Vegan Ginger-Pear Muffins
And we now return to our regularly scheduled programming. Unhealthy sweets. Although, this recipe might not be the best example since muffins are often eaten as breakfast. So is it actually unhealthy? Debatable. Plus, these are vegan ginger-pear muffins. Fruit people! Yeah, these are definitely healthy.
Regardless, they’re delicious. The crumb is moist and tender, the top is crunchy with a sprinkle of coarse sugar and the ginger and pear complement each other perfectly.
I thought of caramelizing the pears or poaching them in a spiced syrup, but sometimes, you just want simple tasty muffins without any faff. Well these are exactly that. If you want, you can top them with a streusel, but I find them to be delish just as they are.
I then also thought of reducing them into a purée applesauce-style to incorporate into the batter. But I quite like that you get little pops of pear as you eat the muffins, whereas in a purée the flavour would’ve been fainter. And luckily, it’s also the quicker and easier method.
Modifying this vegan ginger-pear muffin recipe
If you don’t want some vegan ginger-pear muffins, you can adapt this recipe to make whatever flavour you’d like. Without the diced pears and ginger, you get a great basic muffin recipe. A blank canvas to Bob Ross it up, if you will.
Replace the pear with blueberries, diced apple or other fruit. But always keep in mind not to use a fruit that is too wet or you’ll end up with a soggy muffin rather than a moist one.
You could also decide to omit the fruit and ginger altogether and opt for lemon zest and poppy seeds. Or nuts and spices. Or chocolate chips. They won’t be as moist as they are with fruit in them, but they’ll be delectable nonetheless.
If you make this recipe please let me know in the comments! All feedback is very much appreciated and I would love to hear from you! You can also tag me on instagram @the.quaint.kitchen or use the hashtag #thequaintkitchen to share your creations!
Vegan Ginger-Pear Muffins
Ingredients
- 215 g all-purpose flour
- 1 ¼ tsp baking powder
- 3/4 tsp baking soda
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 75 g neutral oil , (grapeseed, canola, vegetable…)
- 50 g water
- 50 g plain vegan yogurt, i used coconut yogurt but any will do
- 70 g white granulated sugar, make sure it’s vegan
- 50 g brown sugar
- 2 tsp apple cider vinegar, or white vinegar
- 1 ¼ tsp finely grated fresh ginger
- 1 ¼ tsp powdered ginger
- 1/4 tsp cinnamon
- 80 g ripe but firm pear, diced (variety of your choice, I used Bosc)
- coarse sugar , optional
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 200°C/400°F and line a muffin pan with muffin cups and set aside.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the oil, water, yogurt, sugars, vinegar, fresh and powdered ginger and cinnamon.
- Core and dice the pear into pea-sized cubes and set aside. Peeling is optional.
- Add the wet ingredients to the dry and stir until mostly incorporated. Then fold in the diced pear until a homogeneous batter forms.
- Portion it out evenly into the muffin cups, they’ll be almost full. Top with coarse sugar.
- Bake for about 25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. If the top browns too quickly, cover loosely with aluminium foil and continue baking.
- Let them cool for a minute or 2 in the pan before transferring them to a wire rack to cool completely.
Notes
- *Disclaimer: I have a tiny not-so-great oven, so your bake time may vary from mine.
- I strongly suggest making recipes by weight, if you make them by cups I can’t guarantee that you’ll get the same results.
- It’s important the pear isn’t too soft or it will turn to mush as you stir the batter and even more in the oven. It will also be a pain to dice.
- The muffins can be kept for up to 3 days in a sealed container at room temperature.
We had an overabundance of pears, so I made two batches of these Ginger-Pear Muffins today. This is one of the best vegan muffin recipes I have found. Lovely texture. Easy prep. I did not have fresh ginger on hand, so I added some chopped crystallized ginger. They are delicious.
Then, I used the basic recipe, subbed a sweet potato/fruit puree for the yogurt and chocolate chips for the pear and ginger, and added some vanilla extract – these also turned out great. I think this might be my new go-to muffin recipe.
Thank you for the kind comment Karen! Best way to use up a lot of fruit, love the addition of crystallized ginger too! Means the world that you would make this your go-to recipe🥰
I never leave comments on recipes but this was such a big hit I thought I should! I left out the grated ginger and used tinned pears and added a bit of pear juice to the batter! Was delicious! Only needed 20 mins in 180°C!
Thank you!
I’m honoured you took the time to leave a comment on this one, thank you Hayley! So happy you liked it and made it your own!🙌🏻
I don’t think 200 degrees is right – Mine burnt at 20 minutes
Oh no! Sorry that happened Jenny, 200 Celsius is right. Chances are your oven may be stronger than mine, that’s why it’s “about” 25 minutes. Always best to keep an eye on them! If your oven heats more from the top too, they’ll colour much faster and may need to be covered with a piece of aluminum foil not long into baking (happens to me with banana bread!). If you ever give the recipe another shot, I would suggest starting with a 10-15 minute timer, then adding 5 minutes at a time and checking periodically!
I’ve been trying to transition from Vegetarian to Vegan and came across this recipe and have been delighted with the result. Will happily make these again.
Thank you so much for the feedback Kathy I’m so happy you liked them! And it’s awesome that you’re trying to transition, wishing you all the best on your journey! 💛
These were great tasting and great texture. Perfect amount of moisture. They weren’t the dense hockey pucks that some vegan muffins can be. I’ll definitely add these to my usual rotation. 🙂
Thank you I’m so glad you liked them Lori! Yeah I think we’ve all sadly experienced at least one hockey puck fail. Honoured to have them added to your rotation 🙂
These were excellent! Made the first batch to taste. My non-vegan husband loved them!! Baking more now and making extra to freeze for future breakfast or snack on -the-go.
Yay! Thank you so much for taking the time to let me know Trish, I really appreciate it! Glad it got a non-vegan’s stamp of approval too!