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As I stated in an earlier entry, I love summer fruit. And while blackberries and cherries are great, peaches are my absolute favorite. During high school, some of my best summer days were spent with a good friend of mine on her family's fruit farm. We'd spend hours outside picking blueberries and raspberries, only to come inside and dive into a pile of ripe, sweet peaches. The Schmitkon's family farm grows, hands down, THE BEST peaches I have ever tasted in my life. The peaches are always incredibly sweet, juicy, and, at times, GIGANTIC! This summer, I had originally planned to make a pie with my box of peaches. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to pick up the peaches until the end of my summer and didn't have the time to make a pie. Instead I opted to make my go-to vanilla cupcakes with a little summer twist -- fresh peaches tossed into the batter!
Vanilla Peach Cupcakesadapted from Billy's Vanilla Vanilla cupcake recipe1 3/4 cups cake flour [NOT the self-rising type]
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup [2 sticks] unsalted butter, cut into 1-inch cubes
4 large eggs
1 cup whole milk [I used 2%]1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract [or vanilla bean paste!]
2 medium peaches, skin removed, finely chopped
Preheat oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit and line cupcake pans with paper liners; set aside. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine flours, sugar, baking powder, and salt; mix on low speed until combined. Add butter, mixing until just coated with flour.
In a large measuring cup, whisk together eggs, milk, and vanilla. With mixer on medium speed, add wet ingredients in 3 parts, scraping down sides of bowl before each addition. Beat until ingredients are incorporated but do not overbeat. Gently fold in peaches.
Divide batter evenly among liners, filling about two-thirds full. Bake, rotating pan halfway through, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean (about 17 to 20 minutes). Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.For the frosting, I turned to my favorite frosting which came from a red velvet recipe. I added orange Wilton gel dye to make the frosting a fun, summery color to compliment my summery cupcakes! Some flower-shaped sprinkles added a nice finishing touch.
I brought most of the cupcakes down to OWU with me and shared with my friends. These treats received rave reviews from everyone, especially those at the cookout I stopped by on my second night back.
I keep trying to find a way to start this entry and I'm failing miserably, so we'll start this way -- I love me some berries and cherries. Summer fruit is my favorite. Cherries, strawberries, blackberries...I want 'em all. Imagine my delight to find a recipe in Cooking Light this summer for Cherry Berry Jam. All the recipe calls for is cherries, berries, lemon juice, and sugar. I decided to give it a whirl and it turned out pretty well. I should have let the jam simmer for a little while longer, but I'm ridiculously impatient and that resulted in a pretty thin jam that I now refer to as a spread. After using the deliciousness for the topping on our breakfast toast for two weeks straight we still had a ton of the jam left over. I turned to BakeBakeBake for some help and found this recipe.
Cherry Berry Oatmeal Bars
1 cup whole wheat flour [all-purpose would work, also, but I had to use up my wheat flour]
1 cup rolled oats1/4 cup brown sugar
pinch of salt
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
4-5 tablespoons of butter
Preheat your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit and grease a 9x9 inch baking pan. Combine flour, oats, sugar, salt, and baking soda. Cut in the cold butter until a crumbly mixture is formed. Press 2/3 of the mixture into the bottom of the pan. Spread as much jam as you would like over the bottom layer, but be sure to leave a 1/4 inch edge so the jam doesn't bubble over the topping. Sprinkle the remaining mixture over the jam and press lightly into jam. Bake for 35 to 40 minutes or until lightly browned. Cool on a wire rack.
These were good. Not phenomenal, but definitely not bad. They were very tasty warm but I actually preferred them a day or more later. The bars took on a chewier texture and held together much better than on the first day. I would be more enthusiastic about these bars but I much prefer cakes and brownies than something like this. But if you have some extra jam or jelly or whatever to use up I would recommend these oatmeal bars. They make a nice, light alternative to heavier and more decadent desserts...and they're healthier!
I believe I first saw this recipe at BakeBakeBake. It sounded like such a delicious muffin and knew I would have to try it. Lo and behold, a couple days later our counter top was littered with some overripe bananas! Perfect! I made these muffins Monday evening and I found it incredibly funny that I woke up that morning to find a version of these muffins posted on Cathlin Cooks. I loooove her blog. She always has great recipes and pictures, and makes an effort to healthy-fy [I love making up my own words, don't I?] her baking.
I changed up this recipe to fit my own preferences, but the original can be found here.
Pina Colada Muffins
1/2 cup applesauce
1/2 cup packed brown sugar1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract3/4 teaspoons rum
3 ripe bananas, mashed
1/4 cup honey2 large eggs
2 cups whole wheat flour
3/4 teaspoons baking soda3/4 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg1/2 teaspoon salt1/2 cup diced fresh pineapple
shredded coconut [mine was sweetened]
Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Prepare muffin tins.
In a large bowl, beat together the applesauce, brown sugar, vanilla, and rum. In a separate bowl, combine mashed bananas, eggs, and honey. Add to the sugar mixture. Beat until thoroughly combined.
In a separate bowl, combine flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt. Stir into banana mixture, then add the pineapple.
Spoon the batter into muffin cups and top each muffin with coconut [yum!].
Bake muffins for about 20 to 25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean. Remove from the oven, and cool in tins for a few minutes before removing to racks to cool completely.
These muffins are delicious! Absolutely delicious! They are so, so moist and flavorful. The whole wheat flour provides a different, heartier texture that I really do enjoy in this muffin. You can't even tell applesauce was used in place of the butter and I think it helps provide additional moisture to the muffin. If I could change anything about the recipe, I would perhaps add more pineapple and DEFINITELY add more coconut. I find it a little funny that I want to pile these up with coconut when maybe a year or so ago I would have screamed at the thought of coconut being in my food. Ahh, how things change.
