Peach Pie Muffins

All day yesterday, I was craving some peach pie.

I definitely needed more peaches than these, but at the end of the day, pie was feeling like a lot of work. Clearly muffins would do the trick.

They didn’t have to be fancy. I just wanted some juicy pockets of peach inside some tender muffin. Preferably healthy. (Still detoxing after all that cake. Well. My version of a detox anyway.)

Some crumble would have been nice, but I really just wanted simple. Simple juicy peach pockets. Simple wholesome muffins!

So I chopped up a ripe peach, tossed it in some flour and quinoa, added some sugar to a little sploosh of chia seeds, mixed in a blip of butter and a generous helping of yogurt, and I had the tender, juicy-pocketed, sweet-smelling, slightly nutty muffins of my dreams. In about 35 minutes flat.

That + 1 sweaty elliptical session + Hitch with a cute someone = bright side of a long day.

I’m thinking you should also have some this weekend. In addition to your pancakes and french toast, of course.

Who’s excited for the weekend?!

Notes

I think these would also be great made with white whole wheat flour or part oat flour, but I was out. I cooked my quinoa especially for sweet recipes, so I used almond milk as the simmering liquid instead of water. To infuse your quinoa with extra flavor, try adding honey, cinnamon or sugar–you may be able to reduce the sugar slightly during baking later on.

If you don’t have chia seeds, you can use half an egg (whisk one egg and measure out 3 tablespoons), 1/2 tablespoon of flaxseed mixed with 1.5 tablespoons warm water, two tablespoons of buttermilk, or an extra two tablespoons of Greek yogurt. You’ll miss the crunchy, slightly nuttiness of the seeds, though.

I tried this recipe with both all brown sugar and half brown/half white and didn’t notice a significant difference. If you’re out of one type of sugar, use the other.

I also didn’t peel my peaches and didn’t notice no thang.

Peach Pie Muffins 
Adapted from Sally’s Baking Addiction

Yield: 6-8 muffins (this is super easy to double!)

• 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/4 cup cooked quinoa
• 1/2 tbsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/2 tablespoon chia seeds mixed with 1.5 tbsp warm water
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup light brown sugar
• 2 tbsp unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly
• 1/2 cup + 2 tablespoons 0% Greek yogurt (higher fat content works also)
• 1 and 1/4 cups chopped fresh peaches (thawed, frozen peaches would work too)

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.  Grease or line a muffin tin with liners. 

Combine the flour, baking powder and salt in a medium bowl.  In a separate bowl, add the sugars to the gelled chia mixture–mixture will be thick and gloppy.  Stir in the melted butter.  Add the yogurt and stir until JUST combined–do not overmix.

Add the peaches to the dry ingredients and toss to cover in flour.  Slowly add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients, in two addition if you make a full batch. Fold carefully after each addition so you don’t disturb the peaches.  Stir until the batter just comes together and you can’t see any streaks of flour. Overmixing here will yield tough, chewy muffins. The batter will be very, very thick.

Spoon the batter into prepared muffin tins. For extremely tall muffins, fill the tins all the way to the top. (Sally has some cool tips for tall muffins!) Otherwise, fill your desired amount.  Bake at 425 for 5 minutes.  Reduce oven temperature to 350 and continue to bake for 20-22 more minutes.  Allow to cool for 5 minutes.

You may also like:

Peach Cobbler Breakfast Squares
Vegan Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins
The No-Fat Muffins (with Blueberries)