Banana Pear Muffins are our favourite healthy on the go breakfast and snack during Fall and Winter.
You can prepare our quick & easy Pear and Banana Muffins at home in less than one hour.
Healthy Ginger Spiced Pear Muffins are a perfect breakfast or on the go snack. You can also serve them as a decadent dessert accompanied by scoops of vanilla ice cream, chopped nuts or fresh sliced pears.
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Muffin History
A muffin is an individual-sized, baked product most commonly associated with morning mealtime. It’s one of the most popular on-the-go breakfasts that can easily be made ahead and stored in the freezer to enjoy later.
Muffins can refer to two distinct baked goods, a part-raised unsweetened flatbread that is baked and then cooked on a griddle, and a cupcake-like sweet or savoury quickbread that is leavened with baking powder and baked in a mold.
While the most common quickbread muffins are sweetened (such as lemon blueberry muffins, mincemeat muffins and morning glory muffins), there are also savoury varieties such as jalapeno cheddar cornbread muffins and cheddar apple muffins.
The flatbread “English Muffin” variety is of British origin, and dates from at least the early 18th century, while the quickbread originated in Canada and America during the 19th century.
One 19th century source suggests that muffins may be related to the Greek bread maphula, a cake baked on a hearth or griddle. Culinary historians also look to the Old French mou-pain, meaning soft bread, which may have been corrupted into “mouffin.”
The word is first found in print in 1703, spelled moofin; it is of uncertain origin but possibly derived from the Low German Muffen, the plural of Muffe meaning a small cake. The expression muffin-man, meaning a street seller of muffins, is attested in a 1754 poem, which includes the line: “Hark! the shrill Muffin-Man his Carol plies…”
One of Canada’s top selling cookbooks of the 1980s was Muffin Mania, which helped popularize muffin making from Newfoundland to British Columbia. Homemade muffins were originally prepared as a healthy breakfast option, high-fibre mid-afternoon snack or low calorie dessert.
In 1997, muffins were popularized once again in Seinfeld’s now famous “The Muffin Tops,” episode. Like many muffin lovers, Elaine shared her love for only eating muffin tops. She hilariously talks about the fact that muffin stumps are not worthy of consumption as they don’t have the desirable crunchy texture. She shares the idea of opening a store that sells just muffin tops with her ex-boss and is outraged when he steals her idea.
When he offers her 30% of the profits to help his struggling business, they initially give the unused stumps to a homeless shelter. But after they get complaints about the missing muffin tops by a charity worker, they have to get rid of them elsewhere. Newman eventually takes the muffin stumps off their hands, smiling with glee!
Best Muffin Tools & Equipment
Before making a batch of Ginger Spiced Banana Pear Muffins make sure your kitchen is outfitted with essential bakers tools.
- Mixing Bowl Set: It’s important to have a set of durable mixing bowls. We love stainless steel mixing bowls with a good grip. When making muffins you’ll typically need a large mixing bowl to sift your dry ingredients into, and a medium or small mixing bowl to beat your wet ingredients.
- Measuring Cups: Ensure you have a set of measuring cups with a flat top rather than a spout, so you can easily use a knife to level off your dry ingredients like flour and sugar.
- Measuring Spoons: We love these durable stainless steel measuring spoons that will help you accurately measure spices, baking soda and baking powder.
- Whisk: This stainless steel whisk has a great grip and is helpful when beating eggs into other wet ingredients.
- Sieve: It’s essential to have this tool in your kitchen so you can ensure all your dry ingredients are separated and don’t clump in the wet batter.
- Bakers Scale: Use this digital scale to weigh flour and other ingredients that require a weight measurement.
- Spatula: We love this rubber spatula as it also acts as a spoon so you can easily drop batter into each greased muffin cup.
- Muffin Tins: We only use silicone muffin tins as they allow you to easily remove baked muffins from the tin with minimal baking spray required.
- Baking Spray: Ensure your cupboards are stocked with baking spray so your muffins don’t get stubborn and refuse to slide out of the pan.
- Cooling Rack: A sturdy cooling rack is a must to ensure your muffins cool without falling apart or getting soggy. They need breathing space to let out the steam before storing.
- Storage Containers: We love doubling our muffin recipes so we have leftovers to store in the fridge or freezer to enjoy later.
My Family Loves Banana Pear Muffins
One of my fondest memories growing up as a kid was waking up in the morning at our family cottage in Muskoka and smelling freshly baked muffins.
My family’s two favourite recipes were Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins and Lemon Blueberry Muffins. In the summer we’d forage for wild blueberries and incorporate them into out favourite baked goods. My sister was the family blueberry fan while I was mostly obsessed with the marriage of banana and chocolate.
During the colourful Autumn season, local farms near Oakville, Toronto and Niagara harvest thousands of plump pears. Apple and pear season is our favourite time of year as we enjoy baking the crisp fruits into muffins, crumbles and crisps.
We decorate the top of each of our Pear and Banana Muffins with a slice of pear and sprinkling of crystallized ginger. Once out of the oven, the baked treat ends up having a distinctive and attractive appearance. Eye-appeal baby!
Love baking for your family? Check out our best healthy muffins for kids list!
Buying VS Making Homemade Muffins
Today, muffins are often sold at grocery stores, McDonald’s cafes and coffee shops like Starbucks and Tim Horton’s. Unfortunately most commercially prepared muffins are simply cupcakes without the icing.
