Warren Pear Muffins

I love buying seasonal and local produce, but living in southeastern Michigan, unless I want to live without fresh produce from approximately November to May, this isn’t possible.  I once read that Jeffrey Steingarten (Iron Chef America) liked the peaches from Frog Hollow Farm, leading me to try their goods for the first time this past summer.  No, they aren’t local, and shipping is pretty pricey, but the quality of their organic goods is nearly unsurpassed.  Peaches and heirloom tomatoes were my first purchase, but then I went back for Warren pears this past fall and just before the New Year after hearing about how good they were.

I don’t mind grocery store pears, particularly for baking, but these pears are magic.  They are great for eating out of hand, even when not quite ripe or just a little too ripe.  As to not waste a single morsel of pear, they also store nicely in the refrigerator once you can tell they are going to spoil before long.  My first shipment was 12 large pears, which are mostly brown on the outside with a little bit of green peaking through; the second shipment was a bunch of smaller pears, about half the size, but all were juicy, never mealy, with the flavor a pear should have, but rarely does.  They do not feel very soft even when ripened, but cutting them open reveals an incredibly juicy, white flesh, just waiting to be devoured.

The pears really shine when baked into these muffins, which I’ve made twice.  The muffins become almost caramelized on the outside, giving them a much deeper flavor than I’ve ever found in a muffin.  I make muffins constantly to eat for breakfast, but these are definitely one of my favorites.  If you can’t get your hands on these prized Warren pears, which are out of season until next fall, any pear will work just fine.

I used almonds and almond extract to complement the pears, but pecans or walnuts would be very nice as well.  In addition I used demerara sugar, but light or dark brown sugar work too; the demerara simply adds a little crunch and adds to the complex, caramelized flavor.  The thing about these muffins is that once you have the basic ingredients it’s fun to play around with spices, flavorings, nuts, and even the fruit, but that’s another story for another day, along with how Sunny Anderson’s muffin recipe was my inspiration for nearly all the muffins I make.