Kinda Healthy Pear and Ginger Muffins

Hello Dear Reader,

A little while ago, I picked up a one kilo container of perfect pears that had been marked down to half price, only $1.75, now I do love pears just as they are, eaten fresh, but I love them more poached in a heavenly sweet and fragrant syrup. I have lovely childhood memories of our darling Mum making "stewed fruit" with whatever fruit was in season and in abundance. She would make stewed loquats, apricots, pears, apples, pineapple and peaches, always served with Dongala cream or homemade custard or made into a pudding with the syrupy fruit sitting underneath a, light as air, sponge.

So with these pears I went ahead and made my usual Poached Pears in Cardamon Syrup but spiced it up a bit by adding fresh and ground ginger, they were totally delicious served cold with cream and ice-cream for dessert. We happened to be having our monthly morning tea at work the next day and I thought these wonderful spiced pears would be just perfect in a muffin. So as usual I hit google and found a great little recipe that was both easy and quite healthy. I substituted the fresh pears called for in the original recipe for my poached pears and they were just divine in these delicious little muffins.

Ingredients for Kinda Healthy Pear and Ginger Muffins, clockwise from top left-1 cup plain flour, 1 cup instant oats (I just blitzed rolled oats in the Thermomix for 5 seconds on speed 5), 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger, 1/4 cup of chopped walnut, roasted in a dry fry pan till golden and toasted, 2/3 cup of milk of choice, 3 tablespoons sugar of choice ( I was out of brown sugar, it feel it would have been a better choice) 1 egg, 1/3 cup of oil of choice (I use Rice Bran oil for everything)3/4 cup chopped pears (fresh, canned or poached) 1/4 teaspoon of salt and 1 1/2 teaspoons of baking powder

Put the flour, instant oats, sugar, ginger, salt and baking powder in a large bowl and whisk to combine

In a smaller bowl, add the milk, oil and egg and again whisk to combine

Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredient and using a soft flexible spatula give everything a gentle mix until just starting to combine. Now add the chopped pears and toasted walnuts and give it a few more gentle turns to just incorporate, don't over mix

It will look uncannily like porridge or bircher muesli 

For the topping, in a small bowl combine 2 teaspoons of sugar and 1/4 teaspoon of ground ginger

Dollop about 2 heaped tablespoons of muffin mixture into a prepared muffin tin, then sprinkle over the sugar and ginger mixture

Bake in a preheated 180C oven for 12 to 15 minutes or until lightly golden brown and the muffin springs back when you give it a light press.  

These little golden morsels are a joy, fruity, spicy with a lovely little crunch from the toasted walnuts and spicy topping. They are not overly sweet and are quite dense, hence they don't rise mightily but that is okay, they are lovely in their own, kinda healthy, way. 

Give them a whirl, I think you'll love them.

Have a lovely day,

💗Fi

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