pear ginger muffins

Just stopping in with a recipe for the pear ginger muffins that I mentioned in my last post.

Guided by a hunk of fresh ginger and a couple of Bosc pears about to turn the corner into overripe territory, I made these muffins up as I went along, and they turned out really well. Built on the goodness of whole grain spelt flour and unrefined coconut palm sugar, the muffins have a tender, airy crumb infused with the mouth-warming spiciness of fresh ginger and loaded with chunks of juicy pear. The batter is just barely sweet, which allows the natural sweetness of the pear to really shine through. I like them that way, but if you prefer a sweeter muffin, try increasing the palm sugar from 1/3 cup to 1/2 cup. (If you don't have palm sugar around but have another granular unrefined sweetener, such as sucanat or rapadura, you can substitute that in an equal amount.)

I finely grated the ginger using a ceramic grater (one of my favorite kitchen gadgets - it looks a lot like this one); a microplane would work well, too. I didn't even bother to peel the ginger before I grated it -- the bits of ginger skin go unnoticed in the final product, and they might even add to the flavor.

pear ginger muffins
Makes about 10 standard-size (2-inch) muffins

wet ingredients:
1 large egg
1/3 cup coconut palm sugar
3/4 cup plain whole milk yogurt
2-inch piece of fresh ginger, grated
1 Tbsp butter, melted and cooled

dry ingredients:
1-1/2 cups whole grain spelt flour
1/4 tsp salt
2 tsp baking powder

2 firm-ripe pears, peeled, cored, and diced (I used Bosc)

Preheat the oven to 350 F with rack in the middle.

Whisk together the wet ingredients in a large bowl. In a separate bowl stir together the dry ingredients. Then stir the dry ingredients into the wet, being careful not to overmix. Fold in the pears.

Pour the batter into a buttered muffin tin and bake for 15 to 18 minutes, until a cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean.