These muffins are dedicated to Joanna at Joanna's Food, who is debating which type of bakeware to buy! She is replacing her whole set! I personally rub my hands in glee at the thought of all that kitchenware shopping! Just don't let me see the bill!
Anyway back to my original point! These moist muffins were baked in my new Jamie Oliver Advanced Silicone Muffin Moulds by Tefal. I was a bit nervous, using them the first time, but they were great. It isn't just hype, this whole silicone debate, the muffins popped out of the moulds very easily! So I would wholeheartedly recommend silicone muffin trays Joanna! I bought mine at Lakeland.
So on with the recipe! I got this recipe from Nigella Express by Nigella Lawson.
Pear and Ginger Muffins
Ingredients
250g/2 cups flour
2 tsp baking powder
150g/1 cup caster sugar
75g/1/2 cup light brown sugar, plus extra for sprinkling
1 tsp ground ginger
3 tbsp sour cream
125ml/1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 tbsp honey
2 eggs
2 medium pears (roughly 300g), peeled, cored and chopped into small chunks
Method
1 Preheat the oven to 200c/Gas mark 7, If you are not using a silicone tray, line your 12 bun muffin tray with muffin cases.
2 Measure into a bowl the flour, baking powder, caster sugar, brown sugar and ground ginger.
3 In a large jug, whisk together the sour cream, oil honey and eggs and then fold into the dry ingredients.
4 Lastly, mix in the diced pear and divide the batter evenly between the muffin cases.
5 Sprinkle each one with 1/2 teaspoon of brown sugar and bake for 20 minutes.
Remove to a cooling rack.
Best eaten still a little warm.
Makes 12
I ladled out the ingredients using my cup measures, hope that helps!
Nigella suggests that when they are cold, these muffins are delicious eaten with a hard sharp cheddar, crumbly Caerphilly or a pungent blue cheese. I think that is a jolly good idea!
There were lots of great recipes in this book, all beautifully illustrated by the most gorgeous full-page photographs. I will be writing down a lot of recipes from this book, before I return it to the library!
That book won't be available here until November, this is the second recipe already that I want to try! Thank you (the cheese with it sound great!)
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteThat was me, my typing skills are atrocious, sometimes, I blame my long nails!
ReplyDeleteI would reserve a copy of the book Lisa, it is very good!
I think the muffins sound great with cheese, I will have to try it out later!
Oooooh, lovely combination of flavours - pear and ginger. Warming flavours for a chilly, wintry week! They look fab. Let us know how they go with cheese :-)
ReplyDeleteI will do, if Graham leaves any for me to try with cheese!
ReplyDeleteI love your chocolate muffins. I will have to try them soon!
Holler - thank you! I have been trying very hard to spend money, but can't get the things people have been recommending either in John Lewis or the specialist cookshop in Henley which is my nearest town. So I have bought in John Lewis a heavy-duty non-stick loaf tin, because I couldn't find a ceramic one. And a silicone muffin tray, because I want to make the Jamie Oliver pumpkin muffins he did this week ... watch my space ;)
ReplyDeleteAnd thanks again
Joanna
Holler those muffins look delicious, even the mixture looks stonklingly good.
ReplyDeleteDang it you bought it eh? I love ginger in sweet recipes. I must by this book clearly.
ReplyDeleteHi Joanna, glad you got started! You should definitely try out my mum's fruit loaf in your loaf tin! Wendy tried it for her blog and took a great photo! It is lovely and spicy!
ReplyDeleteI look forward to you christening your muffin tins, I hope they work well for you and that you show us the results!
Hi Hellojed, I always feel nervous at the point of putting a mixture in a tin and wish for a photo to see if the consistency is right, so I thought I would add one!
It is a good book Katrina and beautiful photos, I always think they make you want to try a recipe, don't you?
Those muffins look delicious! Pear is one of my favorite fall/winter fruits...don't think I've ever put it in a muffin though. I have a silicon muffin tray as well, it works fine, although it seems to make some muffins more moist than usual...
ReplyDeleteHi Amanda, The muffins have become a little moist 2nd day, but I thought that was because the pear juice had settled toward the bottom! Will have to experiment more!
ReplyDeleteThe pears work really well in these muffins. I think I may put even more ginger in next time to contrast with the juicy chunks of pear!
ohhh those look so good! I bet your house smelled wonderful as these were baking. I just love ginger! I am with you. I love silicone. I just got some silicone muffin pans and they are awesome!
