These Pear Muffins are a delicious go-to breakfast or snack recipe. Especially in the summer and fall when pears are a-plenty at the grocery store. Read on to see what pears work best and how to make these muffins perfect every time!
What kind of pears work best for baking?
According to Good Housekeeping Anjou and Bosc pears work best for baking. They hold their shape well and are easier to peel (although we feel that peeling is unnecessary for this recipe). We like to use Anjou pears in these pear muffins because they’re readily available and go on sale at the beginning of summer, plus they taste fantastic fresh or baked!
Dietary Restrictions? Try these easy recipe adjustments!
Gluten Free
If you’re gluten free or making these for someone gluten sensitive, try replacing the flour with Cup4Cup (Amazon’s price is usually the best) for a simple and still delicious gluten free pear muffin. My other favorite is King Arthur Flour’s Measure for Measure. You can read here about why Measure for Measure is my favorite.
Egg Free
Easily replace the eggs with my favorite flax seed and water substitute. 1 Tbsp flax seed mixed with 3 Tbsp of water for each egg. Whisk until the texture becomes “egg-like”. See the egg replacement chart here at my Vegan Vanilla Baked Donut recipe.
Vegan Option
Replace the eggs with the flax seed mix mentioned above. The yogurt helps these pear muffins retain moisture and can easily be replaced with a nut-based yogurt. There are so many options available now. If you can only find flavored vegan yogurt, get vanilla, it will barely adjust the flavor.
The honey can be replaced with maple syrup or even just granulated sugar (make sure to get vegan granulated sugar though). The butter in the crumb topping can be replaced with any vegan butter substitute or chilled coconut oil.
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Tips for making perfect muffins
- Starting your muffins at 425°F and then reducing to 375°F will give you an optimal rise along the sides of your muffins and gets you that elusive and delicious muffin top (I mean, who doesn’t love a good muffin top?).
- Do not over mix! Mixing quick breads and muffins as little as possible ensures a tender crumb. If you over mix, it develops the gluten in the flour, making your muffin “breadier” and tough. Basically, you want to mix until there are no more streaks of flour to be seen, using as little stirring motion as possible. I like to use the old “around the outside and through the middle” technique of going around the outside of the bowl and then one pass through the middle.
- Wondering the best way to add fruit or chips so they don’t sink to the bottom? Mix them up with a tablespoon of flour and add them in last. This helps suspend the heavier add-ins in the batter and keeps them from starting a party on the floor of your muffin. This is especially true when adding in chunks of fruit, like apples, pears, or cranberries. But I still do it for chocolate chips too.
- There are so many amazing muffin toppings to choose from; There are streusels, sugar, nuts, chips, fruit and more. When deciding which topping goes best with your muffin, think about how much sugar is already in the muffin. If there is a lot of sweet fruit, like pear go plain or with a simple sprinkling of sugar. For less sweet muffins, like pumpkin, I like to add a streusel.
Tips for How to make perfect Pear Muffins
- First, chop those pears up nice and small. The perfect size is about 1/4″ square. Any larger and they start to weigh down the muffin and it has trouble rising.
- Mix your chopped pears in with your flour mixture to keep them from sinking to the bottom.
- Always gently fold dry ingredients into wet to keep your muffin texture soft. Over mixing will cause dry, tough muffins.
- Scoop evenly using my favorite OXO 3 Tbsp scoop. Scooping like this will yield 12 perfect muffins.
- Bake at 425°F for 5 minutes. This is key to a great rise. This causes these pear muffins to shoot upward. Then lower your temp to 350°F to fully bake the center.
- Topping – Almost every muffin tastes better with a crunchy, sugary topping, and these pear muffins are no exception. It’s optional, but really is better with it on top.
Love these pear muffins? Try these other awesome muffin recipes!
If you decide to give this recipe a try, be sure to snap a photo to share, tagging @theovenlight and #theovenlight on Instagram or Facebook!
Delicious and Easy Pear Muffins
Equipment
- Muffin Tin
Ingredients
- 2 C flour
- 2 tsp cinnamon
- pinch nutmeg
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 2 eggs room temperature
- 1/2 C honey
- 1/2 C coconut oil melted and cooled
- 2/3 C plain yogurt
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 2 C chopped pears smaller chunks is better
Optional Topping
- 1/2 C all purpose flour
- 1/3 C brown sugar or coconut sugar
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 5 Tbsp cold butter chopped
- 1/2 C chopped pecans
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 425°F. Grease a muffin tin and set aside.
- Combine flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Add chopped pears to dry ingredients and toss to coat. Set aside.
- In a separate bowl combine eggs, honey, coconut oil, yogurt, and vanilla.
