It might officially be autumn, but the sun is still streaming through my breakfast room windows. The warmth of summer still shimmers through the hint of fall on the breeze, and I think autumn mornings are the perfect time to begin slowing down the rhythm of our days a bit (yes, even among all the busyness that seems to accompany all things back-to-school, end-of-vacation, and all that!). I think muffins are kind of the quintessential welcoming, homey baked good, don’t you?
Take a Saturday morning and make some warm tea with milk and a batch of these paleo peach streusel muffins and cozy up with a good book and journal (I’m reading this right now and oh, wow!) or someone you love. Better yet, make a batch of these grain-free, gluten-free muffins over the weekend and enjoy them all week long. They’d be perfect to tuck into a kiddo’s lunch!
Speaking of enjoying your muffins with books, I found this quote and melted. In an age where we can get just about any book on our phones and scroll through it on a screen, I just can’t help needing to touch and smell, scribble in, and yes, dog-ear my books. In fact, two of my favorite friend-moments ever happened over just such a love.
'A book reads the better which is our own, and has been so long known to us, that we know the topography of its blots, and dog's ears, and can trace the dirt in it to having read it at tea with buttered muffins. ' -Charles LambClick To Tweet
When I was first invited to my friend Sarah’s home (the one who would become my nearly 80-year old bestie and mentor in what still feels a bit like a “new” state), where of course there was tea and candles, she showed me around her cozy one-room apartment. Though it just snugly fits her seating and sleeping areas, one entire wall, floor to ceiling, is covered with books. We sat side-by-side on her bed and leafed through one after another, while she told me stories of her beloved husband, her amazing life of walking with Jesus, and the impact the words of these authors has had on her. And I knew, as Anne of Green Gables would say, that we would indeed be kindred spirits.
When I first met my friend Brenda and was invited to her house for a playdate with our ten combined kiddos (yes, true story!), she took me to see the little “gardening shed” she had turned into a magical wonderland of a library/homeschool room. When I looked at the shelves and shelves of mostly old, worn and obviously well-loved books, I asked her, “how do you decide which books you’ll buy and which ones you’ll settle for getting at the library?” To which she responded (and confirmed the nature of our friendship to come), “Pretty much, if I think I or my kids will ever want to hold it and love it, I buy it.”
Do you love books like this, too? Please say you do!
(Speaking of Charles Lamb, I somehow wasn’t familiar with him until I fell in love with the movie The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society. Have you seen it? It will capture you, I promise. I feel quite sure my friend Brenda probably had some of his work on those shelves of hers.)
- 1 cup coconut flour
- ¼ cup almond flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- pinch of salt
- 6 large eggs
- ¼ cup honey
- ⅓ cup salted butter or ghee melted
- ⅓ cup coconut or almond milk
- 1 teaspoon vanilla bean powder or pure vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1 cup fresh or frozen peaches diced into small pieces
- ⅓ cup almond flour
- 1 tablespoon flax meal
- ¼ cup coconut sugar
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1 tablespoon ghee salted butter, or coconut oil, softened
- 2 tablespoons ground or finely chopped pecans
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Preheat the oven to 350°F.
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Line a 12-cup muffin pan with paper cups. Set aside.
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In a bowl sift together the coconut flour, baking powder and salt.
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Using an electric mixer, beat eggs and honey until light and creamy.
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Add in the coconut oil, almond milk and vanilla bean and beat until well combined; add flour mixture and continue mixing until fully combined..
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Let the batter sit for 5-10 minutes so it can thicken, then gently fold in peaches.
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Scoop the batter into the prepared muffin cups and set aside.
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To make the crumb topping, combine all ingredients in a bowl and mix with a fork until well combined.
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Sprinkle the crumb topping evenly over batter in each cup.
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Bake in preheated oven for 20 to 25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
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Remove from the oven and allow to cool completely before serving.
The thing I love about these paleo peach streusel muffins is that they perfectly bridge the gap between warm seasons and cooler ones, with the bright, tart flavors of peaches and the warmer combination of ginger and vanilla bean. You can use vanilla extract, but it’s totally worth it to buy vanilla bean powder – you’ll want to use it in everything. 🙂 I shared these muffins with girlfriends on a summer pool day, and also with a sweet young lady over mentoring & Bible study… who will you share yours with?
So yes, enjoy these muffins. Perhaps with a book. Definitely with a friend. And take a picture and share it with me – if you’re on social media, hashtag it #awakenthepalatenourishthesoul so I can find you and we can be forever bookish friends?
Looking for supplies to make your muffins? I love unbleached parchment muffin cups because they look so pretty and literally nothing sticks to them, but I also often go to my reusable silicone muffin cups. (They’re perfect for making frozen desserts like the Paleo cookie butter “cheesecake” bites or for freezing blocks of broth to use in soups.) And I highly recommend this 24-cup muffin pan (SUCH a great price!), because why bake a dozen muffins when you can double it and brighten someone’s day?
What’s your favorite muffin-friend-book story? What’s your favorite muffin? (Maybe you have a memory of one and I can try to recreate it!)
Inspiring (warm, crumbly, streusel-ish) welcome,
Angela
Do you love breakfast recipes, too? Here are a couple more you might love:
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