I lasted all of 3 days before surrendering to sugar and cranking on the recently sworn off oven.

3 wimpy days! I’m such a flag waver to my battles, but with a cool Brooklyn breeze graciously dancing through my tiny window, and an impeccably persistent itch to bake that would have been utterly impossible to ignore, I saved my sanity and gave into a sweat session in the kitchen. It’s a lot cheaper than therapy.

I had to chuckle as I cranked that oven to 350 and in doing so threw my “I’m not going anywhere near that heat omitting thing you call an oven until at least September” speech straight out the front door. As you can see, I lack discipline in even the most minuscule matters.

Trying to live on a fixed budget (which includes splurging on gorgeous eggs from the farmer’s market – do you see that feather!? There was a dainty little feather in the carton – now that’s fresh!), I dug around the freezer praying there was something that would quickly put me out of my sugar craving misery.

What’s this…? Frozen raspberries… And frozen peaches… And wait… isn’t there a container of crystallized ginger hiding somewhere on top of the refrigerator? Oh.Yes.There.Is!

At that moment I knew muffin magic was about to happen. Chance is a beautiful thing.

The best part about muffins is how quickly it all comes together. Assembling the batter took about 10 minutes max (and I take pictures!), which left me with plenty of time to think over important matters.

Examples:

Should I adopt a kitty? Exactly how many muffins did I just eat in batter alone? If I do get kitty, would Bruce be a good name? How about Godzilla? Most importantly, how does one get Ryan Gosling to come clean up their kitchen disasters sans shirt?

It was an intense thinking session.

Smelling the thick, gorgeously hued batter blissfully transforming into full grown muffins, it all clicked – I’ve got everything I need for right now, right here. And that…

Well, that’s the best feeling a girl could ask for.

Go get your muffin on, and tell the heat to scram… at least for the 30 minutes your ovens on.

Whole-Wheat Raspberry & Peach Ginger Muffins – Baker by Nature

Yields 12 muffins

1 cups whole-wheat flour

1 cup all-purspose flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons baking powder

2 tablespoons crystalized ginger, finely chopped

1/2 teaspoon powdered ginger

1 stick (4 oz) unsalted butter, at room temperature

1 cup granulated sugar

2 large eggs, at room temperature

1/4 teaspoon almond extract, or 1 teaspoon vanilla extract (I used almond as I discovered I was out of vanilla and I loved the subtle flavor it gave to this particular recipe, but I’m sure vanilla will work great too)

1 cup frozen peaches, cut into small chunks

1 cup frozen raspberries

1 cup Greek yogurt

1/4 cup brown sugar to sprinkle on top

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees (F). Prepare a muffin tin with liners.

In a medium sized bowl mix together flour, salt, baking powder, powdered ginger, and crystalized ginger, set aside. In a large bowl or stand mixer cream butter and sugar together on medium speed, add vanilla or almond extract, beat well. Add the eggs one at a time. Reduce speed to low and add the flour mixture in 3 sections, alternating with the greek yogurt, beginning and ending with the flour mixture – careful not to over mix! Turn off mixer and gently stir in fruit with a large wooden spoon. Using a large ice cream scoop, scrape out batter into lined muffin tin, sprinkle with brown sugar, and bake for 25-30 minutes, tops will be lightly golden. Cool 10 minutes in the tray before transferring them to a cooking rack.