Lazy Summer Morning Nectarine Streusel Muffins

A few years ago I started a small catering business, and one of my clients was a coffee shop in Edmond, Oklahoma. Each week they ordered jumbo muffins, jumbo cinnamon rolls, and scones, as well as huge peach or apple cobblers, cherry pies, and cupcakes. My go-to muffin recipe was adapted from Marcy Goldman's Blueberries and Cream Mall Muffins from one of my favorite cookbooks, and it was a winner.

Until 2002, my experience with muffins was Duncan Hines Blueberry Muffin mix. Then one morning I had no muffin mix and tried an Allrecipes muffin recipe and never bought the box again. I do love muffins for breakfast, and this morning I had nectarines begging to be used. I wanted to try something different than my old tried-and-true recipe, so I adapted a peach muffin recipe I found online - it was delicious!

Although I love to eat nectarines out of hand, I think peaches are actually better suited for baking. But nectarines worked in these, and they were moist with little bits of nectarine, tender and tangy from the addition of yogurt, and fragrant with nutmeg and cinnamon - perfect summer comfort food.

You can bet I ate that softly crunchy bit of streusel on the right side first!

This recipe reflects what I had on hand and my preferences for flour (unbleached), coconut oil (unrefined), butter (salted), nutmeg (freshly grated), and baking (convection oven) but they are not requirements for success.  You can view the original recipe and instructions (with much better photos!) here.

Nectarine Streusel Muffins
Adapted from Sally's Baking Addiction

6 tablespoons salted butter, softened
2 tablespoons unrefined coconut oil
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup white sugar
2 large eggs
1/2 cup vanilla Greek yogurt
3 tablespoons milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
1-3/4 cups unbleached flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 peeled and chopped nectarines or peaches

Streusel
2/3 cup unbleached flour
1/3 cup brown sugar
1 tablespoon white sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 cup salted butter

Prepare 12-portion muffin tin with shortening or baking spray. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Combine streusel ingredients and cut in butter with pastry blender (or briefly pulse ingredients in food processor) until size of large crumbs. Set aside.

Combine butter, oil, and sugars and mix until smooth. Whisk together eggs, yogurt, milk, and vanilla and add to sugar mixture; mix until well incorporated and smooth. Whisk together flour, baking soda, baking powder, nutmeg, and salt, and slowly mix into batter. Gently fold in nectarines or peaches. (I did all the mixing by hand because I was too lazy to use the KitchenAid!)

Spoon batter into muffin tin. Sprinkle streusel over top of each muffin. Bake at 375 degrees (I used convection oven) until toothpick inserted in middle comes out with a few crumbs attached - about 20 minutes. Cool in pan 5 minutes; carefully loosen muffins and remove to wire rack.