recipe: ginger-pear muffins

Okay, these might have surpassed the raspberry-corn and blueberry-buttermilk muffins as my favorite muffins to bake. Mollie Katzen continues to be my culinary muse. This is another recipe from Sunlight Cafe, a breakfast cookbook.

One thing that she offers as a variation (which I didn't do yesterday, but will try one day), is to substitute up to half of the flour with soy protein powder (not soy flour). It adds more protein and makes denser muffins. I typically don't notice any strange texture difference when they're freshly baked from other muffins when I do use it, so I do recommend it, but with a caveat: these muffins are generally the best within an hour or two of baking them. The flavor starts to decline after a few hours, and the next morning, they're still good, but nowhere near as amazing (probably 60% of their original delicious). When I've used soy protein powder, I've found that even the next morning they've declined even more than that.

Typically, I bake muffins when we're having company (copilot and I each trying to eat six muffins would be a recipe for comedy disaster) or I bake half of the batter and save the rest in the refrigerator for the following day. That way we're eating them when they're amazing.

Another note about this recipe -- mincing the crystallized ginger took longer than expected. I think I may look into food processing next time, or some other method to see if I can get small pieces that way. But if not, oh well, I'll just plan more mincing time next time. These muffins are THAT GOOD. nomnomnom

ginger-pear muffins

nonstick spray 1 c. finely chopped ripe pear 1tbsp fresh lemon juice 2 cups unbleached all purpose flour 1/2 tsp salt 1 1/2 tsp baking powder 1/2 c. sugar 1 tbsp grated lemon zest 1/3 c. very finely minced crystallized ginger 1 c. buttermilk 1 large egg 1-3 tsp. grated fresh ginger 1 1/3 c. milk 1 tsp vanilla extract 4 tbsp (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, melted

Preheat the oven to 375*F. Lightly spray 12 standard muffin cups with non-stick spray. Place the chopped pear in a shallow dish, drizzle with lemon juice, and set aside. Combine the flour, salt, baking powder, sugar, and lemon zest in a medium-sized bowl. Stir in the minced crystallized ginger, then comb through with your fingers to seek out any larger pieces. (Note: each bit of ginger should be about the size of a rolled oat flake.) Mearure the 1 c. buttermilk in a 2 cup liquid measure, and add the egg, fresh ginger and vanilla. Beat gently with with a medium-sized whisk or fork until smooth. Slowly pour this mixture, along with the melted butter, and the chopped pear into the dry ingredients. Using a spoon or a rubber spatula, stir from the bottom of the bowl until the dry ingredients are all moistened. Don't overmix; a few lumps are okay. Spoon the batter into the prepared muffin cups. For smaller muffins, fill the cups about four-fifths full. For larger muffins, fill them up to the top. If you have extra batter, spray one or two additional muffin cups with non-stick spray and fill with the remaining batter. Bake in the middle of the oven for 20 to 25 minutes, or until lightly browned on top and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Remove the pan from the oven, then remove the muffins from the pan and place them on a rack to cool. Wait at least 30 minutes before serving. [note: just wait until they've cooled a bit; no need to wait the full 30 minutes]