.com/gluten-free-flour-mix-white/
http://glutenfreedoctor.com/gluten-free-flour-mix-whole-grain/
Check labels to confirm that your other ingredients are also gluten free. Good sources for determining gluten free products can be found here:
http://knowgluten.me/2012/03/31/other-names-for-gluten/
http://glutenfreedoctor.com/gluten-free/
http://www.celiac.com/categories/Safe-Gluten%252dFree-Food-List-%7B47%7D-Unsafe-Foods-%26amp%3B-Ingredients/

Fresh Peaches and Cream Muffins (makes only 11, and that annoys me)

(recipe riffed off of the Basic Muffin Recipe in Muffins: A Cookbook)

1 egg

1/2 cup heavy cream

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/4 cup vegetable oil of your choice

1/3 cup brown sugar

1 cup or 4 1/4 ounces unbleached all purpose flour

1/2 cup or 2 ounces whole wheat flour

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

2 teaspoons baking powder
1 cup chopped fresh peaches

Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit, and spray 11 holes of a 12 cup muffin pan with oil spray (or line with cupcake papers, your choice).  In a large bowl mix egg, cream, vanilla, oil and brown sugar until thoroughly combined.  Dump dry ingredients on top (not the peaches yet!) and stir a few times.  Dump the peaches on top, then stir until all ingredients are just combined. Scoop** (Amazon affiliate link) into prepared pan, and bake in preheated oven for 15 minutes or until tops are golden brown.  Remove from oven and let sit, in pan, another 3-5 minutes before attempting extraction removing to a cooling rack to finish cooling.  Serve warm or at room temperature.  Delicious with buttery spread and a cold glass of milk when warm, or with a cold glass of milk in a day or two.

**My scoop holds 3 Tablespoons (1 ½ ounces) by volume, though the muffin batter is mounded in the scoop so I'm pretty sure I'm putting a good 3 ½ to 4 Tablespoons into each muffin well.  The muffin wells in my regular muffin pans each hold 3 ounces by volume.

This post is shared with the Clever Chicks Blog Hop, Tasty Tuesdays, Mostly Homemade Mondays, the Wednesday Fresh Foods Link Up, What's Cookin' Wednesday, What's In The Box, the From The Farm Blog Hop, Food on Friday