Gluten-Free Peach Muffins with Almond Flour

Juicy. Peach. Muffins.

Today is a total beach day. And here I am working. Editing photographs of peach muffins and writing up a gluten-free recipe. No rest for the wicked. Or the self-employed. We bloggers toil at our living daily, working through holidays, Sundays, football games, and oftentimes, dinner. We tend and tweak and pretty much live a tethered geek life. The opposite of glamorous.

Or maybe it's just me.

Because there are plenty of extroverted bloggers who travel and attend blogging conferences and hob nob. They dine together and smile brilliantly in group pictures, tweeting breathlessly their mutual squee and Instagram cocktails. 

And I envy them. Sometimes. Just a little.

But alas, it is not meant to be. I am destined, you see, to the role of wallflower. 

Because the mere, fleeting snippet of a thought about flying somewhere- alone- which, you know, entails the whole going through various humming x-ray machines and raising your arms for total strangers wielding wands up your inner thigh, not to mention, the whole taking one's shoes off and fumbling to put them back on (the right feet) so that the person (make that seventeen persons) behind you doesn't get impatient while you wrestle with your buckles and your unzipped purse and boarding pass and reading glasses and explain to the squinting security guy that the mystery wad of metal in your bag's side pocket is only dimes and quarters you collect for Santa Monica parking meters as he picks out all thirty-seven coins just to make sure and for good measure keeps your nail clippers (in all the excitement, you didn't confess you were also carrying nail clippers). 

And then there's the whole belting yourself into a hulking metal beast with wings that weighs goddess knows how many megatons, and snugging your post-baby pelvis to a polyester burnt orange float-able seat cushion between a shiny headed businessman who obviously ate raw onions for lunch and college professor reading the New York Times who you just know secretly wants to discuss Obama's clean energy policy. 

Where is Matthew McConaughey when you need him?

Such visions send spikes of fear and loathing down my duodenal canal.

So I imagine muffins.

I inhale peaches at the market admiring their curve and fuzz. I peel them gently and coax out the stone pit. I slice them into jewels that will fit on the tongue and give up a burst of sweet tart juice. I stir almond meal into powder soft flours and squeeze lime juice and sprinkle cinnamon.

I bake.

Peach Muffins with Almond Flour Recipe

By Karina Allrich September 2010.

Finely ground almond meal is a lovely gluten-free flour that is subtly sweet and fragrant. If you prefer to use a different g-free flour, substitute the one and one thirds cup of almond flour with your favorite all-purpose gluten-free flour mix.

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Line a standard muffin tin with paper liners.

Ingredients:

Whisk together:

1 1/3 cups almond meal (or hazelnut meal)

1 cup sorghum flour (or fine brown rice flour, if preferred)

1/2 cup tapioca starch or potato starch

1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon xanthan gum

3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
3 teaspoons bourbon vanilla extract

Beat in:

1 1/3 cups packed organic light brown sugar

2 tablespoons coconut oil

1 tablespoon Ener-G Egg Replacer whisked with 1/4 cup warm water till frothy* or 2 eggs

1/2 cup coconut milk, more as needed, up to 3/4 cup* or dairy milk

1 teaspoon fresh lemon or lime juice

Beat the batter until it is smooth, much like a slightly thickened cake batter.

Add in:

1 1/2 cups diced fresh peaches, see option below*

Stir gently to combine.

Instructions:

Spoon the muffin batter into the twelve lined cups. 

Bake in the center of a preheated oven for 23 to 25 minutes, until  the tops are golden and firm to a gentle touch. A wooden pick inserted into the center should emerge clean.

Cool the muffin pan on a wire rack for five minutes. Pop the muffins out of the pan to continue cooling on the rack (don't cool them in the hot pan- they'll get soggy bottoms).

If by some chance, Babycakes, your muffins are soggy or slightly underdone-- due to unforeseen oven temperature variations-- place them back into the oven directly on the center rack for five minutes or so.

These babies are divine warm. And delicious thawed and fresh from the freezer. So wrap and freeze any leftover cooled muffins for future on-the-go treats.

Makes a baker's dozen.

Recipe Source: glutenfreegoddess.blogspot.com

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GFG notes*

An option for the peaches- if you have the time- is to pre-cook them a bit in a pan with a dab of butter/non-dairy butter, and a sprinkle of light brown sugar and tapioca starch. Stir the peaches till coated. Heat over medium heat until the peaches start to bubble a little around the edges. Turn the heat to low and cook for five minutes. This gives the peaches a head start in the baking department.


If you prefer using real eggs in your gluten-free baking, I recommend using two to three organic free-range egg whites, beaten till frothy. You'll need 1/4 cup liquid.