>I had one peach, a few small tart apples, a small bag of strawberries taking up space in the freezer, so what did I do? I baked muffins, of course.

My go-to cookbook for muffins (The Good Home Cookbook) didn’t have an apple-peach-strawberry combination, so I combined two recipes, of course.

Fruit Chunk Muffins by Daisy
based on two muffin recipes by R. Perry in the above-named cookbook

1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup wheat flour
1 cup sugar
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon allspice
2 large eggs

1/2 cup oil (I used 1/4 cup applesauce, 1/4 cup oil)
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/8 teaspoon almond extract
1 1/2 cups diced fruit, preferably fresh or frozen
Optional: 1/2 cup chopped almonds (I was out of almonds that day)

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Grease and flour a 12-cup muffin tin.

2. Sift the flour, sugar, salt, baking soda, and spices in a medium bowl. Set aside.

3. Beat together the eggs, oil (& applesauce), and vanilla & almond extracts in a small bowl. Pour into flour mixture and stir just until moistened. Fold in the fruit pieces.

4. Fill the muffin cups three-quarters full with batter.

5. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown.

6. Cool for 10 minutes, remove from the pan, and cool briefly on wire racks. Serve warm or cooled – or with coffee, of course.

Tip: to peel the peach, I used the hot water- cold water trick. Immerse peach in hot water for 30 seconds, then move it to the cold water for 30 seconds. The skin will peel off easily without taking much fruit with it.