Spiced Pear Cupcakes

These cupcakes are muffins in disguise. They are full of fruit and not super sweet. That's how I justified having cupcakes for breakfast. The only thing that sets them apart from muffins are the yummy frosting and super fluffy texture from lots of butter and eggs...



OK. Whatever. They are cakes not muffins. Judge me. The ingredient list is almost exactly the same as the spiced pumpkin cake I made earlier this month - just exchanging pumpkin pureed with chopped pears and some yogurt.



Ingredients - make 28-30 cupcakes

• 3 cups all purpose flour


• 1 teaspoon baking powder


• 1 teaspoon baking soda


• 1 teaspoon sea salt


• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon


• 1 teaspoon ground ginger


• 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg


• 1/8 teaspoon ground cloves


• 2 sticks of butter at room temperature


• 1 1/2 cups sugar


• 4 eggs


• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract


• 1 cup plain yogurt


• 2 pears - peeled, cored and chopped

Directions

1. Adjust the oven racks to the upper third and lower third. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line two muffin pans with paper liners.


2. Mix flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and all the spices together.


3. With an electric mixer, beat butter with sugar until light and fluffy - about 2 to 3 minutes. Add eggs one at a time. Beat well between addition. Add vanilla extract.


4. Alternately stir in flour mixture and yogurt into the batter in 3 batches. Stir in chopped pears. Just when the streaks are almost gone, stop stirring.


5. Scoop into the prepared pans - up to 2/3 full as the cake will rise and dome. Bake for 22 minutes. Rotate and switch the pans after 15 minutes. Turn out onto cooling racks and let cool completely before frosting.

Cream cheese frosting

• With an electric mixer with wire attachment, beat a stick of soft butter (left at room temperature) with 2 packages of cream cheese until combined. Add 1 to 1 1/2 cups of confectioner sugar depending on how sweet you want the frosting. Continue beating until fluffy.

NYTimes Pear-Pomegranate Pie

My Thanksgiving dinner host sent me the link to this recipe on NYTimes.com. I told her that I would bring that to the dinner. And I eventually did - after a few hurdles. First, I nearly burned down my apartment and my first batch of homemade pomegranate molasses. According to Alton Brown, you're supposed to boil pomegranate juice with sugar and lemon juice until you get a consistency of a thick syrup - which was a big mistake. By the time the syrup cooled, I got a rock-hard black thing instead. The second try, I learned my lesson and turned the heat off when the juice looked like a normal syrup.



Then I moved on to the pie. I prepared all butter pie crust from this recipe on SimplyRecipes.com. I have used this recipe so many times with great result. But this time, somehow the butter separated from the crust and spilled over. Fortunately, I lined the pie dish with a baking sheet. The crust came out flaky and delicious. But still, by the end of the baking time I got a pull of melted butter all over the baking sheet... I'm blaming it on the Organic flour and Organic butter I started using from WholeFoods. The things you have to endure to try to eat healthy...



I followed the recipe exactly for the pear filling. I quartered 6 pears, cooked 3 at a time on a stove top with the pomegranate molasses. I sliced the 2 remaining pears and tossed them with all the other ingredients to make the pie filling. Everything was fine until it's time to check for its doneness after baking.



Those quartered pears were still not completely cooked even after 10 extra minutes in the oven. I didn't want to over cook the crust so I took it out of the oven and brought it to the dinner party.

The pie tasted great despite the fact that there were great giant hunks of pears to chew through. It was perfectly seasoned and sweetened. The crust light and flaky. The next time I try this, I'll just chop up all the pears and cook them all in the syrup before baking.

Pear Bran Bread

Aka the ninja bread. Let me tell you how the bread got its name. Five of us, including the driver, were in one of these Jeeps. No, not the big comfortable SUV one. Not the new shiny one either. The one that's made for one driver and one passenger plus some space for equipments. The one that's about 10 years old with raggedy canvas roof and noises coming out of its transmission system every time it hits a bump. Five of us plus our camping gears were in that cozy Jeep for 3 hours.



