Easy Bake Vanilla Pear Muffins

Pears are in season and abundant at the moment, so it’s the perfect opportunity to use them in some baking and whip up a batch of these delicious Vanilla & Pear Muffins. This muffin recipe is so easy to bake, and the results are always yummy!

Enjoy as an afternoon tea treat, they are perfect with a cup of tea. These Vanilla & Pear Muffins also make a tasty lunchbox snack with the added bonus of hidden fruit. They freeze well so you can make a big batch in advance and pop one frozen into the lunchbox, it should defrost perfectly by morning recess.

I’ve used this base recipe for muffins with different in-season fruits (apple or berries also work great if you don’t have pears), but we recently had the opportunity to pick our own pears directly from my mother-in-law’s orchid, so a batch of pear muffins was in order.

Home grown fruit always tastes better than shop bought, so we were really lucky to pick a whole basket to take home and bake with.

Use the best vanilla extract you can afford, vanilla essence is fine, but if you have the good stuff it really makes a difference in the flavour. Because there is no butter or oil in the mixture, it’s best to use full cream milk rather than skim, otherwise your muffin texture may be a little dry.

Muffins always taste better warm, so gobble them up straight out of the oven with a smear of butter is the perfect way to enjoy these Vanilla Pear Muffins.

Vanilla Pear Muffins

Yield: 12

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 20 minutes

Total Time: 30 minutes

These Vanilla Pear Muffins are easy to bake and make great lunchbox treats. A tasty way to use up excess fruit. Apple can be substituted in place of pear.

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Ingredients

• 1 large ripe pear, cored, quartered and thinly sliced
• 250g (8 oz) Self Raising Flour (sifted)
• 220g (7 oz) sugar
• 2 eggs
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 250ml (8 fl oz) milk
• pinch of salt
• Butter or cooking oil spray for greasing

Instructions

Preheat oven to 180C (350F) and grease 12 hole large muffin tin very well.

In a large bowl mix together dry ingredients - flour, sugar, salt.

In a smaller bowl beat eggs and milk. Add vanilla extract.

Make a well in the dry ingredients and then gradually stir in the egg and milk mixture. Stir gently until combined. Try not to over-mix.

Pour batter evenly into muffin tin.

Add pear to batter pushing some of the pieces in with a skewer.

Bake for 20-25min or until skewer comes out clean.

Cool in tray for 5min before turning out, leave to fully cook on a wire rack.

Notes

Pear may be substituted with apple. Suitable for freezing.

photography by Monika Grabkowska

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