Tuesday, November 10, 2009

Pear Muffins



I gone and done it again. Every time I swear to myself that this will be THE LAST TIME! But then in the heat of the moment, when my defenses are down, with such rational reasons running through my mind, I falter. I fall off the wagon, give into to the temptation. I have such good intentions how can it be wrong??? I blame it on Sam, really I can't be held responsible my actions with such temptations thrown at me around every corner. I'm way too weak! I know I've come here and confessed this many times before. I mean it each and every time. I WILL NOT buy more of a perishable item than I can use before it goes bad! I have good intentions and I reeeaally mean it at the time, but then I go into Sam's and what do they have there to taut me with, but the cutest little Seckel pears you've ever seen. I completely ignore the fact that they come in a 4 pound box. I'll make caramel dipped pears for that fruit tray I've got to make this week; is my rational. All the while ignoring the whole 4 pound thing. By the way, four pounds equals a lot of tiny pears.

 Caramel dipped baby pears, adorable!

So fast forward to later in the week. I did use about 8 of the pears for the fruit tray. They were in fact adorable dipped in caramel. Like little gleaming gems on my fruit and cheese tray. The only problem, I still had about 3 pounds of tiny pears left over. So still with good intentions, I planned to make a pear and apple crisp with the rest. Yeah well, you know what they say about good intentions! So today, when I finally got the chance to do a little baking, I realize the pears are way too ripe for a crisp. At this point they'd disintegrate to a soggy pulp if baked. Not so good for a crisp.  However, mushy fruit is great for muffins. So if you get one of those fruit boxes given to you over the holidays, here's a wonderful way to use up some of the pears.

Although I plan to try to be better in the future and not allow myself to be tempted by cuteness or a good bargain, I'm glad that I had to find a way to use the pears because these muffins are divine. They are very similar to a banana nut muffin, but with the delicate flavor of pear rather than the overwhelming flavor of banana.


Pear Muffins
(Printable recipe)
2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 cup granulated sugar
3 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon finely minced crystallized ginger
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup milk
1 egg -- beaten
zest of 1 lemon
1/4 cup melted butter -- cooled
1 cup mashed pear pulp -- (2 or 3 soft regular sized pears or 6-8 Seckel pears)
1/2 cup chopped walnuts or pecans

Preheat oven to 350 degrees, F.


Mash the pears.



 Sift together flour, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon and salt.

 
 
 Chop the pecans




Beat together milk, beaten egg, butter and lemon zest and crystallized ginger. Mix pears and nuts into flour mixture. Gently stir milk mixture into dry ingredients. Batter should be lumpy, not smooth. Do not over mix.

I used a silicon pan, but a regular muffin tin is fine.

Spray muffin pans with nonstick spray. Fill muffin cups 2/3 full. Bake at 350 degrees F for 20 to 25 minutes, until tops are browned. Remove from pan immediately, and serve warm. If you have any leftovers, which I can't imagine, they can be kept a couple of days in an airtight container, or frozen.


Gorgeous Pear Muffins



Perfect with a bit of butter and a pipping hot cup of Twinings Apple Cinnamon  tea.

18 comments:

Christy said...

I've made pear bread before and loved the taste and texture of it. These look wonderful! Can't wait to try them!

apparentlyjessy said...

Mmm pear muffins look delicious! I do that too, buy perishables then rush to use them before they go off, if only things had a longer life span!

Anonymous said...

Sounds fantastic and I bet it was great with a cup of tea.

grace said...

you might as well stop fighting it. it’s not worth the struggle, especially when a possible outcome is fluffy, pillowy, sweet muffins like these. say…how about a caramel-dipped pear muffin? :)

El said...

I've never had pear muffins before. They look tasty - especially with that hot cup of tea.

Barbara said...

These look divine. Never had made pear cake or muffins before. Printing your recipe now!

Kelly @ EvilShenanigans said...

Those look so great, and are adorable! What a lovely way to use pear!

Anonymous said...

Pear muffins sound terrific with pecans! Delicious idea!

Anonymous said...

MY FAVOURITE APPLE CINAMMON TEA! HEEHEE.
have never baked with pear before, sadly.
those look like fantastic pears.
sounds awesome! cant wait to try it!
heh.

farida said...

What a great way to use pears! My daughter loves muffins and I would like to try this recipe with her. Thanks for sharing!

Sandi @the WhistleStop Cafe said...

I made the same mistake you did.. I have a fruit drawer full of pears!

The Blonde Duck said...

Popped in to say hello! I've never seen pear muffins before, but I love pears so I know I'd adore them!

Jake said...

Great recipe and love your blog.

Joanne said...

So basically what I got out of this is...when life gives you an abundance of fruit - let it get mushy and then make muffins! These look so good, definitely a silver lining to the whole excess fruit thing.

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glamah16 said...

I can understand the temptation. Love them . Beautiful.

Sherry said...

Always looking for a new muffin recipe to try. Your photos are wonderful btw.

Unrepentant Escapist said...

My grandpa has a pear tree and gave us two pounds of pears this year, many of which more or less turned into soup. I had to squeeze them out of their skins. I thought I'd wasted so much good fruit.

Yet these muffins turned out honestly to be some of the best things I've ever baked. They are so good. The proportions were perfect--I filled 12 cups exactly. Your description of banana bread with the milder flavor of pears is bang on.

One note: I didn't have crystallized ginger on hand so I grated some fresh root. If anyone out there has the same problem, it still tasted great. Thanks so much for the recipe!