Pear Crisp Muffins

I baked these Apple Crisp muffins a little while ago, when Paul asked me if I could make Pear Crisp muffins for him. He loves pear and pear crisp so I thought...hey, I could swing that! I made them once before but they tasted very similar to the apple crisp muffins so I made sure to cut the pear pieces into bigger chunks and include a little bit more pear this time around.  They turned out wonderfully and definitely taste of pear this time!  With Canadian Thanksgiving just around the corner (this upcoming Monday!) these muffins would be a delightful addition to a warm Thanksgiving celebration.

As you can see, I left the pears pretty chunky - this muffin that I cut open may not be the greatest example as I think some of the bigger muffins had even more pear filling.  What I love about these muffins is that they are quick and easy to prepare and you can mix everything in the same bowl, so less cleaning up to do!  I only had an hour to spare before work today and I was able to bake the muffins and blog about them, so that's pretty good!  And more importantly, I have a great snack to bring to work with me!

Here's the recipe, as adapted from the one originally posted on Happy Herbivore:

1 1/2 cups whole wheat pastry flour
1/2 cup rolled oats
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 cup raw sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar
2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground ginger
dash nutmeg
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup organic applesauce
1 large organic pear, diced into larger chunks
1/4 cup pure maple syrup

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Whisk the flour, oats, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, ginger and nutmeg.  Add the applesauce, sugars, maple syrup and stir.  Add the pear chunks.  Pour into a muffin tin and sprinkle more oats and brown sugar on top.  Bake for 18-25 minutes.  Makes 12 muffins.