Jumbo Upside-Down Peach Muffins

. Ever have one of those days when you know you should probably just try to get through it and not attempt anything new?  Like throughout the entire day, little things keep happening that makes you go 'whoa', let's try to climb out of bed a different way and start this day over.  Well when I made these [jumbo] peach cakes last week, which were originally upside-down muffins, I was having this kind of day.  But my stubborn self decided to make these anyway...and I'm SURE glad I did!

However, I will say that the aforementioned weird day creeped right into my nighttime baking sesh (e.g., I forgot to melt the shortening and so I ended up with a nice chunky batter, see pictures below!).  But magically, these little baby cakes came together and they were absolute heaven on a plate.  Oh yes, I did just say that.

The cakes themselves are wonderfully sweet and have that muffiny-cakey texture.  The peaches add their wonderful flavor as well and offer up their juices to the cake, which makes them even more moist.  But the kicker is a simple mixture of butter and brown sugar placed at the bottom of the pan [which ends up being the tops after all is said and done].  This little concoction slightly caramelizes during baking and who can say anything bad about that?  ...YUM...!

As I mentioned before, the original recipe was for muffins.  But I decided that we didn't need 18 muffins sitting around the house, so I chose to whip out my favorite large muffin pan and try a little experimenting.  Also, I struggle with calling these muffins because they are a tad on the sweet side.  Of course they would be a lovely, indulgent treat for breakfast but they are just as wonderful throughout the rest of the day.  But isn't any treat?! .

My Notes:

• Since I was kind of making this goodie ad hoc, I had to guess as to what combination of topping ingredients would be the best.  So the recipe below is what I did but I've also included the link to the original recipe if you would like to make regular-sized muffins.
• The peaches I grabbed at the grocery store weren't extremely ripe but don't worry.  Like my Nectarine 'Sconecakes', the sugar in the topping brings out the sweetness in the peaches, so all is well.
• I ran out of light brown sugar [another omen that I probably shouldn't have been baking!] so I opted to use dark brown sugar for half of the muffins.  So in the pictures below, the dark muffins aren't rotten, it's just the dark brown sugar!  And as for taste, I really couldn't tell much of a difference, so using either is perfectly fine.

  Jumbo Upside-Down Peach Muffins

Adapted from AllRecipes.com

Ingredients:

2 c. all purpose flour

1-1/2 c. sugar

1 tbsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. salt

1/4 c. shortening, melted

2 eggs, lightly beaten

1 c. milk

6 tbsp. butter, cut into single tablespoons

 12 tbsp. packed light brown sugar

3 c. peeled, sliced peaches

Directions:

1.  Heat oven to 375°F.  In mixing bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt.

2.  Add shortening, eggs, and milk.  Mix until smooth.

3.  In the bottom of a six-cup large muffin pan, place two tablespoons light brown sugar and one tablespoon of butter.  

4.  Place in oven for 5 minutes.  

5.  Arrange peach slices in the muffin cups.  

I originally only put in 1/2 tablespoon of butter but that was clearly not enough, so above is the second 1/2 tablespoon of butter I used.

6.  Fill each cup with batter until almost full (a little over 3/4 full).  

7.  Bake 30 to 35 minutes or until browned.  Turn out cakes immediately to wire rack to cool.

Yield: 6 jumbo muffins