Cinnamon and Pear muffins

I've been still quite poorly, hence not much blogging, but I've still been cooking when I can.  Pears are one of my favourite fruit, and it was with so much delight that I found myself with a little bounty off a friends tree.  They are the type that when you bite into the ripe flesh, you have juice running down your face, nothing like fruit straight from the tree.  I made a pear and walnut cake and then also made them into cinnamon and pear muffins so they are nut free ready for the school lunchbox this week.  I love nothing more than the smell of these kinds of goodies in my kitchen, and I'm sure I put a whole lot of love in them to help boost my body along!

Cinnamon and Pear muffins

For the batter/cake

• 150g softened butter
• 125g caster sugar
• 2 medium eggs
• 150g selfraising flour, sifted
• good pinch of cinnamon, sifted with the flour

With electric hand beaters or a mix master, cream the butter and sugar until fluffy.  Gradually add one egg at a time with a big spoonful of flour to stop the mixture from curdling.  Do that until all the flour is used up.  Line a 12 capacity muffin tray with patty pans, although I only got 9 muffins out of this batter.

You need around 3-4 very ripe pears for this.  Peel, core and slice them once you have made the batter so they don't go brown.  You can also add chopped walnuts on top, and sprinkle with a mixture of cinnamon and caster sugar, equal quantities, over the pears.  Bake in a preheated oven for approximately 30 minutes, or if for a cake, place in a 20cm spring form round cake tin and cook for around 40 minutes.  You can swap 1/2 the flour for almond meal if you like and you can also use apples, or any fruit that is in season for that matter.  If you are using fruit that is a bit firmer than the ripe pears, slice up and fry in a pan with 25g of butter and 1 tablespoon of sugar until slightly golden, then allow to cool and arrange on to batter and pour the syrup on as well.  They are gorgeous served warm with a good vanilla yoghurt or cream. 

I found these cute vintage muffin cases at Aldi for a few dollars, cute!

My perfect kind of comfort food.

This is the pear and walnut cake before going in the oven.

Lets hope this is the beginning of more blogging as it's nice to be back doing something I love.

Ciao, Jan.