As far as I'm concerned, there are few flavour combinations that are quite as perfect as pear and ginger - these two have the perfect relationship, where each one bring out the other's very best qualities, and are better together than they could ever be apart. I bet ginger and pear never ever exchange snippy remarks or get into silly misunderstandings, because they're just that perfect for each other.
That's why I love these pear ginger walnut muffins... because they're just right, in the Goldilocks sense of the word.
They're soft and moist thanks to the pear, not too sweet, and have a warm spicy flavour courtesy of two kinds of ginger. Plus, just because I prefer my muffins to be as interesting in texture as they are in flavour, some chopped walnuts make a guest appearance to provide a bit of crunch.
As a certain TV personality would say, these are some seriously good eats.
So if it's one of those days where the world seems all out of kilter and you're seriously considering shacking up in the House at Grr Corner, my prescription is to bake a batch of these. A fresh muffin, still warm from the oven, washed down with a big mug of strong black tea will go a long way to providing a small measure of balance to your little corner of the universe.
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- 2 cups all purpose flour
- ½ cup packed brown sugar
- 2½ tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp ground ginger
- ¼ tsp ground cardamom
- ½ tsp salt
- 1 egg
- ½ cup vanilla yogurt
- ½ cup milk
- ⅓ cup canola oil
- 2 medium pears, cut into small dice
- ¼ cup walnuts, roughly chopped
- ¼ cup crystallised ginger, finely chopped
- Preheat oven to 350F. Lightly grease a 12-cup muffin tin or line with baking cups (you can also use a 6-cup jumbo muffin pan if you prefer your muffins mega-sized).
- In a large mixing bowl, combine flour, brown sugar, baking powder, ginger, cardamom and salt. Set aside.
- In a second bowl, whisk together egg, yogurt, milk and oil until blended. Add in the dry ingredients and stir until just barely combined. Gently fold in the pears, walnuts and ginger.
- Spoon the batter into the prepared muffin tin (it's okay if the cups are nearly full). Sprinkle muffins with some chopped walnuts and a pinch of brown sugar, if desired, and bake in preheated oven for 20-25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the middle of a muffin comes out clean (if using a jumbo muffin tin, increase baking time to 40-45 minutes).
jennyhead says
OMG i'm TOTALLY making these next weekend. mmmm.