When I pulled out a slice of the bread to munch, I was asked what it was. The conversation went something like this:

Driver: What is that goddamn black-biscuit looking thing?

Me: It's pear bread. It's black because I put molasses.

Passenger1 (at the top of his lung): What bread?

Me (screaming): PEAR BREAD! It tastes almost like ginger bread.

Passenger2: WHAT??!! NINJA BREAD?!?

Everybody: Awesome! Ninja bread! Give me one.

Driver (oblivious): I eat no nuts but this black biscuit is delicious.



Here's the recipe: KingArthurFlour.com.

Update - 11/18/2010

The second time I baked this bread, I measured out all the ingredients, in case I get more request to make it. Here's what I have assuming that my scale works properly.

Ingredients

• 2 1/4 oz molasses


• 2 1/8 oz honey


• 1 large egg


• 1 cup buttermilk


• 3/4 oz light tasting olive oil


• 7 1/4 oz all purpose flour


• 2 1/8 oz bran


• 2 oz brown sugar


• 1 teaspoon baking soda


• 1/2 teaspoon salt


• 2 pears - chopped


• 2 oz chopped walnuts

Vanilla Brown Butter Pear and Apple Crisp

I got 6 pears bosc pears and 6 empire apples from my CSA last wednesday. On top of 3 pounds of peaches and 2 pounds of plums, I can't finish all my fruit before I leave for a vacation today. So I made this.



Based loosely on Pear Crisps with Vanilla Brown Butter from Epicurious.com, I mixed my sliced pears and apples with vanilla brown butter and brown sugar.



For the topping, I doubled my own crisp recipe with oatmeal, almond flour and sliced almonds (gluten-free!).

And it worked! I consumed baked goods faster than fresh fruit. That can't be good but for now food is not wasted.

Pear Blackberry Pie

When Hannah was over making maple nutmeg cream tart, she left me extra pie dough. That perfect delicious butter-shortening pie dough. So I made pear and blackberry pie from 2 pears and a bag of frozen blackberries.



The crafty flowery top crust was because I didn't have enough dough to cover the entire pie. The pie came out really pretty but the filling was a little off. Maybe more lemon and/or sugar next time.

Rosemary Pear Bread

I found bunches of rosemary tied together with flowers in a park. I guess somebody had a wedding party there. What a great idea - adding herbs to flower bouquets. Not to waste perfectly good herb, I tool a few sprigs home and made this subtly spiced moist quick bread.



Ingredients

• 2 Bosc pears - peeled, cored and chopped


• 2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh rosemary


• 2 eggs


• 1/3 cup Agave nectar


• 1/4 cup extra light tasting olive oil


• 1 4oz. package of unsweetened applesauce


• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract


• 1 cup whole wheat flour


• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour


• 1 teaspoon baking soda


• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder


• 1/2 teaspoon salt


• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon


• 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg


• 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease and line a loaf pan with parchment paper.


2. In a large bowl, whisk egss, Agave nectar, oil, applesauce and vanilla extract until well blended.


3. In a separate bowl, combine whole wheat flour, all-purpose flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and all the spices. Sift the mixture over the we ingredients. Stir until the mixture is just wet.


4. Gently fold in pears and rosemary.


5. Pour the batter into the loaf pan and bake for 1 hour.


6. Let cool in the pan for a few minutes. Scrape the sides of the pan with a knife and invert the cake onto a cooling rack.

Rum Raisin Pear Muffin

I just wanted to bake something. I haven't baked anything since last weekend (except a batch of granola for breakfast.) And there's no party this weekend to bring cupcakes to. We went out to a fancy restaurant for Brooklyn Restaurant Week. The menu already included all kinds of fancy desserts. Bringing my own dessert wouldn't cut it. So I decided to bake muffins using the Pear Blueberry Oat Bread recipe but with rum and raisin instead of blueberries. I have these two pears rolling in my refrigerator since who knows when. I need to use them anyway.



