I’m fond of breakfast. I usually wake ravenous in the morning, and by the time I get in from the daily animal care and milking, I’m more than ready to eat. My weekday breakfast is homemade muesli eaten standing up in the kitchen while I pasteurise the day’s milk. On Sundays, though, I take the time to make breakfast, and the whole family sits down together. I’ll admit right up front that I don’t do this out of some sort of altruistic love toward my family—I do it for purely selfish reasons. I love scones, biscuits, muffins, pancakes, and waffles. I would eat them every day for breakfast if it were at all practical or wise to do so. But it has also made for a wonderful family tradition that we all look forward to each week.

Today’s breakfast was peach oatmeal muffins. This recipe is a variation on Peach-Oatmeal Bread from King Arthur Flour’s Whole Grain Baking book. I’ve increased the spices and halved the sugar to create a muffin I consider healthy and yummy enough for a Sunday morning.

Peach oatmeal muffins

2 cups peaches, peeled and cut into small pieces (canned or frozen peaches work fine)

2 cups whole wheat flour

¾ cup all purpose flour

½ cup packed brown sugar

1 Tbsp baking powder

½ tsp baking soda

½ tsp salt

1 tsp ground cinnamon

¼ tsp ground nutmeg

¼ tsp ground cloves

1 cup old-fashioned rolled oats

2 large eggs

1 cup milk

¼ cup vegetable oil

¼ tsp almond extract

Place cut peaches into a strainer to drain. Stir together the flours, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt and spices in a large bowl. Add the oats and peaches, stirring to coat the peaches. In a separate bowl, beat together the eggs, milk, oil and almond extract. Add to the flour mixture and stir just until evenly moistened.

Scoop into greased muffin tins, and bake at 375°F (190°C) for 25-30 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the centre of a muffin comes out clean, and the tops are lightly browned. Allow to cool in the pan for 5 minutes before turning out.

(makes about 18 muffins)