Whole Grain Pear Muffins (With Browned Butter Variation)

There’s just something about muffins that makes them one of my favorite foods. They are portable, customizable, and delicious. When I can set out some muffins in the morning and call it breakfast, maybe a hard boiled egg and fruit if I’m feeling extra, I feel like I’ve set us all up for success. It’s even better when they are whole grain and easy to prepare! These ones can be whipped up quickly with oil (I prefer olive oil), or made a bit more fancy with browned butter and a few extra minutes. As you can maybe tell, I’m a bit of a nut about browned butter in everything recently; my best hint is below.

The browned butter version makes a more tender, crumbly muffin with a delicate texture and delicious sweet flavor, while the oil version are sturdy workhorses that also taste delicious and balanced, the bitterness of the olive oil a nice counterpoint to the brown sugar and pears.

These have less sugar than most muffin recipes and are still plenty sweet. I was curious how they stack up in terms of sugar with other breakfast options, so I did some math. Each of these muffins clocks in at about 2 tsp of sugar, just under 8g of added sugar. To give some reference, a half cup of Bob’s Red Mill Lemon Blueberry Granola has 10 g added sugar, and one serving of Field Day Organic Raisin Bran has 7g of sugar. That makes these a totally acceptable breakfast treat or after school snack in my book. I think if you are truly concerned about sugar you could certainly cut back a bit further although not by much; you need a certain amount of sugar for proper baking chemistry and the structure of the muffins.

We had a surplus of pears on hand that were given to us by a friend (another bonus of living in fruit-growing country) which led to these muffins. They can be made with pears that are on their last legs and need to be used, too—they won’t affect flavor at all. I hope you also find yourself with extra fruit on hand sometime soon!

A note on browning butter: This is a skill that gets easier with practice. My best tip is this: the first time you do it, set a stopwatch when the butter hits the pan and keep a close eye and nose on the butter, not stirring until you start to smell the nutty aroma. Note the time. Stir and watch like a hawk until some of the butter solids turn golden and all the butter takes on a bit of a darker hue. Remove from heat and stop the watch. Now you have a baseline idea of timing for next time, provided you use the same pan, same heat setting and similar amount of butter. You can use a timer to help you with the hands off part and it makes the whole process much easier and more hands-off in the future!

WHOLE GRAIN PEAR MUFFINS (WITH BROWNED BUTTER VARIATION)

SERVES 12

ABOUT 45 minutes

INGREDIENTS:

—2/3 c olive or vegetable oil, or 11 T unsalted butter for browned butter variation

—2 eggs

—1 tsp vanilla

—3/4 c minus 1 T milk

—1 T apple cider vinegar or lemon juice

(—or, substitute 3/4 c buttermilk or whole plain yogurt for the above milk+lemon mixture)

—2 c whole wheat flour

—1/2 c wheat germ (or substitute more WW flour or AP flour)

—2/3 c brown sugar, packed

—1 tsp baking powder

—1/2 tsp baking soda

—3/4 tsp kosher salt

—1 tsp cinnamon

—3 medium pears, diced, about 2.5 cups (I leave the skin on)

DIRECTIONS:

—Preheat oven to 375, butter or oil a 12-cup muffin tin, or line with paper liners.

—Make soured/clabbered milk by adding vinegar or lemon to milk and letting sit for about 3 minutes.

—If using browned butter variation, place butter in a sauté pan or skillet over medium heat. Watch closely as it melts and begin stirring constantly as it starts to give off a nutty aroma, turns a slightly darker color, and a few of the butter solids turn golden. Stir well and remove from heat. Transfer every last drop to a large mixing bowl.

—If using oil, add oil to mixing bowl and whisk eggs, vanilla, brown sugar, and clabbered milk together until homogenous. .

—If using butter, whisk eggs, vanilla, brown sugar, and clabbered milk into the browned butter in the bowl until homogenous.

—Sprinkle flour, wheat germ, and the rest of the dry ingredients on top of the wet mixture. Carefully fold and mix together until some dry ingredients remain.  Add pears and mix just until no white streaks or dry pockets remain.

—Scoop batter by half-cup scoops into muffin tin, evening them out so each muffin domes up over the tin about 1-2cm.

—Bake for 20-25 minutes or until lightly browned and tops of muffins spring back when gently pushed, or when a wooden tester inserted in the middle of the largest muffin in the middle of the tin comes out clean, rotating pan front to back at about 18-20 minutes.

-Leave in tins for 5 minutes before gently removing to a wire rack to let cool further. I use a butter knife to work carefully around each muffin for an easier release.

—Enjoy! These keep, covered at room temperature for 24-48 hours and in the fridge up to a week after that. The older muffins are great split and toasted, with butter, just in case you needed that extra information. :)