fresh apricot muffins

I love Fresh Fork, especially when fruit is involved!

Look what we got this week...

Yep, those little guys are fresh apricots!  

I knew they would have to be eaten fairly quickly, so I set to work right away looking for a way to use them.  I was thinking bakery, but didn't want to do another pastry like I did last week.

I had something in mind that was more like bread.  So, I searched and searched for a fresh apricot bread/muffin/cake recipe, "fresh" being the key word.  No such luck.  Everything was made with dried apricots and resembled fruitcake.  Not good.

I came to the important decision point between giving up and making my own recipe from scratch.  I decided to give my recipe-making skills a try.  (You wouldn't let those pretty little apricots rot on your counter, either, now would you??)  After perusing through other fruit muffin recipes, I came up with some basic ratios to use as a base for these muffins.

Somehow (surprisingly!), they turned out great.  To me, they taste like Christmas in July, with a light, refreshing, tart-sweet thing happening.  I made a dozen last night and am planning on making another batch tonight.  They're that good.  If you also have tons of apricots sitting around, it looks like you've got some baking to do!


Fresh Apricot Muffins
Makes 12 muffins

Ingredients:

• 1/4 c butter
• 2/3 c sugar plus sugar to sprinkle (use more than 2/3 c if you like sweeter muffins)
• 1 egg
• 1/4 c milk
• about 15 apricots
• 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 2 c flour

Preheat the oven to 375 and grease a 12-muffin tray.  Halve the apricots, remove the seeds, and put them (with the skin on) in a blender or food processor.  Puree the apricots to make 1 1/2 c puree.  If necessary, add more apricots.  Set puree aside.

In a large bowl, cream butter and 2/3 c sugar.  Add the egg and beat it in.  Add the milk and beat it in.  Pour the apricot puree into the wet mixture and mix it in well.  Finally, add the baking powder, salt, and flour and mix the batter just until the dry ingredients are incorporated.

Divide the batter evenly as you put it in the greased muffin tray.  Sprinkle a little more sugar over the top of each muffin.  Bake muffins for about 20-25 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.  Remove muffins to a wire rack and cool before serving.  Store muffins in an airtight container at room temperature.