Spiced Pear Muffins with Crumb Topping

Sometimes I like to bake just so my house smells so good I’ll never want to leave. It’s like a scented candle, but the bonus is you get to eat the end results! I’m pretty sure my neighbors smelled these muffins baking. I’m surprised I didn’t have a line out the door wanting to be taste-testers. Good thing too because they would have eaten all of my delicious muffins. And trust me when I say once you’ve tried these, you won’t want anyone stealing even a bite of them from you!

Ingredients for muffins

1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup white sugar
1 stick unsalted butter, softened
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup milk
2 medium pears, unpeeled and chopped
1/4 cup chopped candied ginger

Crumb Topping

1/3 cup sugar
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons butter, cut into bits
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Directions

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees.

Place muffin cups in muffin tin & set aside.

In a stand mixer or large bowl cream together sugars and softened butter until fluffy {about 1 minute}. Add the eggs and vanilla, and mix until combined.

In a medium bowl, mix flour, baking powder, spices, and salt. With your stand mixer on low speed, slowly mix 1/2 of the flour mixture into the sugar mixture, then add 1/2 of the milk. Repeat this step with remaining flour mixture & milk, stirring only until the mixture is incorporated. Do not over mix! Fold candied ginger and diced pears into the batter.

In a separate bowl, mix together the ingredients for the crumb topping with your fingers {or a fork if you don’t like to touch your food} until nice and crumbly.  Is crumbly even a word? Hmm.

Divide the batter between the muffin cups. If you have major OCD like me, use a 3 tablespoon cookie scoop to fill your muffin tins, if you don’t, just fill the tins 2/3rd of the way full and sprinkle with crumb topping mixture.

Bake spiced pear muffins for 18 minutes minutes, turning pan once about halfway through baking. Muffins are done when a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. Take muffins out of oven, lock your doors so your neighbors can’t get in and let cool before gobbling up.

*Makes 1 dozen muffins