Read the ingredients list and you’ll find store bought muffins are full of sugar, fat and “flavourings” rather than real fresh fruit, vegetables and herbs. The excessive sugar, salt, fat and additives in commercial muffin recipes allow the grocery stores and coffee shops to extend the shelf life so they don’t go stale as quickly as a homemade muffin would.
The best way to enjoy healthy pear muffins is by preparing them at home, allowing you to control the proportion of ingredients. We suggest eating muffins fresh the day they are prepared. If you have any leftovers muffins pack 3-4 in a ziplock bag in your fridge and simply warm them up the next day in the oven. You can use a microwave to reheat muffins but they won’t produce the desired crunchy texture.
Any remaining Pear Muffins should be stored in the freezer and can keep for 2-3 months. We like to double our muffin recipes when we prepare them so we have a storage of yummy muffins in the freezer that we can easily enjoy several weeks later.
Homemade Banana Pear Muffins Recipe
There’s no better comfort food than a steaming, moist Pear Cake, sliced and served slathered with sweet butter or cream cheese.
We prefer to prepare healthy Pear Muffins as they are small individual portions and are icing free. Homemade muffins can be easily stored in the freezer to extend their shelf life and are a great on-the-go breakfast snack.
So what qualities make the best Pear and Banana Muffins? The perfect muffin must be crunchy on the outside, well leavened so the muffin cap holds its shape and doesn’t shrink when cooled and feature a moist and light interior.
Looking to prepare easy homemade Banana Pear Muffins? Baking is a science so you can’t just lower a muffin recipe’s fat and sugar content or you will bite into a chewy, hard and unappetizing product.
Banana Pear Muffins Health Benefits
Our Pear Muffins recipe is packed full of healthy ingredients!
Eggs contain two vital nutrients that are not present in many foods: iodine and vitamin D. Eggs are also rich in tissue-building protein and vitamin B12, which helps your body manufacture blood cells.
Consuming dairy products (such as milk and cheese) provides health benefits — especially improved bone health. Dairy foods provide nutrients that are vital for health and maintenance of your body. These nutrients include calcium, potassium, vitamin D, and protein.
Pears are rich in essential antioxidants, plant compounds, and dietary fibre. They pack all of these nutrients in a fat free, cholesterol free, 100 calorie package.
Containing starch and fibre, bananas are an excellent superfood for digestive health. They are a good source of heart-healthy potassium, as well as amino acids and vitamin B6, which help keep your brain healthy.
Proving more soluble fibre than any other grain, oats also contain slow-release, low-GI carbohydrates. Oats are also rich in beta-glucan, which helps reduce high cholesterol and maintain blood sugar levels, and vitamin B1, which helps your body convert food into energy.
Whole wheat flour is rich in vitamins B-1, B-3, and B-5, along with riboflavin and folate. It also has more iron, calcium, protein, and other nutrients than white flour.
Rich in energy-boosting manganese, cinnamon is also antibacterial and may protect your brain against Alzheimer’s disease.
Ginger contains at least 14 phytochemricals, many of which have impressive antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties. It also has a good source of copper, which supports your bones, blood and nervous system.
Pear Muffins Tips
If you’re looking to prepare healthy Banana Pear Muffins on a whim and are missing a few ingredients at home don’t worry!
You can easily stick to using only all purpose flour if you don’t have whole wheat flour in your pantry.
If you don’t have buttermilk you can substitute for a mixture of milk and yogurt. Just ensure the final mixture has the same consistency.
We always have frozen bananas in our freezer to make smoothies at breakfast. We let them ripen to the extreme to concentrate the flavour of the fruit. Be sure to use ripe banana (the skin should not be green) to ensure it’s sweet rather than starchy.
Serving Pear Muffins for a special occasion like Easter, Mother’s Day or a baby or bridal shower? We suggest decorating the top of your muffins with thinly sliced pear and crystallized ginger. The attractive topping will inform guests of the muffins flavours and looks pretty when displayed on a dessert table.
The one tip I give all muffin making beginners is to avoid over-mixing the batter. Light and fluffy muffins are made by reducing the amount of gluten in the batter. If you whip muffin batter with a beater the final product will be as hard as a hockey puck.
For best results, form a well in the dry ingredients and pour your wet ingredients inside. Using a spatula or wooden spoon, gently fold the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients. The finished batter should be fully incorporated, so be sure to scrape the bottom of the bowl so you don’t find unmixed flour. The most important rule to muffin making: when mixing, less is more!
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Best Healthy Banana Pear Muffins Recipe
Healthy Spiced Banana Pear Muffins
Equipment
- oven
- muffin tin
- measuring cups
- measuring spoons
- Spatula or Wooden Spoon
- French knife
Ingredients
- 1/3 cup Softened Butter
- 2/3 cup White Sugar
- 1 Egg
- 1 cup Buttermilk
- 1 cup Banana pureed
- 1 tsp Salt
- 1.5 cups Diced pear
- 1 cup All Purpose Flour
- 1 cup Whole Wheat Flour
- 1/2 cup Oats
- 1 tsp Baking Soda
- 1 tsp Cinnamon
- 1 tsp Ground Ginger
- Pear slices + Crystallized Ginger garnish
Instructions
- In a mixing bowl blend butter, sugar and egg until smooth.
- Add buttermilk, banana, salt, diced pear and mix well.
- Stir together flour, oats, baking soda, cinnamon and ground ginger in a large bowl. Form a well in the centre and add wet banana and pear mixture. Stir gently, just to moisten.
- Spoon batter into greased muffin tin and top with a pear slice and crystallized ginger.
- Bake at 375F for 20 minutes.
Nutrition
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