Hello friends!

I can give you four reasons why you will want to finish off an entire basket of these muffins:

1. They are yummy!
2. They are buttery!
3. They are warming and sweet!
4. They are surprisingly easy to make!

Each tender muffin has a wintery, warming mix of ginger packed in three ways: freshly grated, crystallized, and powdered. I combined the muffins with a tease of cardamom.  Rounding out these mildly spicy flavors is a moist, tender, buttery crumb and a tossing of luscious pear chunks. This great combination of flavors is topped with a mix of warming ginger, cardamom, and brown sugar streusel topping. Simply wonderful!

Meet ya in the kitchen!

For the Streusel Topping:

1/2 cup flour

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/2 teaspoon cardamom

1 tablespoon crystallized ginger, diced or 1 teaspoon ginger

5 tablespoons butter, cold

Pinch of salt

For the Muffins:

1  (15.25) can of Bartlett pears, in natural juice or heavy syrup

2 tablespoons crystallized ginger, diced

1 1/2 cups flour

2 tablespoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

2 teaspoons powdered ginger

1 teaspoon cardamon

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/3 cup brown sugar

1 egg

1 stick butter, melted

1/2 cup sour cream

1 teaspoon vanilla

Directions:

Adjust the oven rack to upper-middle position and heat oven to 400 degrees.  Spray standard muffin with nonstick cooking spray, set aside.  Drain juices from the canned pears into a small saucepan along with crystallized ginger and grated ginger and simmer over medium heat.  Cook, reducing to about 1/2 a cup, about 6 minutes.  Set aside to cool. Meanwhile, chop up the pear slices into chunks and set aside.

Whisk flour, baking powder, baking soda, ginger, cardamom, and salt together in a large bowl.  Whisk together the brown sugar and egg together in a medium bowl until thick and well blended.  Slowly whisk in melted butter until combined.  Whisk in sour cream, vanilla, pear juice, and pear chunks.  Using a rubber spatula, fold egg mixture into flour mixture until just moistened.  The batter will be very lumpy with a few spots of dry flour; do not overmix.)

Using an ice cream scoop or large spoon to divide batter equally among prepared muffin cups (batter should completely fill cups and mound slightly).  Sprinkle topping evenly over muffins.

Bake until muffin tops are golden and just firm 17 to 19 minutes, rotating muffin tin from front to back halfway through baking time.  Cool muffins in muffin tin for 5 minutes, then transfer to wire rack and cool 5 minutes before serving.

 

Bake a little magic!

Thanks for stopping by…

Eileen~