For this recipe, I used Amy Chaplins gluten-free muffin base recipe from her new book ‘Whole Food Cooking Every Day’ and combined it with two of my favourite recipes – Peach Ginger Muffins and Pear Ginger Cornmeal Cake.
She goes on to say, “I discovered textural magic (and a gorgeous golden crumb) with a combination of millet flour, oat flour and almond flour. These flours, along with plenty of ground flax seeds, becomes a winning base from which an endless number of variations have stemmed.”
~marigold~
There are four parts to this recipe;
- pear topping,
- wet ingredients
- dry ingredients
- and macadamia crumb
Once these four parts are assembled and ready, the muffins come together easily. I used the variation option (see below) in this photo and cut the pear into cubes, adding a ¼ cup into the batter and remaining on top.
pear ginger macadamia muffins
To make the different flours, place separately and in small quantities, whole millet, almond and oats in your high-speed blender and grind to a flour. Make in bigger amounts and store in the freezer.
Preparation – 20 minutes.
Baking – 35 minutes.
Makes 10 -12 muffins, depending on the size of your muffin cups.
pear topping
2 small/165g pears (the smaller fit nicely on top)
1 Tbsp coconut oil
1 Tbsp maple syrup/coconut sugar
1 heaped tsp grated ginger
macadamia crumb
¾ cup/100g macadamia nuts, roughly chopped
2 Tbsp coconut sugar
2 Tbsp maple syrup
cake
¼ cup/22g ground flax seeds
1 cup/225g almond milk
⅓ cup/70g melted coconut oil
¼ cup/75g pure maple syrup or coconut sugar
¼ cup/75g orange juice, freshly squeezed
1 Tbsp vanilla extract
½ tsp fine rock salt
1 small/80g pear, grated (skin and all)
2 heaped Tbsp/25g crystallized ginger, finely chopped
2 Tbsp freshly grated ginger
~
1 cup/130g millet flour
½ cup/45g oat flour (gluten-free)
½ cup/45g almond flour
1 Tbsp baking powder
preparation
1. Preheat the oven to 180C/350F. Line a standard muffin pan with 10- 12 paper liners and set aside.
2. In a medium bowl, combine the ground flax seeds and almond milk from the cake ingredients, whisk to combine and set aside while you prepare the pear topping.
pear topping
3. Halve the pears, remove the seeds, cut into quarters and then each quarter into three slices about ¼-inch thick. Set aside.
4. In a skillet over medium heat, add the oil, sugar and ginger, melt the mixture, stirring gently to combine. Cook until the mixture begins to bubble, about 2 minutes, then add the pears, toss the pears to coat them with syrup, cover and allow to simmer for 2 minutes. Remove from heat and set aside.
macadamia crumb
5. In a small bowl, place the macadamias nuts, sugar and maple syrup, stir to combine – set aside.
cake
6. To the flax mixture, add the coconut oil, maple syrup, orange juice, vanilla, salt, grated pear, ginger and crystallized ginger.
7. In another bowl, combine the millet flour, oat flour, almond flour and baking powder, breaking up any clumps of almond flour, using a spatula stir the wet ingredients into the dry until combined, then spoon the batter into the muffin cups filling them three-quarters full.
8. Toss the pears to coat them with the pear juices and lay 2 – 3 slices over each of the muffins. Spoon any extra juices over the muffins.
9. With your fingers, crumble the macadamia crumb on top of each muffin.
10. Bake for 35 – 40 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the centre of a muffin comes out clean. Remove from oven and allow the muffins to sit for 5 minutes before transferring them to a wire rack to cool. Allow to cool completely before serving, this allows the structure to set resulting in a tender crumb.
Note:
- If melted coconut oil is added to cold ingredients, it will clump and harden. If wet ingredients are cold, not at room temperature, don’t add the coconut oil until right before combining the wet and dry ingredients.
Variation:
- For extra sweetness, replace the orange juice with maple syrup or coconut sugar.
- As mentioned above; chop the pears into cubes instead of slivers, add ¼ cup/90g into the batter and the remaining on top.
