Friday morning I was invited to a Hobbits’ second breakfast in Piedmont. I saw no reason not to go. Second breakfasts work for me because I get up before dawn most days and can eat my first breakfast before 6:00 AM — by 11:00 I might be a little hungry, by noon I have to eat again. Plus, I love breakfast food: eggs, waffles, pancakes, bacon, cinnamon rolls, leftover pie, home fries, fresh fruit.
Unlike most of the events I go to this breakfast was not billed as a potluck, but I asked Vicki if she wanted me to bring something and she said I could if I wanted to. I had been eying a recipe for Brown Sugar Pecan Pear Muffins and had actually printed it out. This morning I took it into the kitchen with me. I peeled and chopped six small pears and then I started messing around: I saw the two large peaches on the counter that needed to be eaten and thought, “Why not put them in with the pears?”
The original recipe calls for a cup of canola oil. I do not like canola oil and I do not like recipes that call for a cup of oil either (a cup of butter is different, somehow, and I use a cup of vegetable shortening in my pie crust, which is probably worse for you, but a cup of oil produces an oily texture in quick breads). I substituted a cup of plain yogurt, raising the protein content of the muffins.
Then I looked at the 3 cups of all-purpose flour. Um. Too gummy and too white for me. I am out of whole wheat pastry flour, but I need to healthy this up a bit, especially since I am going to indulge in the entire cup of brown sugar it the recipe calls for. So, I used a cup and a half of unbleached flour, a half cup of regular whole wheat flour and a cup of rolled oats.
After that I followed the recipe as written, except I don’t use non-stick cooking spray, so I slathered the muffin tins with Crisco, and I didn’t have any pecans so I substituted pistachios.
Here is the modified recipe:
Peach-Pear-Pistachio Muffins with Brown Sugar
Preheat oven to 350.
Grease 2 12-cup muffin tins.
Peel and dice 6 small pears or four large ones.
Dice two large peaches and combine with pears
Shell 1 cup pistachios and add to fruit.
Beat 2 large eggs with 1 cup of plain yogurt, 1 cup packed brown sugar and 1 cup of oats (quick or rolled oats are fine, instant not), plus 1 tsp vanilla.
Measure 1 and 1/2 cups unbleached flour, plus 1/2 cup whole wheat flour.
Add 2 tsp baking soda and 1 tsp baking powder to flour mixture, along with a touch of salt. Add 1 and 1/4 tsp cinnamon and 1/4 tsp cardamom.
Fold liquid ingredients into dry ingredients. Fold in fruit and nuts.
Spoon muffin batter into greased muffin cups
Bake for 25-30 minutes, depending on how dark you like your muffins to be.
Makes 2 dozen muffins.
Food Notes: These muffins are sweeter than my standard multi-grain muffins, but they are not so sweet that they make your teeth hurt. They make a nice treat on cooler mornings and evenings. When the cardamom hits the liquids it sends up a glorious aroma — it’s worth making them once for that alone. If pears and peaches are long gone in your neck of the woods, try using apples and fresh figs, or use dried fruit that has been soaked in a little rum or juice to re-hydrate.
I took half of these muffins to the Hobbits’ Second Breakfast, a delightful affair where we ate bacon, sauteed mushrooms, shirred eggs made in muffin tins, toast, butter, lemon curd, artisan jams, pumpkin bread and pots of black tea, with chamomile for those that don’t indulge. The table was all set with matching place settings, flowers from someone’s garden, thick, white woven napkins. We spent the meal largely discussing singing and cooking — what’s not to like?
I really appreciate the addition of yogurt rather than oil. I don’t like to eat muffins with so much oil, either, but I need a little push to make the best substitutions. As always, your creative license with the written recipes is an inspiration. The muffins sound just great. Debra
Thank you, Debra. Once I learned I could substitute yogurt for oil I started doing it routinely. I figure I like enough fatty foods as it is and most muffins could use a protein boost to make them more filling. The large amount of fruit in these muffins kept them moist until we ate the last two this morning.
These muffins sound incredible my friend, so many delicious ingredients 🙂
Love the watercolour today!
Cheers
Choc Chip Uru
Thank you, CCU. It was fun to draw the hobbit table.
Anything with brown sugar sounds delicious right now!
Doesn’t it? Brown sugar, caramel, maple syrup — I like all of those flavors, especially in the fall.
Lovely post Sharyn! love this second breakfast idea
Thank you, Lauren. Apparently the Hobbits’ Second Breakfast is a common thing among Tolkien fans.
So clever to switch the oil for yoghurt Sharyn! And I like the word gummy to describe floury cakes/muffins.
When there is too much white flour they get damp and, well, gummy — they stick to your hard palate when you chew them.
Love your substitutes, I too dislike oily baked goods and using yogurt is a great idea, must remember this. That second breakfast sounds like a real treat.
Thank you, Norma. Vicki did herself proud with the breakfast.
I am so happy to hear that you enjoyed the muffins and that they turned out well with the substitutions! 🙂
Thanks, Christina — they were really good. Several people asked for the recipe. Now they’ll have your original and my modified version.
Haha, the time I normally wake up on my “off days” I may as well move straight on to lunch, but there’s nothing stopping me enjoying a muffin in the afternoon 😀
Pistachio sounds like an interesting addition instead of pecan. I’ve never tried them in baked good before (except some funky green macarons which I wasn’t a fan of), and I bet the peaches went well with the pears!
Around here, Charles, we work with what we’ve got: no pecans, what am I going to do? My available choices were pistachios, almonds or hazelnuts. Almonds are too bland for this muffin. The peaches punched up the flavor nicely.
These sound great! I LOVE the addition of pistachios!
Thanks, Jen. They were really good.
I agree with you about the distaste for a cup of oil in a muffin recipe, although it is quite common; I’ve heard of substituting a cup of apple sauce to get the moisture content too, but then you’d have to have home made apple sauce on hand, which is not always the case.
We’re back from our two-plus weeks in Europe and it was great. Although its always nice to sleep in one’s own bed. I’ll be posting about our lovely vaycay soon.
I look forward to hearing about the rest of your vacation, Eva. I don’t like the texture that apple sauce produces in baked goods, or having to work around the added sugar: the exception is in baked goods that already feature apples.
These must get plenty of moisture from the fruit; they don’t need oil! Sensible you.
Thank you, Susan. I almost always substitute yogurt for oil in quick breads.