Pear & Rosemary Buttermilk Muffins

It's a tea and muffin morning on the balcony. The perks of being a member of the pajama-clad workforce. It's nice to enjoy breakfast in the sunshine after working evenings for so long. Someone recently suggested that I needed more socialization. Honey, I've had enough to last a lifetime. I've worked late hours in psychiatric emergency rooms for a long time. Solitude and morning sun is what I crave. For now, it's more than fine.

When browsing the web for inspiration, I often visit Local Milk. Have you been to Beth's beautiful blog yet? It's well worth the trip. I riffed just a bit on her delicious Apple & Rosemary Buttermilk Quick Bread Recipe. Instead, I made pear and rosemary muffins. Beth adds more rosemary and warm spices to her recipe. I used a whisper of rosemary and a hint of cozy nutmeg. 

  

These golden muffins are kept very moist by both the pears and the buttermilk. There's olive oil in the batter too. They're special and sophisticated enough to break out the fine china and serve to company. My favorite tea, Grand Yunnan Imperial, from the wonderful Palais Des Thes Company has a honey-like flavor that's lovely with them.    

Pear & Rosemary Buttermilk Muffins Recipe

Adapted from Local Milk's Apple Rosemary Buttermilk Quick Bread 

Makes 12 Muffins

Some Notes & Tips


Make sure your baking powder is fresh (less than 6 months old) to ensure your muffins will rise. The fresher the powder, the better the muffins.

You can go through the trouble of mixing the wet ingredients separate from the dry and then combining the two. But, I find it's just fine to mix everything in one bowl.

If you love muffins, check out the breakfast section of the Recipe Index for all my recipes.

If you want to eat them the day after they're made, store them in an airtight container in the fridge and pop them in the microwave to warm. We enjoy them for several days this way.

Natural Vanilla Sugar is wonderful in these muffins, baked goods, on fresh fruit or in coffee. It makes a great gift too. Regular sugar is just fine too. 

Ingredients

• 2 cups of all purpose flour
• 1/2 cup of my Vanilla Sugar or regular sugar 
• 2 teaspoons of baking powder
• 1 tablespoon of finely minced fresh rosemary
• 1/4 teaspoon of freshly grated nutmeg (optional)
• 1/4 teaspoon of salt. I use fine sea salt.
• 1 cup of buttermilk 
• 2 large eggs
• 1/2 cup of olive oil
• 2 pears, peeled and diced into very small pieces (2 cups of diced pears). I use bosc pears.

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 350 and grease a standard 12 cup muffin tin

Mix everything in a bowl just well enough to combine all the ingredients. Leave some of those annoying lumps and try not to overmix. Pour the batter into the greased muffin cups and bake for about 25-30 minutes or until the bottoms are nicely golden brown and a tester inserted into the middle comes out clean. Every oven is different, so check after 20 minutes for doneness. Serve with a little butter and a pot of tea or coffee.

Bon Appetit!