I had this recipe tucked away in my notebook since winter, awaiting the arrival of stone fruit. Over the weekend the market delivered and I came home with a beautiful medley of peaches and plums, and by the afternoon they were sprinkled with cinnamon and sugar and roasting away. Once soft and syrupy, the fruit gets folded into a sour cream batter bright with lemon zest. There’s a touch of almond extract in there too, a pairing I can never quite resist with stone fruit. As with most butter-based muffins, I love these best the day they’re made.
Baker’s Notes
• The roasted fruit and the streusel can both be made a day ahead and kept in the refrigerator. Scatter the streusel over cold, straight from the fridge, so the butter stays firm and the clumps hold their shape as they bake.
• Any stone fruit is beautiful here and I love roasting a few kinds together. Apricots and cherries in the spring, peaches and plums in late summer.
• Almond extract and stone fruit is one of my favorite pairings. It’s a strong extract, so start with ⅛ teaspoon if you prefer it subtle, or leave it out.
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Roasted Stone Fruit Streusel Muffins
Description
Makes 10 standard muffins
Ingredients
Roasted Stone Fruit
3 cups (about 450 g) diced peaches, plums, apricots or nectarines, or halved cherries
2 tablespoons (25 g) granulated sugar
¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
Pinch of salt
Streusel
1 cup (120 g) all-purpose flour
⅓ cup (65 g) granulated sugar
Pinch of salt
5 tablespoons (70 g) unsalted butter, cold and cubed
Muffins
½ cup (113 g) unsalted butter, room temperature
¾ cup (150 g) granulated sugar
2 large eggs, room temperature
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
¼ teaspoon almond extract
¾ cup (180 g) sour cream
2¼ cups (280 g) all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
¼ teaspoon baking soda
¾ teaspoon salt
Zest of 1 small lemon
Roasted fruit, cooled
Instructions
Roast the Fruit
- Preheat the oven to 375°F (190°C).
- On a parchment lined baking sheet, stir together the fruit, sugar, cinnamon and salt. Roast for 30 minutes, stirring every 10 minutes to prevent burning. The fruit should be soft, syrupy and fragrant.
- Lift the fruit off the sheet with a slotted spoon, leaving the syrup behind, and set aside to cool completely.
Make the Streusel
- Whisk the all-purpose flour, spelt flour, sugar and salt together in a bowl.
- Add the cold butter and rub it into the dry ingredients with your fingertips until the mixture forms uneven clumps, stopping while some pieces are still the size of peas. Overworking it warms the butter and pulls the crumbs into a smooth dough, and once that happens you have shortbread rather than streusel.
- Take a handful and squeeze it tightly in your fist, then break it apart over the bowl into craggy pieces. This is what gives you nubs instead of sand, so squeeze hard.
- Chill until you are ready to top the muffins.
Make the Muffins
- Preheat the oven to 425°F. Line 10 cups of a standard muffin tin and lightly grease the top of the pan, if you’re using tulip liners you can skip the spray.
- Rub the lemon zest into the sugar with your fingertips until the sugar is fragrant and damp. Add the butter and cream until pale and fluffy, 3–4 minutes. Add the eggs one at a time, then mix in the vanilla and almond extract.
- Whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Add to the butter mixture in two additions, alternating with the sour cream, mixing just until combined.
- Gently fold in the roasted fruit.
- Spoon the batter into the muffin wells, filling each to the rim. Top with the streusel and press lightly to adhere.
- Bake for 5 minutes at 425°F, then reduce the oven to 375°F and bake for 16–18 minutes more, until deeply golden and set in the center.
- Cool for 10–15 minutes before transferring to a rack.
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