Chocolate

Poached Pear Chocolate Muffins with a Raspberry Swirl

September 15, 2011
4.5
2 Ratings
  • Makes 6 jumbo size muffins
Author Notes

This recipe puts me in the mood for winter. Pears, poached with orange and spices, are both incorporated into the batter & used as decoration. Aromas of mulled wine, chocolate and raspberry fill the kitchen, making is difficult to resist pulling them out of the oven too early! Do your best to resist- vegan muffins require a slightly longer cooking time than conventional ones.
Prep for these muffins is a little fussier than usual. But then, these aren’t your average muffins. They’re more decadent, and perfect for the holidays.

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Ingredients
  • Poached Pear Chocolate Muffins with a Raspberry Swirl
  • 2 3/4 cups all purpose flour
  • 1/4 cup cocoa powder plus 2 tbp
  • 1 teaspoon cinnamon
  • 1 tablespoon baking powder
  • 3/4 cup sugar, plus more for sprinkling
  • 1/4 cup brown sugar
  • 1/2 cup coconut milk
  • 1/2 cup pear poaching liquid
  • 1/3 cup coconut oil
  • 1/3 cup safflower oil (can sub other oil of your choice, or do all coconut)
  • 2 tablespoons ground flaxseed
  • 1/2 cup raspberry jam
  • Poached Pears
  • 2 pears- peeled, halved and cored
  • 1 cup red wine
  • 1 orange, outer peel and juice
  • 2 cinnamon sticks
  • 6 cloves
  • 1/4 cup sugar
Directions
  1. Poached Pear Chocolate Muffins with a Raspberry Swirl
  2. Preheat oven to 375?F. Oil jumbo muffin tins.
  3. In a blender, combine ground flaxseed and 1/4 c warm water. Blend until thickened and light in color.
  4. Whisk together flour, cocoa, baking powder, cinnamon and salt. In a separate bowl, whisk together sugar, oils, milk, flax paste, poaching liquid and diced pear. Fold in dry ingredients until just combined.
  5. Fill muffin tins 3/4 full with batter. Spoon a heaping spoonful of jam on top of each one and use a chopstick to swirl it through the batter a few times. Lay pear slices on top (about 5 per muffin) and sprinkle tops with sugar.
  6. Bake for about 25-30 minutes, stopping halfway to rotate pan.
  7. Remove muffins from oven when a tester comes out clean and cool for 10 minutes. Invert muffins in their tins to finish cooling.
  1. Poached Pears
  2. Add all ingredients to a pot and cover surface with a parchment circle. Simmer all ingredients over low heat for approximately 30 minutes, until liquid has reduced and pears are tender but not falling apart. You may want to flip the pears halfway for even cooking.
  3. Remove pears and place in refrigerator to cool. Strain remaining solids from poaching liquid and discard. There should be about 1/2 cup of liquid. (If there is extra, use all and compensate by reducing the milk in the muffin recipe, conversely, if there is less, add more milk.)
  4. When pears are cooled, cut off top knobs so that each half is domed shape. Cut the domes into thin slices and reserve for decoration. Dice the knobs to be added to the batter.
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I am a self-trained vegan chef, pastry chef and baker. More recently, I founded Anita's Yogurt in Brooklyn, NY. Anita's Coconut Yogurt is now available from coast-to-coast and for nationwide delivery from our website. I still frequently bake desserts for my daughter and post recipe videos on instagram. Currently baking: Kombucha Muffins From Jerrelle Guy, Genius Nut and Seed bread from Sarah Britton.

2 Reviews

sexyLAMBCHOPx September 16, 2011
wow, impressive and unusual combo of tasty flavors.
Dessert's O. September 15, 2011
Yum!