Toddler friendly fruit muffins (dairy free version too)!

With summer in full swing, the farmer's markets are packed with fruit (and people... mob scene today at our). Trying to do organic on the cheap means I gravitate to the boxes of really ripe fruit that many of the farmers sell for a fraction of the usual price. But that means you either have to 1) eat the fruit right away, 2) cut it up and freeze it for later or 3) bake with it. I usually opt for 1 or 3 since our freezer is this magical place where I put things and promptly forget about them (were that the icebox worked for my problems too, but alas.)

So here's one generic fruit muffin recipe that is great to make with toddlers and can take almost any fruit you throw at it (and I think that these muffins freeze better than the fruit by itself). Also, you can make it dairy free by substituting orange juice for the milk (I usually do half and half). Thank you to my friend Megan for the lead!

EASY FRUIT MUFFINS
makes 12

2 cups flour (I use half white whole wheat/half white)
1-1/2 teaspoons salt
2 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup milk
1/2 cup oil
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 tsp. grated lemon zest (optional)
1-1/2 cup fruit

Preheat oven to 375 F.

Mix dry ingredients together: flour, salt, baking powder, sugar. In a small bowl, mix fruit with 1/4 cup of the dry mixture. Add wet ingredients to the mixing bowl. Stir in fruit. Do not overmix.

Split dough among 12 regular size muffin cups. Dust with sugar if desired. Bake for 20 (+?) minutes.

MMmmmmm, peach muffins, apricot muffins, mixed berry muffins... happy summer! Of course these work just as well in the fall with apples, pears, cranberries, just give it a try.