ReplyDeleteThe smell around the house was amazing! Jen, It is a pity it can't be bottled, tht smell!
ReplyDeleteSilicone isn't just for breast implants..wink...wink...I haven't gone the silicone route yet, but you have convinced me. A Silk Pat is on my Chistmas wish list which usually consists of all things food related. I musn't forget the muffins either...they do look delicious and moutherwateringly golden brown.
ReplyDeleteThese look gorgeous! I like silicone cookware for some things, haven't tried the muffin one yet - must put it on the list!
ReplyDeleteI've always wondered about the silicone bakeware but have been too chicken to give it a try. Glad to see it worked well for you. Maybe I'll have to buy a pan and give it a try. I'll be registering for wedding gifts soon, so it would be a good time to switch to silicone if I like it. :D
ReplyDeleteHi Val, I am glad you aren't all plastic not a valley girl like you :)
ReplyDeleteWhat is a silk pat, may I ask!
Hi NicWell the muffins were good, not such a high rising muffin as usual, but denser with the fruit, although still light!And those bites of pear where heavenly!
Hi Jenny, Congratulations, when is the big day? I wish you a calm and collected run up to it!
ReplyDeleteI had a great time spending wedding money on kitchenware! Just ordered a lime green Le Creuset cast iron pan, Can't wait for it to arrive, yipee!
It sounds delicious! I will point out, though, that if you use different sugars (say, cane sugar plus honey) you'll get the same textural benefits (i.e. your muffins will be moist) without adding all the fat of the oil. :)
ReplyDeleteI hopped on over here from my friend Nic's on Cherrapeno. Those are some seriously delicious looking muffins! That is one Nigella book I haven't broken down and purchased yet. I keep asking myself if it's worth the money. By the look of those muffins, it clearly is!
ReplyDeleteThat is a really good idea David, I will give that a go, do you just mix that up to the quantity of the oil?
ReplyDeleteHi Marie, nice to meet you! why not just borrow it from the library!
2 Blogs, you are a busy lady, I am off to have a look!
Here are the sugars and fats you have:
ReplyDelete150g/1 cup caster sugar
75g/1/2 cup light brown sugar
125ml/1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 tbsp honey
3 tbsp sour cream
I'd use:
75g/1/2 cup caster sugar
75g/1/2 cup light brown sugar
1 Tbsp vegetable oil
150g/1 cup honey
3 Tbsp plain yogurt
That way you'd maintain, roughly, the liquid balance, cut the oil down to next to none, and would have the benefit of the honey/sugar acting to keep things moist. Fat keeps things moist, too, which is why people add it, usually, but you can get the same thing by mixing any two of glucose / fructose / sucrose.
That said, I think that the honey will make things a bit sweeter than before, so you might want to offset that with a bit of tartness (I'd add raspberries). You may be OK, though, if you swap the yogurt for the sour cream, because yogurt tends to be a bit more sour.
Thanks for that David, I will give it a go, it is always good to look at things from another point of view!
ReplyDeleteThese look really tasty. Interestingly enough, I came across the cookbook you got this recipe from only days before you put up this post. I have it on reserve and am looking forward to exploring it further.
ReplyDeleteI am going to try these muffins again the way David suggested Lisa, although they were very good!
ReplyDeleteIt is a gorgeous book to own! I am going to make the chocolate pistachio fudge today!
You are so lucky that your library has great cookbooks. Ours only has a few. Those muffins sound awesome! I love it when they have sour cream in them as it just gives it a great flavor and moistness. I am going to copy this one from you!
ReplyDeleteHi Deb, You should ask at your library if they have a request service, it is usually only a nominal fee!
ReplyDeleteI love pear and ginger - it's a divine combination. I have a pear and ginger upside down cake in my to-do list!
ReplyDeleteGreetings from Germany!
ReplyDeleteI backed the muffins already twice, and they were every time super tasty!
Today I left out the pears, added lemon zest instead and made an "apricot -poppy seed" filling. For the filling I mixed 3-4 spoons apricot jam with the same amount of poppy seeds, then I filled 1/4 - 1/2 of the muffin pan with the dough, dropped one teaspoon full of the filling in the middle of it and covered the whole thing with 1-2 more tablespoon(s) of dough. Delish!