Pear Muffins, Wheat-Free

Yes, I know I've recently done gooseberry muffins, but these are a different kettle of fish. Ran out of plain wheat-free flour so used self-raising. If plain flour is used, an extra teaspoon of baking powder should balance things out.

As can be seen in the picture, they look more like rock cakes although the texture is softer than that. Should have smoothed the dough before baking. Taste great, though, and it's hard to believe they've no wheat content.

This recipe makes about 16 muffins. I used my 12 silicone cases and 4 paper variety. When they came out of the oven, the silicone ones just floated out, while the paper had to be peeled off carefully to avoid crumbling.

Pear Muffins, Wheat-Free

These need the middle shelf of the oven, at 170C, and muffin cases set out on a baking tray.

Ingredients

270g wheat-free self-raising flour

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp xanthan gum

Half teaspoon salt

80g granulated sugar

350g ripe pears (about 3 medium), cored, peeled and chopped fairly finely

1 egg

100ml milk

50g melted butter

1 tbsp caster sugar (optional)

Method

1  In a large bowl, mix the flour, baking powder, xanthan gum, salt and sugar.

2  Add the chopped pears and mix them in to coat with flour.

3  In a smaller bowl, beat the egg, milk and melted butter lightly together, then stir into

         the flour mixture to form a soft dough with no dry flour visible.

4  Fill each muffin case to half or three-quarter level, making sure each has some pear

         pieces, and smooth over!

5  Bake in the oven for 16-18 minutes or until a skewer poked through comes out clean.

6  Sprinkle with the caster sugar if used, and leave on a rack to cool.

I'm thinking that, as xanthan gum isn't in everyone's kitchen, it would probably be OK to leave it out. However, it's trailed as helpful to make a decent spongy texture so I use it in all my wheat-free baking, just in case.

These muffins freeze well. Otherwise, if they've been around for a while, they'd be good crumbled as the base for a trifle, with vegetarian jelly poured over to set, topped with sliced ripe pears, then a thin layer of custard and finally whipped cream. For decoration I fancy honeycomb pieces or finely chopped gorgeous stem ginger.

Gooseberry Muffins - a Delight and so Easy to Make

Since it's very much the gooseberry season around these parts, and we've done the crumble, I woke this morning with the thought that gooseberry muffins might be worth a try. By 9am the recipe was written and the muffins cooked and photographed. See me move!

I think they turned out really well, and the quantities given in the recipe made 12 medium muffins. Used always to use paper muffin cases, but they often stuck and were hard to remove without taking a chunk of the muffin with them. Finally got round to buying a set of twelve medium silicone cases (from Tu at Sainsbury's as it goes), and now I'll never go back to paper.

Once the gooseberries are washed and topped and tailed - with scissors is easiest - the method takes about 15 minutes. And there's NO RUBBING IN and you don't need a food processor. So including baking, only around 30-35 minutes is needed from start to ready. They're lovely warm from the oven.

Ingredients

170g plain flour

2 level tsp baking powder

Quarter tsp salt

80g sugar (gran is fine)

1 egg

150ml milk

50g butter, just melted (e.g. in microwave)

180g gooseberries (prepared as above)

12 medium muffin cases should be ready; if paper, use a bun tin to keep their shape but if silicon, just arrange them on a baking sheet. Oven should be at 170C.

Method

1  Place the flour, baking powder, salt & sugar in a medium bowl and mix well.

2  Add the gooseberries and mix so they're coated in flour.

3  Beat the egg lightly in a small bowl, them stir in the milk and melted butter.

4  Add the egg mixture to the flour mix and stir briefly but quickly so that no 

          lumps of flour are visible.

5  Use a spoon to drop the mixture cleanly into the cases, filling them about half 

          to three-quarters full and making sure each has its share of fruit.

6  Bake in the centre of the oven for 15-18 minutes until browning nicely. 

          They're done when a skewer pushed in from the side comes out clean.

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Of course other fruits can be used, e.g. blueberries, dried or fresh cranberries, raspberries and so on, though if the fruit used is sweet, 20g less sugar will be needed. For me, this recipe is a definite keeper for my 'special tried and tested' recipes folder. Nerd.