Brown Sugar Nectarine Muffins #MuffinMonday

These Brown Sugar Nectarine Muffins are the perfect snack or on-the-go breakfast, not too sweet and filled with healthy fruit. Your family will love them! 

Seasonal fruit-filled muffins are one of my favorite things to bake. I always feel just a little more virtuous when I know my ingredients are mostly sourced locally and I’m fortunate that my nearby grocery store proudly displays the origin of their produce. 

A couple of years ago, I ordered a box of Georgia peaches from the The Peach Truck – you’ve probably seen their ads on social media lately – and while the peaches were wonderful, they had come a good distance to get to me. Also, the minimum order is 25 lbs. I must have lost my mind to think three people could eat 25 lbs of peaches!

I made pie. I made jam. I made spicy chutney. We ate COUNTLESS peaches! Finally, I cut them off the pits and froze sliced peaches with a little sugar in Ziploc bags. I learned my lesson though. Never ordering from The Peach Truck again! At least not alone. Perhaps someday I’ll share a box. 

Besides, I really do prefer nectarines with their smooth skins. Just me?

Ingredients for 6 muffins

3/4 cup or 94g all purpose flour

1/4 cup or 50g brown sugar, plus extra for topping

1 tablespoon cornstarch

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

1 ripe but firm nectarine (about 6 oz or 170g whole)

1/3 cup or 80ml milk

1/4 cup or 57g unsalted butter, melted and cooled

1 large egg

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Method

Preheat the oven to 350°F or 180°C. Line a 6-cup muffin pan with baking cups or grease the pan with a little oil or butter.

Discard the pit from the nectarine and cut it into small pieces. Set aside six pieces to top the muffins. 

In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, cornstarch, baking powder and cinnamon. Stir in the big pile of chopped nectarines and separate the pieces, coating them all with the dry ingredients.

In a separate bowl, whisk together the milk, melted butter, egg and vanilla. 

Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and fold until just combined. 

Scoop the batter into the prepared pan. Top each with the reserved piece of nectarine and sprinkle a bit of brown sugar on top of each muffin. 

Bake in the preheated oven for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. Set on a wire rack to cool. 

Enjoy!

It’s the last Monday of the month and that means it’s Muffin Monday! How is June almost over already? Check out the lovely muffins my blogger friends are sharing with you. 

• Brown Sugar Nectarine Muffins from Food Lust People Love
• Sausage Pancake Muffins from Jolene's Recipe Journal
• Sourdough Brownie Muffins from Zesty South Indian Kitchen
• Zucchini Carrot Muffins from Karen's Kitchen Stories

#MuffinMonday is a group of muffin loving bakers who get together once a month to bake muffins. You can see all of our lovely muffins by following our Pinterest board. Updated links for all of our past events and more information about Muffin Monday can be found on our home page.

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Summer Squash Gratin

This summer squash gratin with bacon elevates simple crookneck squash from fine to fabulous with a topping of Parmesan, breadcrumbs and pine nuts.

Crookneck yellow squash is one of the summer crops I most look forward to although, oddly, they’ve been turning up in my supermarket more often year round. I guess they are being shipping in from somewhere but I always think of them as a southern summer vegetable so I mostly wait for the appropriate season to buy. 

Like asparagus, it takes away from their specialness when they are available all the time! Ditto peaches, nectarines and watermelon. Those are never as sweet as the local summer ripened fruit. 

Summer Squash Gratin

You can substitute zucchini for the squash if you can’t get them. This is the perfect recipe for when there’s a zucchini glut!

Ingredients

3 1/2 oz or 100g smoked bacon

2.2 lbs or 1 kg crookneck squash

2 large cloves garlic, minced

3 1/2 oz or 100g freshly grated Parmesan (or gruyere)

1/2 cup or 70g fresh breadcrumbs 

1/3 cup or 35g pine nuts

Canola or other light oil for greasing the casserole dish

Method

Remove the ends of the squash and slice them into circles. 

Cut the bacon into small pieces and cook until crispy in a large skillet. Remove the bacon from the skillet with a slotted spoon, leaving behind the rendered fat.

Brown the squash in the bacon fat. Do this in batches so you don’t crowd the pan. We want some nice color on both sides.

Preheat your oven to 350°F or 180°C and lightly grease a casserole dish with oil. 

Once the squash has browned, tip all batches back into the skillet with the garlic and crispy bacon. 

Cook for a few minutes, stirring occasionally. Spoon the mixture into a casserole dish. 

In a mixing bowl, combine the cheese and breadcrumbs, then top the squash with them. 

Sprinkle on the pine nuts.

Bake in your preheated oven for about 40-45 minutes or until the gratin is well golden on top.

Enjoy! 

It’s Sunday FunDay and today we are sharing fresh garden harvest recipes. Many thanks to our host, Renu of Renu Cooks. Check out all the lovely recipes below.

