We are in the midst of one of the most beautiful Indian summers that I can remember. The days are still hot and dry but the leaves are starting to turn and the evenings have gotten downright cold.
The last drops of the sunset over the Pacific
It’s the time of year that Vancouver produces the most incredible sunsets – there’s this fall haze that hangs over everything in the evenings turning the sky pink, orange, red and purple. Sam and I have spent a few evenings out at Iona Beach next to the airport taking photos just watching the sun dip down into the Pacific. I envy the airplanes taking off directly into those gorgeous skies… it must be quite amazing to be inside a sunset!
I took this one from inside Vancouver International Airport on the observation deck while meeting my bestie for a drink before she caught a flight home. It’s the sun over the Pacific and the taxiing runway
My neighbours came home from vacationing in the Okanagan last week and gave me some peaches from their trip. These were proper peaches direct from the orchards – perfectly ripe so that when you bit into them juice ran all down your hands and your chin.
Grocery store peaches never do that. It’s a shame because it’s one of the joys of summer.
The crispy good bits
I had a couple left that were getting close to being overripe so I decided to make muffins with some of the garden’s leftover blueberries. It’s been so warm that having the oven on during the day really hasn’t been at all appealing. But I really had a hankering for muffins.
I found a peach muffin recipe on allrecipes.com that looked good (and you could use the batter to make little peach loaves and I found the cutest little mini-loaf pan for $2 at Michaels the day before!) so I thought I’d give it a whirl and throw in some blueberries.
Well, the recipe was… well… first of all it didn’t have any coconut in it and that seemed wrong. So I toasted some coconut to put in as well. Second… the liquid ratio for the recipe was waaaaaay off. As soon as I started mixing I could tell something was very wrong. So I added a quick 1/2 cup of milk and that seemed to do the trick. I was pretty worried they’d turn out a bit off but, they were delicious and they made a great little mini-loaf too!
- 3 cups flour
- 1 tbsp ground cinnamon
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp salt
- 1¼ cup vegetable oil
- 3 eggs, lightly whisked
- ½ cup milk (on standby - only use it if you find the mixture far too dry)
- 1⅔ cups of sugar
- 2½ cups total of chopped peaches and blueberries combined. Use whatever ratio you like (I used two peaches and kept a few pieces aside to top the muffins with)
- ⅓ cup of toasted coconut + ¼ cup of toasted coconut
- Preheat oven to 400F and prepare 16 muffin cups with either cooking spray or muffin papers
- Whisk together flour, cinnamon, baking soda, and salt in a large mixing bowl
- In a smaller bowl whisk together eggs, oil and sugar
- Pour the oil mixture into the dry ingredients and stir together until just moist. If you find the mixture far too dry, like I did, then add the ½ cup of milk. The batter will be lumpy - that's ok.
- Fold in blueberries, peaches and ⅓ cup of coconut
- Spoon batter into muffin cups and top with a piece of peach if you like.
- Bake for 15 minutes and then sprinkle the remaining ¼ cup of toasted coconut over the muffin tops
- Bake for an additional 10 minutes or until muffin tops are brown and a toothpick inserted in the muffins comes out clean
- Cool in muffin tins for 10 minutes before removing them to cooling racks
These muffins look beautiful.
I bet the flavours really shine in these!
I was a little worried about the amount of cinnamon but it really worked – they were delicious!
These muffins are as gorgeous as your sunset photographs!
awww. thanks Paula!
Oh wow these look good. I love when muffins are muffin-y and not like fluffy pieces of muffin-shaped cake.
Photos for this post are great! I mean, your pics are always lovely but I’m really loving these ones in particular. bee-you-tea-ful.
yes! muffins should be muffin-y. not cupcake-y! thanks for the nice words on the photos. Sometimes everything just “clicks”. ahahahaha… 😉
Woman, your photographs are rockin’ my world.
Enough said.
merci!
Beautiful photography! Makes me want to make these, too!
Just made these and they are delicious! I didn’t need to add much milk, only a splash. One note, I made one set in a light colored pan and one in a dark pan. The dark pan came out a little too dark with the recommended cooking time – and both pans were baked on same rack at the same time. The light pan came out perfect.