Chocolate Nectarine Muffins with Raspberry-Passion Fruit Cream Cheese Topping
I hear this old Joan Baez song in my head, but instead of “Where have all the flowers gone” I hear “Where is all my discipline”… A couple of weeks ago I left work early – first sign of lacking discipline – to go gift shopping, finished that surprisingly quickly, and on the way home realised I had almost a whole afternoon to myself. What would I do? Go out with my camera? Or sit on the balcony and watch the flowers grow, with a steaming cup of coffee close by and… And here my discipline said goodbye for another day and left me with thoughts of chocolate muffins, with some nectarines that needed to be eaten asap, and a cream cheese topping.
Sorry, people, but here’s another sweet post. I didn’t fancy plain cream cheese topping – after all I had lots of time and could experiment – and remembered an unopened pack of raspberry-passion fruit juice lurking in my kitchen. Everything turned out almost as I had envisioned it, only the topping I messed up completely. Not bothering to look up my usual topping ingredients ratio, I just went on mixing. Then I messed up on the colour, too.
Then I did something you might think reprehensible (I think I do) – I used the gift I bought earlier that day as a prop for this post! I couldn’t resist as it’s totally something I would love to own but have absolutely no space to either display or store. I’m telling myself it’s not as if I put dirty laundry in it, so maybe it’s not that reprehensible. What do you think?
This muffin recipe is adapted from my Schokolade book, originally it’s a recipe for chocolate muffins with warm chocolate filling. I use the basic muffin recipe and add whatever fruit I fancy, and I also double the amount, which makes exactly 12 muffins.
I won’t write down the recipe for the failed topping here, as I’m sure you all have your own favourite recipe for a great topping. Please send me your recipes or links if you do!
Chocolate Nectarine Muffins (with Raspberry-Passion Fruit Cream Cheese Topping)
150 g soft margarine
100 g castor sugar
2 large or 3 medium eggs
180 g flour
2 tsp baking powder
2 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
3 nectarines, cut any which way you like
Mix all ingredients except nectarines, either with a handheld mixer or a food processor. When it’s turned into a smooth batter, add the nectarines and mix in with a spatula.
Line a muffin tin with paper moulds, and divide the batter among them. [I used an ice cream scoop for the first time to do this, and it was a great experience, no mess at all.]
Bake at 190°C / 375°F for 20 minutes, then take out of the oven and leave for 2 minutes. Remove muffins from tin, and let cool completely on a wire rack.
Dust with icing sugar before serving, or serve with your favourite icing.
Looks delicious. And the color of that frosting is beautiful!
Thank you! Although the colour is absolutely not what I had intended it to be…
I’m not too keen on nectarines, but with chocolate I suspect I can be easily converted into a fan! I’ll definitely buy some nectarines at the farmers’ market this weekend so I can try these muffins.
I LOVE nectarines, they’re one of my favourite summer fruit. However, I don’t really like the juciy ones but always buy them as firm as possible, as I never bite into them but cut them up. Which probably makes me a weirdo…
The ones that have gone soft, as in this case, I use for baking.
Interesting combo – will have a go at it… maybe with peaches. I think it’s more than fine to get a little mileage out of your gift
Thanks for the heads-up on the gift
Awww, this looks so fantastic! So like to have a slice of it! =)
Yes, you’re a weirdo for eating firm nectarines. I love ‘em nice&juicy (I just don’t eat them in public).
As for using your pressie as a prop – off course!
The red topping looks delicious, btw.
Thanks for the confirmation
At least I could eat the firm ones in public if I were so inclined 
. As for the colour – funny how people seem to like what I consider to have gone wrong. I was aiming for a subtle colour that reflected the raspberry-passion fruit mix and ended up with something totally garish and unnatural… Although I have to concede it comes out well in pictures.