When the muffins first came out of the oven, they are a little bitter. I couldn't decide if it's because of overripe pears or the rum in the batter. Letting them sit for a couple of hours and the bitterness went away. So I guess it's the alcohol. That was weird. I thought all the alcohol should have evaporated in the oven. I guess some of it was still stuck with the steam inside the muffins.



Ingredients

• 1/2 cup raisins


• 1/4 cup dark rum


• 1 cup all purpose flour


• 1/2 cup whole wheat flour


• 1/2 cup quick cooking oats


• 1 tablespoon + 1 teaspoon baking powder


• 1/2 teaspoon salt


• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon


• 1/4 teaspoon ground clove


• 1 egg


• 3 tablespoons extra light tasting olive oil


• 1/3 cup Agave nectar


• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract


• 3/4 cup milk


• 2 pears - peeled, cored and finely chopped
• 
  
• 1 tablespoon raw sugar

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease or line a muffin pan.


2. In a large bowl, whisk all purpose flour, whole wheat flour, oats, baking powder, salt, cinnamon and clove together.


3. In a separate bowl, whisk the egg, oil, Agave nectar, vanilla extract and milk together. Add rum and raisins.


4. Stir the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients until just combined - about 10 stirs. Fold in chopped pears.


5. Spoon the batter into the prepared muffin pan. Sprinkle the top with raw sugar. Bake for 22 minutes.


6. Let stand for at least 3 hours or overnight before serving.

Pear Blueberry Oat Bread

I was inspired. I saw a recipe and pretty pictures for Oat Pear and Raspberry Loaf almost a month ago and I promised myself that I had to try it. Upon reading the recipe, I realized that it used 11 tablespoons of butter.... I think I consumed enough fat this weekend from all the tiramisu. So I turned to my favorite book - Have Cake and Eat It, Too by Susan Purdy - for a lower fat recipe.

I found a recipe for Nectrarine-Raspberry Coffee Cake using only 3 tablespoons of oil. So I combined the two recipes plus the fact that I have blueberries and no raspberry. And I give you delicious, moist and kinda healthy Pear Blueberry Oat Bread!



Ingredients

• 1 cup all purpose flour


• 1/2 cup whole wheat flour


• 1/2 cup quick cooking oats


• 1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon baking powder


• 1/2 teaspoon salt


• 1 egg


• 1 cup buttermilk


• 3 tablespoons extra light tasting olive oil


• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract


• 1/3 cup Agave nectar



• 2 pears - peeled and chopped


• 1/2 cup fresh blueberries



• Crumb topping


• 1/4 cup raw sugar


• 1/4 cup quick cooking oats


• 1 tablespoon butter - chilled and cut into small cubes


• 1 tablespoon all purpose flour

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line the bottom of a loaf pan with parchment paper.


2. Whisk 1 cup of all purpose flour, 1/2 cup oats and 1/2 cup whole wheat flour with baking powder and salt together in a clean bowl.


3. In a separate bowl, whisk egg, buttermilk, oil, vanilla extract and Agave nectar together until well combined.


4. Gently fold in the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients until just combined.


5. Pour the batter into the prepared pan. Sprinkle pears and blueberries over the batter.


6. Rub 1/4 cup raw sugar, 1/4 oats, cubes of butter and all purpose flour by hands and sprinkle over the fruit layer.


7. Bake for 45 minutes. Let cool in the pan. Run a knife around the pan's edges and remove from the pan.

Cranberry Pear Cobbler

I decided that I like cranberries. They are pretty. They are super tart - which means that they must be healthy - full of Vitamin C and antioxidant and etc. (And I was right!)

I also decided that I don't like cobbler - this fluffy quick bread thingy over baked fruit. I much prefer crisp with oatmeal and nuts.

Here is my latest attempt at cobbler: cranberry pear cobbler. I like how the fruit came out. I just wish there's some crunch in the topping.



Maybe it's me. Maybe I don't know how to make a good cobbler. Maybe it's the too little sugar or too little butter....