• Cucumber Jalapeño Margarita from Amy's Cooking Adventures
• Blender Salsa from Palatable Pastime
• Sweet and Spicy Rhubarb Chutney from Cook with Renu
• Caprese Skewers from Mayuri’s Jikoni
• Fruit Salad with Rhubarb Syrup, Mint and Basil from A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Baby Potatoes In Green Gravy With A Twist from Sneha’s Recipe
• Tomato, Garlic, and Basil Bruschetta from Karen’s Kitchen Stories
• Summer Squash Gratin from Food Lust People Love

 

We are a group of food bloggers who believe that Sunday should be a family fun day, so every Sunday we share recipes that will help you to enjoy your day. If you're a blogger interested in joining us, just visit our Facebook group and request to join.

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Passion Orange Guava Bundt Cake #BundtBakers

This Passion Orange Guava Bundt Cake is baked with the reduced juice of all three fruits for a tender, tropical cake with a delicate sponge. The glaze is optional but I highly recommend adding it for extra flavor and prettiness.

This month our Bundt Bakers' host chose a prior event as our theme and asked that we recreate one of the Bundt cakes from June 2014. It was the first year of the Bundt Bakers group which we started in January after the prior group called Bundt-a-Month disbanded.

I was immediately attracted to the passion orange guava Bundt cake baked by my friend, Felice, from All That’s Left are the Crumbs. Felice and I have been baking/blogging friends for many, many years and I know that her cakes are always delicious. 

So I duly added my choice to our list and forgot all about it for a while. When it came time to bake the cake, I started searching for the juice Felice had used. It’s apparently a common combination in Hawaii where, according to Felice, it’s known as POG and Hawaiian Airlines even serve it as a welcome drink when you fly between the islands. 

Well, I’m here to tell you that I don’t think it’s being exported from Hawaii anymore. I came across lots of instances on the internet where people were asking where to get POG now. My search led me to various websites that Google told me mentioned it, but they were all out of stock. 

So I had to make my own. 

As I mentioned on my creamy avocado yogurt dip post, I brought this cake to a friend’s house for dessert, so please excuse the terrible lighting on the cut cake photo. 

Passion Orange Guava Bundt Cake

If you cannot get POG - passion orange guava juice - where you live, use 2/3 cup or 156ml of each juice to make the combo. This is probably going to leave you with three containers of juice to finish off but no worries because you can just mix them all together and pretend you are flying between the Hawaiian islands. Add some rum. I won’t tell. 

This recipe is adapted from All That’s Left are the Crumbs. Felice adapted hers from Cake Simple by Christie Matheson.

Ingredients

For the cake:

2 cups or 480ml passion-orange-guava juice (or see note above for sub amounts)

1 cup or 227g butter, at room temperature, plus extra for the Bundt pan

1 cup or 200g granulated sugar

1/2 cup, packed, or 100g light brown sugar

2 1/4 cups or 280g all-purpose flour, plus extra for the Bundt pan

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt

3 eggs, at room temperature

1/2 cup or 120ml milk

For the glaze:

1 cup or 125g powdered sugar

3-4 teaspoons passion-orange-guava juice

Method

Pour the passion-orange-guava juice in a small saucepan and bring to a boil.  Lower heat and continue to cook until reduced to about half a cup. This thickens and darkens a bit as it cooks down.

Preheat the oven to 325°F and prepare your 10-cup Bundt pan by coating it generously with butter then flour. 

Whisk the flour, baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl until thoroughly combined.

In the bowl of your stand mixer, beat the butter with the two sugars medium speed for 2 to 3 minutes, until light and fluffy.  Scrape down the bowl with a rubber spatula and add the first egg. 

Add next two eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition until incorporated. 

Beat in the reduced passion-orange-guava juice. 

With the mixer on low, add the flour mixture (in two increments) alternately with the milk, beginning and ending with the flour and beating just until combined. 

Spoon the batter into the prepared pan, smooth the top and bake for about one hour, until a cake tester comes out clean.

Let the cake cool for about 15 minutes, then invert on to a cake rack and let it cool completely.

To make the glaze, mix 3 teaspoons juice with the powdered sugar. Add the last teaspoon of juice, if necessary, to get pouring consistency. 

When the cake is cool, drizzle or pour on the glaze.

Enjoy! 

Check out all the tropical Bundts my Bundt Bakers are sharing today. Many thanks to our host, Patricia of Patyco Candybar and to Wendy of A Day in the Life on the Farm for her behind-the-scenes assistance.

• Patyco Candybar: Guava and Pineapple Impossible Cake 
• Food Lust People Love: Passion Orange Guava Bundt Cake 
• A Day in the Life on the Farm: Pineapple Lime Mini Bundts 
• All That’s Left Are The Crumbs: Pineapple Pound Cake 
• Sneha’s Recipe: Pineapple Pound Bundt Cake

#BundtBakers is a group of Bundt loving bakers who get together once a month to bake Bundts with a common ingredient or theme. You can see all of our lovely Bundts by following our Pinterest board. We take turns hosting each month and choosing the theme/ingredient. Updated links for all of our past events and more information about BundtBakers, can be found on our home page.

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