Spiced Peach Crumble Muffins

My family adores muffins so I am constantly playing around with new flavour combinations. This new version would be ideal for a brunch as they are packed with flavour and substantial enough to be satisfying.

Canned peaches are great for baking, especially when local fresh ones are not in season, because they have no preservatives and are often packed in their own juices. Plus, when cooked, canned peaches maintain their shape and firmness better than fresh or frozen so you’ll have pretty little peachy bits inside your muffins, instead of mush. The cardamom adds a great complexity to the flavour, but you can use cinnamon instead if you prefer. Last but not least, this is a great make-ahead brunch item, as these muffins freeze beautifully.

Spiced Peach Crumble Muffins

Ingredients:

Crumble topping

2 tbsp butter, softened
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup quick cooking oats
2 tbsp all-purpose flour
1/4 tsp cinnamon

Muffins

1 (398 mL) can sliced peaches
2 tbsp all-purpose flour
3/4 cup butter, melted
3/4 cup (packed) brown sugar
2 eggs
1/2 tsp freshly ground cardamom
3/4 tsp almond extract
1 cup all-purpose flour PLUS 2 tbsp
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup peach jam

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 375F and line 18 muffin tin compartments with paper liners.
   
• Make crumble topping by combining sugar and butter until well blended. Add flour, oats and cinnamon and stir until mixture is in coarse crumbs. Refrigerate until needed; this will make it easier to crumble over muffin batter.
   
• Drain the peaches, reserving juice if desired (add it to smoothies if you like). Pat the peach segments dry with paper towel and chop finely by hand or in a food processor. Measure chopped peaches – you want 1 cup (remove rest and save for another purpose). Put peaches in a broad, shallow bowl and sprinkle with 2 tbsp of flour, tossing to combine. This step will keep the peaches from sinking in the batter and causing the muffins to be soggy on the bottom.
   
• Put brown sugar and melted butter in a mixing bowl (use a stand mixer if you have one) and beat until well blended. Add eggs and beat again. Add cardamom and almond extract and beat again.
   
• Combine flours and baking powder in a small bowl. Add half this mixture to the brown sugar, butter and egg mixture along with half the milk and beat quickly until just blended. Add remaining flour and milk to the bowl, beat again until just blended.
   
• Stir in the peach jam and chopped peaches.
   
• Fill muffin tins 3/4 full with the batter; with your fingertips, sprinkle about 2 teaspoons of the crumble topping over each portion of batter.
   
• Bake for 20 – 22 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the centre comes out clean.

Makes 18 scrumptious muffins.

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