Spiced Pear Muffins

Oct 25, 2011 by Lindsey

I think I am a week behind in my regular blog posts! You must think I’ve been doing nothing worth blogging about, but really it’s quite the opposite. Since my last update, I’ve been doing plenty of neat things… Like making Rachel Ray’s delicious recipe for french dip sandwiches, trying out this recipe for spaghetti squash with brussel sprouts, and throwing together this lovely autumn wreath.

This week, I baked a batch of Spiced Pear Muffins for Jason and myself. We both have busy schedules and these fragrant, fluffy muffins are a great “anytime” sweet to keep us energized and in good spirits. The house smells incredible and we always have a treat on hand! I got the recipe from the amazing The Kitchn Blog. Their recipe even taught me how to get tall, dome-shapped muffin tops instead of the flat muffins that always emerge from my oven! They are delicious - fluffy with just the perfect amount of spice and soft, sweet pears folded in. I enjoyed my muffin for breakfast with a cup of green tea and a puppy in my lap. Such a delight!

I’ll show you how to make these incredible autumn treats.

Ingredients

1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cupwhite sugar
1 stick  butter, softened
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup  milk
2 medium bosc pears, unpeeled and diced small

Instructions

First, preheat the oven to 425 degrees and get your muffin tin ready.

In a medium-sized bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt and spices.

In a larger bowl, use a mixer to blend the softened butter and sugars for about two minutes until light and fluffy. Mix in the eggs one by one. Add the vanilla extract and about one-third of the flour mixture.

Continue to beat in the flour mixture in slow amounts along with the milk. When the flour is sufficiently incorporated, stir in the chopped pears.

Fill the muffin tins to the brim and sprinkle cinnamon sugar on the top.

When you put them in the oven, reduce the heat to 400 degrees immediately. The high temperature of 425 ensures that the outside of the muffins will set first, while the inside cooks more slowly. As the temperature drops to 400, the muffins will rise and achieve that impressive little dome shape.

While these are a great breakfast treat, I think you can have one any time of day.

Share them with whoever you think needs a little pick-me-up.

And don’t feel guilty about stealing one for yourself!

 

Lots of love,

Lindsey