These sweet and lightly spiced nectarine muffins are a perfect way to use up some ripe nectarines this summer. They are delicious for breakfast and would also be a great muffin to pack in a school lunch. A printable recipe is at the bottom of this post.
Post updated 2/16/22.
Saturday night I had the pleasure of attending The Organic Stone Fruit Jubilee, a great event celebrating 60 varieties of peaches, nectarines, apricots, plums, and pluots from about a dozen local certified organic farms.
After enjoying some music and eating delicious pulled-pork sandwiches topped with grilled peaches, we wandered from table to table chatting with farmers and sampling more varieties of stone fruits than I ever knew existed!
Needless to say, I walked away from the jubilee with bulging bags of peaches, nectarines, and apricots. The peaches won’t be fully ripened for another day or two, but the nectarines were perfect on Sunday morning. I couldn’t resist eating slice after slice of the delicious fruit while cutting it up for the muffins.
How I Created this Nectarine Muffins Recipe
I had never made nectarine muffins before, but I knew I wanted an original recipe that included buttermilk, fresh ripe fruit, and warm spices. It’s always nice to have another muffin recipe that uses buttermilk since I so often have to find ways to use it up when I have it leftover from another recipe.
I turned to my favorite buttermilk muffin recipe in the book Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone as a starting point and was happy to see instructions for adapting the basic recipe to make fresh fruit muffins.
Although nectarines weren’t on the list of recommended fruits, I just knew they would work well here. I also decided to add some ground cinnamon and ginger as I really enjoy those flavors with peaches and nectarines.
The muffins were amazing– sweet, tart, and tender. They reminded me of a nectarine cobbler, which says a lot since cobbler is one of my favorite desserts. I was really happy to be able to share them with both my dad and my grandpa on Father’s Day.It’s nice to be back home.
Ingredients Needed for Nectarine Muffins
- all purpose flour
- baking powder
- baking soda
- ground cinnamon
- ground ginger (this one is optional, nutmeg would be great as well)
- salt
- eggs
- buttermilk
- brown sugar
- butter
- vanilla extract
- a couple fresh nectarines
I used all purpose white flour, but you could easily substitute whole wheat flour for all or part of the white flour. The muffins will be a bit heavier and denser, but the flavor should be great and you’ll have the added bonus of extra fiber. Next time I plan on using King Arthur White Whole Wheat Flour, which I think is great for quick breads.
Not everyone has ground ginger in the pantry and I think the muffins would be fine without it. You could also try adding nutmeg if you have it.
I specify in the recipe to use room temperature ingredients and the main reason for that is so the melted butter doesn’t immediately clump up when stirred into the eggs and buttermilk. If you forget to take the eggs and buttermilk out of the fridge ahead of time, just put the eggs in a bowl full of warm water for a few minutes and the buttermilk can be popped in the microwave for a few seconds to take off the chill. No big deal!
Also, if you’re out of butter or prefer not to use it, vegetable oil would be a fine substitute for the melted butter. And if you really want to take these muffins over the top, try using brown butter. I haven’t done this yet, but I have a feeling it would be absolutely amazing.
Granulated sugar may be substituted for light brown sugar if that’s all you have on hand. Muffin recipes are flexible!
Baking Tools Needed for Nectarine Muffins
- Two mixing bowls
- 12-cup muffin pan
- Paper cupcake liners or nonstick spray
- Mechanical ice cream scoop (optional, but makes it very easy)
You can use either two 6-cup muffin tins or a 12-cup muffin tin. When I made these the first time, I lined my muffin tins with paper liners but you can also just spray the inside of the cups with a non-stick cooking spray like Pam or a baking spray that has flour like Baker’s Joy.
How to Make Nectarine Muffins
The process for making this nectarine muffin recipe is easy peasy! Combine flour and other the dry ingredients in a large bowl and whisk the wet ingredients together in a separate bowl. Stir everything together with a spoon then fold in the melted butter and diced fresh nectarine.
Once the batter is all mixed together, you fill up 12 muffin cups with batter. I think the easiest way to do this is with a mechanical ice cream scoop, but you can use a ladle or large spoon as well. The muffin batter will almost completely fill the cups in your muffin tin, which will give you large muffins with a big top.
These nectarine muffins take about 25 minutes to bake.
The printable recipe is at the bottom of the post!
Related Recipes:
- Peach Cobbler
- Peach and Banana Bran Muffins
- Whole Wheat Banana Oat Muffins
- Cherry Banana Muffins with White Chocolate Chips
- Whole Grain Sour Cream Apple Muffins
Around the Web:
- Stir-Fried Beef and Nectarines from Steamy Kitchen
- Nectarine Turnovers from Baking Bites
- Nectarine Golden Cake from Sassy Radish
- Rustic Peach and Nectarine Crostata from Herbivoracious
- Tomato-Nectarine Chutney from The Perfect Pantry
Yield: 12 muffins
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 25 minutes
Total Time: 40 minutes
These sweet and tender nectarine muffins are perfectly spiced and remind me of a nectarine cobbler. Perfect for breakfast, snack or packed in a school lunch.
Ingredients
- 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 2 eggs
- 1 1/3 cups buttermilk
- 3/4 cup packed light brown sugar
- 1/3 cup melted butter
- 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 cup diced fresh nectarine
Instructions
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Grease a 12-cup muffin tin with butter or nonstick cooking spray or line with paper cups.
In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, and salt until well combined.
In a separate bowl, whisk together the eggs, buttermilk, brown sugar, melted butter, and vanilla extract.
Pour the egg mixture into the flour mixture and stir with a large spoon until just combined. (Make sure to scrape all the flour up off the bottom of the bowl.) Gently fold in the diced nectarines.
Divide batter between the 12 muffin cups. (A mechanical ice cream scoop works great for this.) The cups will be almost completely full.
Bake at 375 degrees for about 25 minutes or until golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the center of a muffin comes out clean.
After a few minutes, remove muffins from pan and let cool on a wire rack.
Notes
If you don't have ground ginger you can leave it out or try using 1/4 teaspoon of nutmeg. Vegetable oil can be subsituted for the melted butter if you prefer. White sugar can be used instead of light brown sugar in a pinch.
Nutrition Information:
Yield: 12Serving Size: 1 muffin
Amount Per Serving:Calories: 214Total Fat: 6gSaturated Fat: 4gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 2gCholesterol: 46mgSodium: 382mgCarbohydrates: 34gFiber: 1gSugar: 13gProtein: 5g
