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This recipe was previously published on Robust Recipes. I have updated the photos, recipe, and post for a better user experience. Enjoy!
Happy December! I hope you had a great Thanksgiving!!!
I have a lot of goodies for you this December. First up, gingerbread pear muffins!!! OMG so yum!
These muffins are fluffy, tender, packed with warming spices that make it just a tiny bit spicy, filled with rich, sweet molasses and studded with ripe juicy pears. the top has a sprinkle of coarse, crunchy turbinado sugar. That step is optional, but a great way to keep these muffins festive for the Holidays!
I first shared this recipe back in 2016. I remember it being good, but knew the photos could use some work. In the original recipe I shredded a pear which added a nice sweetness but you really didn’t taste pear. This time I decided to chop the pears and bake them right into the muffins so that with each bite you would get a juicy little nugget of pear.
Thank you current me for this amazing idea. Thank you past me for the original idea that lead me to this new idea. Full circle.
It’s such a satisfying feeling to update older recipes. What was once a good recipe has been transformed into an incredible recipe! This is what’s so magical about blogging for me, there is always room to grow.
Anyways, about these gingerbread pear muffins….they are easy to make too! The base of the muffins uses oat flour and coconut flour making them gluten free. To make things easy we throw all of the dry ingredients into a food processor, including the oats and blend until the oats break down into a flour and all the dry ingredients are well combined.
Then, we chop up the sweet juicy ripe pears and mix up the wet ingredients. The wet ingredients consists of lots of eggs and a few egg yolks for moisture and binding, a little coconut oil, a little applesauce, coconut sugar, and molasses of course. Add the dry to the wet for the perfect muffin batter.
Then gently fold the pears in. Allow the batter to rest for 8 minutes, it will thicken thanks to the oat flour and coconut flour.
Bake for 17 to 20 minutes!
And your kitchen will start to smell like a wintertime heaven.
Seriously.
You will want to grab a hot mug of tea, or coffee, or hot chocolate – whatever your fave warm drink is – so that it’s ready for when the gingerbread pear muffins are done baking and cooling.
Oh, and you might want to grab a blanket and put on a cozy sweater and some slippers while you’re at it. And if you happen to have a fireplace you are really set for these festive December muffins!
BTW if you have a real fireplace I am jealous!!! We have a fancy space heater that has fake flames. It’s fun. It’s better then nothing.
Either way, these gingerbread pear muffins will make you feel all cozy and warm and fuzzy inside. Trust me.
And just look at that crunchy sugar on top. Bakery level quality, that’s what these gingerbread pear muffins are!
I know you will love how delicious these gingerbread pear muffins are. They are perfectly sweet, a little spicy, and every bite is loaded with juicy pear. And if you don’t need to eat gluten free you won’t notice the that they are gluten free. A win if you want to share these babies with a crowd.
They would be great for breakfast, brunch, an afternoon snack, anytime in the fall or around the Holidays, or just because you LOVE a good muffin.
I mean come on, just look at those juicy pear chunks in that muffin, how can you not want to take a bite of that?!
I know I still do, and I made these muffins about 18 thousand times to perfect them. It’s a rough job, but my stomach isn’t complaining lol.
I am so excited for you to make these gingerbread pear muffins!
Here are more muffin recipes you will enjoy:
Happy December baking friends!
Hey, if you made this recipe the biggest compliment to me is if you leave a comment below, along with a star rating. It helps my recipes to be seen by more people and I love hearing from you! Thanks friends!
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Gingerbread Pear Muffins (Gluten Free)
- Prep Time: 20 mins
- Cook Time: 20 mins
- Total Time: 40 minutes
- Yield: 12 muffins 1x
- Category: breakfast, snack, dessert, baking
- Method: baking
- Cuisine: gluten free, dairy free, vegetarian, refined sugar free, easy
Description
Gingerbread pear muffins are packed with warming spices, sweet molasses, and studded with juicy ripe pears. They are the perfect muffin for the Holidays.
Ingredients
Dry ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups old fashioned, rolled oats (see notes)
- 1/2 cup coconut flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
- 3 to 4 teaspoons ground ginger
- 1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
- 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
- 1 tablespoon cornstarch
Wet ingredients
- 4 eggs, room temp
- 2 egg yolks, room temp
- 1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce, room temp
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1/4 cup coconut sugar
- 1/2 cup molasses
- 1/4 cup coconut oil, melted
- 2 ripe pears (see notes)
Optional topping
- Generous amount of turbinado sugar (AKA sugar in the raw)
Instructions
- Prepare: Preheat your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Grease a muffin tin and set aside.
- Mix dry ingredients: Add the oats, coconut flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, ground ginger, allspice, ground clove, and cornstarch to a food processor – blend until the oats are broken down and resemble a flour texture and the remaining ingredients are well combined. Set mixture aside.
- Mix wet ingredients: In a large mixing bowl whisk the eggs and egg yolks together. Add the applesauce, vanilla, coconut sugar, molasses, and the melted coconut oil – whisk until well combined.
- Chop the pears: Peel and chop the pears into 1/2 to 1 inch cubes, discarding the core.
- Combine: Stir the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients until everything is well incorporated, set aside. Gently fold the pears into the batter.
- Rest: Allow the batter to rest for 8 minutes, it will thicken as it rests.
- Scoop: Use an ice cream scoop to transfer about 1/4 cup of the batter into each muffin tin cavity. You may have some batter leftover depending on how big your pears are, but you can stick any pears left behind in the mixing bowl on top of the muffins.
- Sprinkle with sugar (optional): Sprinkle a generous amount of turbinado (AKA sugar in the raw) over each muffin for a crunchy top.
- Bake: Bake the muffins for 17 to 20 minutes, or until a toothpick removes clean from the center of the muffins.
- Cool: Allow the muffins to cool in the pans for 15 minutes. Remove by running a butter knife around the edge of each muffin to release it. Allow them to cool on a wire rack completely.
- Serve/store: Eat the muffins immediately or store them in an air tight container that has paper towels on top of the muffins to soak up any moister – keep them at room temp. The muffins will last up to 5 days stored this way, however, they are best eaten withing 1 to 2 days as the sugar topping starts to get soggy.
Notes
Gluten free: To ensure that these muffins are gluten free make sure you are using certified gluten free oats.
Refined sugar free: To keep these muffins refined sugar free simply omit the turbinado sugar topping.
Pears: you can use any type of pear you like (I used bartlett). You want them to be just ripe enough to eat, but not mushy ripe.
We are so fortunate you brought some with you when you came for Thanksgiving. A really delicious winner!
Thanks Mom! Glad you enjoyed them. 🙂
These were seriously SO GOOD! I had an abundance of ripe pears that needed to be used up ASAP. While searching for uses, I came across this recipe. So. Dang. Good. Whenever I bake, I do gluten free. I find textures to be hit and miss, but these are amazing! I made them last night (subbing Almond Flour for the coconut flour since I didn’t have any). They were delicious fresh and just as good the next day. Still moist and holding their structure well! Thanks for a GREAT recipe!!
PS I meant to rate it 5 stars not 4!
Lol, no worries. Thanks for coming back to give me another rating. I appreciate it :).
Hannah, I am so glad you enjoyed he muffins. Those have been one of my favorite muffin recipes. Thanks for sharing your swaps for almond flour, good to know it still works well. Glad to hear that you liked the texture too. Thanks so much for the kind review :).