Blueberry Peach Brown Butter Muffins

Some fruit just don’t last long once ripe. OK, perhaps many of them. Peaches especially, though. You might buy them a bit on the firm side, and within 2 days on your counter, your basket of peaches are bursting with flavour. In another half a day, they may be overripe and start to go bad. So what’s a girl got to do with ripe peaches? Bake with them!

Last year, I made one of my favourite cakes, a few times actually – especially when underbaked just slightly – Stone Fruit Tea Cake, with its heavy vanilla presence. I didn’t have enough peaches to bake that cake, as I have been pretty good about restraining myself from buying 3L baskets of peaches. However, I had 2 peaches and some blueberries to throw together these lovely muffins.

I was intrigued by these muffins when I originally spotted them on Very Culinary, who found them originally at Joy the Baker. She used raspberries and blueberries but I knew I wanted to use up some peaches. Peaches and blueberries are a wonderful combination, which I learned after making peach and blueberry salsa earlier this month. But what’s with this browned butter? I’ve never used it before but it sounded divine. Butter makes everything taste better and this seemed like a way to incorporate even more flavour into the batter. With a vanilla crumb topping that I had extra from Cranberry Buckle with Vanilla Crumb, these looked to be a very texture-tickling and flavourful dessert.

The muffins were delicious. I really liked the pieces of peaches and blueberries with the vanilla topping. These muffins were definitely more dense cake-like, and despite the fruit definitely not healthy. It didn’t stop me from gobbling them down with each meal. 🙂

This is my submission to this month’s Sugar High Friday featuring brown butter and to this month’s Breakfast Club for baking.

Blueberry Peach Brown Butter Muffins

1/2 cup unsalted butter
1/3 cup milk
2 eggs
1  teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup fresh blueberries
1 cup fresh peaches, chopped (I didn’t even peal them)

Topping

(will only use a portion – I originally used it with my Cranberry Buckle with Vanilla Crumb)
1 cup all-purpose flour (5 ounces)
1/4 cup granulated sugar (5-1/4 ounces)
1/4 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
1/2 cup cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/4-inch cubes (1 stick)
1 tablespoon vanilla

1. Put a rack in the upper third of the oven and preheat oven to 375F. Line muffin pan with paper liners.

2. Melt butter in a small saucepan over medium heat. Keep an eye on the butter. Melt and cook down the butter until little brown bits appear in the pan. The crackling will subside and butter will begin to brown fairly quickly after that (approximately 5 minutes). Keep a close eye. Remove from heat and cool slightly.

3. Whisk milk, eggs, and vanilla until combined. Add the cooled brown butter and stir to combine.

4. Whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder and salt in a medium bowl. Add milk and butter mixture all at once and stir gently to combine. Gently but thoroughly fold in the fruit. Don’t over mix.

5. Divide the batter among muffin cups and spread evenly.

6. To make crumb: Combine the flour, sugars, salt and butter in the bowl of a food processor or a stand mixer with the paddle attachment. Pulse or combine on low speed until the mixture is the texture of coarse crumbs (we just used two knives to cut the butter in). Drizzle the vanilla over the mixture and mix briefly to distribute. Use immediately or store in a plastic bag in the freezer for up to 3 months. Makes 2 cups.

7. Sprinkle crumb evenly over the batter in the cups.

8. Bake until golden and crisp and a wooden pick inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean, about 18-20 minutes. Cool in pan on a rack for 15 minutes then remove from the pan. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Makes 12 muffins.