Spicy Almond-Pear Muffins

INGREDIENTS:

2 3/4 c. all-purpose flour
1 c. wheat flour
1/4 c. flax meal
1/2 t. salt
6 t. baking powder
1 c. vegan sugar
egg replacer for 4 eggs
1/2 c. canola oil
1.5 c. sour soy milk (soy milk + 2 t. vinegar)
2 sm. pears (peeled and shredded)
toasted almonds (about 1/4-1/3 c. or so)

For cinnamony topping:
4 T. sugar
1/4 t. nutmeg
1/2 t. cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350. Mix all the ingredients together (you may wanna add a little bit shy of the 1/5 c. sour milk if you have particularly ripe and juicy pears--which I did). Line a muffin pan with cupcake cups. Spray with nonstick-spray. Throw some batter into each cup, about 3/4 full or so. After all the cups are full, sprinkle some of the cinnamony topping on each one. Bake in the oven for 35-45 minutes (or until you poke with a fork and it comes out clean).

Makes about 18 muffins.

Originally, I used 1 t. salt (the recipe I modified it from called for this amount), but they came out a bit salty for my taste--I suspect either the almonds add a bit more saltiness to the batter or the recipe (that I very loosely based this muffin recipe on) intended Sea Salt to be used without specifying it (this is coming to be a bit of a pet peeve of mine). So I've adjusted that here. Also, the nutmeg is a bit spicy and overpowering, so I've cut down on the quantity here as well.

Overall, these muffins weren't bad. They're not obnoxiously sweet, but they have a bit of subtle flavoring and a good crunch to them. The consistency came out perfect on them (which with my temperamental stove is always a bit of a feat), so I was definitely pleased on that front. And the batter itself is tasty as all get-out--I had the worst stomach-ache all night because I kept chowing down on it while baking, only to realize that, given the massive amount of baking powder in the recipe, it was making my stomach bloat and making me wanna walk around letting out huge Barney-esque belches all night. And given that I only burp about twice a year, I was worried at some point I would explode.



VERDICT: A-/B+