Peach Amaretti Muffins

These vegan peach amaretti muffins were inspired by all those lovely desserts involving baked peaches and amaretti biscuits.

The amaretti biscuits you can find in the shops are made using egg white, sadly, but it’s easy to achieve a comparable flavour and crisp texture using a little almond extract and sprinkling the tops of the muffins with flaked almonds and demerara sugar before baking.

These muffins are packed with chunks of fresh peach and ground almonds to give them a soft texture.

Ideally, you should use peaches that are sweet but still quite firm (not always easy to find in UK supermarkets, but nectarines would work just as well).

You need to bake them for a bit longer than other muffins because of the quantity of fresh fruit and to make sure the tops are well toasted.

Peaches don’t often get a mention in superfood lists but they are loaded with antioxidants and dietary fibre. Among other things, they’re a good source of vitamins C, A, E and K.

peach amaretti muffins

ingredients

• 300 g fresh peaches (weight excluding stone)
• 1 tbsp fresh lemon juice
• 80 ml light olive (or other mild flavoured) oil
• 120 ml oat (or other non-dairy) milk
• 180 g light brown sugar
• 3/4 tsp almond extract
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 300 g plain flour
• 3 tsp baking powder
• 80 g ground almonds

for the topping

• flaked almonds
• demerara sugar

method

1. Set the oven to 190°C/390°F, and line a twelve muffin tin with cases.
2. Chop the peaches into chunks roughly 1 cm across (leaving the skin on). Sprinkle the lemon juice over the peach chunks and set aside.
3. In a large bowl, whisk together the oil, milk, sugar and vanilla and almond extracts.
4. Sift the flour and baking powder into the liquid mixture, followed by the ground almonds. Stir until roughly combined.
5. Add the peaches and stir just enough to ensure they are well distributed.
6. Transfer the mixture to the muffin cases using two dessert spoons. There will be enough to fill the cases nearly to the top. If necessary, level the tops just enough to stop the topping from falling off.
7. Sprinkle flaked almonds and a little demerara on top of each muffin before baking for around twenty-five minutes. They should look quite toasted before you remove them from the oven.
8. Allow the muffins to cool and the tops to crisp up before eating them.

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