Asian Pear and Date Muffins for #MuffinMonday

Jan 14, 2013 by lovelypantry

Welcome to my first #MuffinMonday post for 2013. Today’s muffin is like none that I’ve ever made before. It’s actually quite interesting. The ingredients are absolutely fantastic and healthy. Our recipe today is adapted from The Free Range Cook by Annabel Langbein and Ooh-Look Food & Craft.

Allow me to say it before you do. These aren’t the cutest muffins. I think I put too many pieces of pear on the batter. But I’ll tell you this…where these muffin lack in looks, they more than make up for it in taste! Looking back, I can think of a few other ways I could have done them. But they came out great! These muffins are nothing short interesting and leave you wanting for another bite. The dates give them such a deep flavour and the texture – so very moist.

I didn’t do a lot of changes to the recipe really. I was very interested in the technique. I replaced regular flour with Spelt flour and used Asian pear instead of a regular pear. Asian Pear is high in fiber, rich in vitamin C, and helps lower blood cholesterol. Dates are excellent sources of fiber and protein.

You will notice that in future posts, that I will be making less muffins. I found that making 12-18 muffins was too much for my little family. I think it would benefit us more if I cut back on the quantity. I also decided to use my kitchen scale more often. There are so many recipes that I end up dismissing because I would have to do conversions. Change is good.

Asian Pear and Date Muffins

Ingredients

88g (About 5 pitted dates)
250lm/1 Cup Water
½ Tsp Baking Soda
30g Butter, cold and diced
125g Brown Sugar
1 Egg
88g Spelt Flour
1¼ Tsp Baking Powder
½ Tsp Vanilla Extract
½ Tsp Ginger
1 Asian Pear, peeled and diced into small pieces
1 Tbsp Turbinado Sugar

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350F
Line a muffin pan with 9 paper liners
In a large pot (this will essentially be your mixing bowl), place dates, baking soda and water. Boil for about 10 minutes until the liquid will foam a bit and the dates will break down. Stir until a thick liquid is formed.
Remove the pot from the heat source and add the butter. Stir until fully dissolved.
Add the vanilla, sugar and egg. Whisk to incorporate.
Fold in the flour
This will yield about 2¼ Cups of batter
Pour the batter into each muffin cup and then add a few pieces of pear in the centre. Sprinkle with Turbinado sugar
Bake for 2 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean
These muffins are best served warm

Notes

This recipe yields 9 muffins

I love the fact that I only used one pot. There’s no sifting of dry ingredients in a separate bowl for this recipe, friends! Very easy and healthy. Feel free to cut back on the sugar if needed. I found that it was a bit on the sweet side but it didn’t bother me. Next time I will reduce the sugar.

Date batter, batter in muffin liners, Asian pear on top of the batter

A very delicious treat! These muffins were enjoyed by my family and I’m so glad that this was our #MuffinMonday selection today!

Asian Pear and Date Muffins

Have an amazing week!

~Lyn

Muffin Monday is an initiative by Baker Street. A culinary journey of sharing a wickedly delicious muffin recipe every week. Drop in a quick line to join her on her journey to make the world smile and beat glum Monday mornings week after week.

Muffin Monday: http://bakerstreet.tv/muffin-monday/

Muffin 101: http://bakerstreet.tv/muffin-monday/muffin-101/