Peach Cobbler Cupcakes

Ah, the end of summer. There's so much to do, but also lots of fun to be had.

Friends of ours hosted a super fun end-of-summer shindig, and I offered to bring along a dessert option. 

I took my inspiration from what kept me busy in the kitchen a couple of weeks ago - the 20 pounds of peaches that the family picked a couple weekends ago.  While we, of course, enjoyed many of the peaches fresh, I also tried my hand at preserving a whole bunch of them - peach jam, peach butter and canned peaches. Holy smokes, home-made canned peaches are absolutely delicious. 

Summer, delicious canned peaches, dessert for a party... add to that that little miss always wants me to make cupcakes, bingo! Peach cobbler cupcakes!

I started with my standard, go-to cake-base, this simple one-bowl yellow cake recipe.  But then I made just a couple of changes.

For starters, I replaced 1/4 cup of the granulated sugar with cinnamon sugar (we'd made cinnamon buns earlier in the day, so I had a bunch prepared... otherwise, I just would have added cinnamon).

Next, I replaced half of the milk that is called for in the recipe with the peach syrup (light, I promise) that I'd used to pack the canned peaches - drain the jar and use that peach deliciousness!

The resulting batter is thick and delicious. I seriously had to stop myself from just sticking my finger under that ribbon of deliciousness coming off the beater...

I divided the batter among two muffin pans, then pressed a couple of pieces of the canned peaches into each cupcake.

Then, to make it all the more cobbler-y, I mixed up a simple streussel topping and sprinkled that on top.

And then all that was left to do was wait while these little treat did their think in the oven.

And the results?

Well, the streussel topping melted into the cupcake, but they still looked pretty cool!  Which is good, because I hadn't planned on frosting them...

A couple of the cupcake tops happened to break when I removed them from the pan, so we got to taste-test them before packing them up.

Holy smokes, these were delicious. I may try to add more peach next time, but, seriously, these were fantastic. And I think they were a hit at the party, too!



Peach Cobbler Cupcakes
(makes 24 cupcakes)
(adapted from Cinnamon Spice & Everything Nice's yellow cake recipe)

2 cups all purpose flour, sifted
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup cinnamon sugar
(or 1 1/4 cup sugar and a scant teaspoon of cinnamon - I just happened to have prepared cinnamon sugar leftover from making cinnamon buns earlier in the day!)
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup butter, softened
Canned peaches, drained (reserve liquid) (my canning jars were 8 ouncers, yielding 1/2 cup of liquid and enough peach pieces to use in 24 cupcakes...)
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup of the peach syrup from the canned peaches
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 eggs

For the streusel topping:
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
6 tablespoons coconut oil (or softened butter)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and either line a cupcake tin with liners or spray it well with non-stick cooking spray.
In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, sugars (or sugar and cinnamon), baking powder and salt. Add the butter, peach syrup, milk and vanilla and beat (either with a hand mixer or in a stand mixer) for two minutes, occasionally scraping the sides of the bowl. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating between additions, and then beat for two more minutes.
Pour the batter into the muffin tins until just about 2/3 full.
Cut each of the canned peaches into small pieces and press 2-3 pieces into each cupcake.
To prepare streusel, combine powdered sugar, all-purpose flour, and softened coconut oil (or butter), stirring with a fork until mixture is crumbly. Sprinkle streussel mixture over cupcakes.
Bake at 350 degrees for about 25 minutes.
Allow the cupcakes to cool in the tin (on a wire rack) for about 10 minutes before removing them from the tin.

Enjoy!