- Pour dry ingredients in with wet and stir until just combined.
- Evenly divide into medium sized muffin tin. Should fill each cavity to the top.
- For the crumb topping: combine flour, sugar and cinnamon. Add cold butter and combine until fine crumbs. Add pecans.
- Evenly divide crumb topping between muffins, if using.
- Bake at 425° for 5 minutes.
- Turn oven down to 350°F and continue baking for 11 minutes.
- Muffins should be slightly browned and toothpick comes out clean.
- Let cool in pan 5 minutes before removing to a cooling rack.
Nutrition
I can’t wait to try this Amy!
Hi Patty! Yes, these are Rachel’s creation and I couldn’t stop eating them. This is my new favorite way to use up those pears!
Had to ask for this recipe from a friend who made thee last night! So good! Can’t wait to bake these
Thank you delish recipe!
Delicious! I’m making them again tonight because yesterday’s batch disappeared rather quickly! I highly recommend slathering them with butter before eating!
can i substitute coconut oil for butter? or another oil?
Yes! Coconut oil will typically work well as a substitute in muffins, although my favorite substitute is plant butter (mostly for consistency). Let me know how it goes!
I made these without the crumb topping and with 3 cups of pears and they were delicious!! They’re moist, fluffy, not too sweet, and they have a lovely spiced pear taste.
Spectacular muffins. I am allergic to coconut so I substituted organic butter and I never cook honey so I used maple syrup otherwise I followed this recipe. So delicious it will be used again I am sure !
Omg the most delicious muffins ever, I made them with my dad’s pears from his tree. Absolutely delicious 😋
You lucky duck Mary! I wish I had access to freshly picked pears. So glad you liked them!
Made half a batch as a tester. These muffins came out soft, with crunchy tops. Very delicious . Will make full batch for grandkiddos! Also enjoyed your tips, alternatives and links! Thanks for the love you bake!
Oh my yumminess.
OK, I’m sorry. But I slightly altered your recipe. I really wanted a pear muffin with oatmeal in it but your recipe sounded the best to me. I was so frightened altering the recipe because of the oh so precious coconut oil and honey, but I did it. I replaced half of the flour with old fashioned oatmeal. The entire time I was nervous I should have cut down the baking soda/powder, especially because I used all purpose flour. But the muffins were perfect. Thank you so much!
I’m so glad you loved them so much! And good job adjusting the recipe, I love that idea!
Spectacular muffins!! My new favorites. I added pecans 🙂
I’m so glad you love them!
I have not made those yet, but I do like the recipe. I was wondering if you can freeze those?
Yes! Make sure muffins have cooled fully. To freeze, wrap securely in foil or freezer wrap, or place in freezer bags. You can thaw muffins completely at room temperature, or heat frozen muffins in the microwave for about 30 seconds. Hope you enjoy!
Thank you for this wonderful recipe. I had some pears and every ntention to use in baking (a first for me) and your recipe popped up. Sold by the photos. I skimmed on the honey and cinnamon because I ran out :-), so I used golden syrup and added all spice and a little more nutmeg. It worked out great. The crumb gives it the sweetness. Also used lactose free yoghurt and substituted melted butter for coconut oil. So yes a few changes 🙂 but it’s delicious. Will serve well as a desert with a spoonful of vanilla ice cream.
I’m so glad the recipe worked so well with your substitutes. Sounds delicious!
Is it possible to substitute self raising flour for the “flour” in the muffin base? I haven’t got any baking powder. Thanks. Also, what is the ml measurement for the 2/3 cup yoghurt? Gram measurement for the flour? (I am in Australia & our cup measurements are different)
Hi Tracy! You can use self-rising flour, just be sure to omit the baking powder and salt in the recipe. To get the metric measurements, click on “print recipe” and then you can convert this recipe to measurements you’re more familiar with. I hope that helps! Enjoy!
These were so delicious!!! I did make some adjustments because we avoid added sugar when possible. I used 3 cups of pears, as recommended in an earlier comment. I left out the honey but added an equivalent amount of soymilk to make sure there was enough liquid. I didn’t add the optional streusel topping. With the streusel topping, it would make a lovely dessert; without, it makes a wonderful and healthy breakfast food! The muffins turned out wonderfully fluffy with just the right amount of sweetness! I made a double batch today and, just 3 hours later, am finding I need to make another double batch…they are THAT good!!! My 4 children have already had 3 muffins each and are begging for more. Thank you so much for the excellent recipe and all of the wonderful guidance and adaptations and variations!
I’m so happy to hear that you and the kiddos are enjoying these muffins!
I also used whole wheat flour and they turned out great!