Pear and Pecan Muffins

Morning lovelies! After eight brilliant seasons, Game of Thrones finally came to an end last night - to those who gave us this show, thank you, thank you, thank you! We've been watching the final six episodes with our neighbours, and we've enjoyed the company, the discussions and the snacks.
As we watched the very last episode ever, we nibbled on my Pear and Pecan Muffins and I thought I'd share the recipe with you.

Whether you're a fan of Game of Thrones or not, you're definitely going to love these yummy muffins. They're soft and light with chunks of succulent pear and a scattering of delicious pecans. They're lightly flavored with cinnamon which warms the soul, and the aroma of these muffins is heavenly -  the kitchen smells amazing when there's a batch of these baking in the oven.

Can you see how light and airy the muffins are?  They're delicate with an almost sponge cake consistency and they're best eaten the day you bake them. They're still nice the next day but they tend to dry out a little.
I prefer to use canned pears in my muffins because they're juicy and sweet. You can use fresh pears if you have them but having a tin in the pantry means I can make muffins whenever I want.

I bake my Pear and Pecan Muffins in café style muffin wrappers because they make a larger muffin and they look coffee shop professional. My recipe will yield twelve muffins in the large wrappers or about eighteen in the smaller patty paper liners. Don't worry if you can't source the café style muffin wrappers they are super easy to make yourself with a little bit of baking paper.

Making your own café style muffin wrappers: Cut squares of baking paper about 6" square. Centre each square over the base of a glass about the same size as your muffin tin hole and mould and shape the paper around the glass to make your wrapper. Quick and easy and no origami skills required :)

There's a light scattering of chopped pecans throughout the muffins, giving them a lovely nutty flavor while allowing the pear to shine brightly as the hero. Before baking I top them with another sprinkle of nuts and caster sugar which adds a gorgeous crunch, and trust me the topping is the best part! Pears and pecans are a fantastic flavor combination and very popular in salads but you'll also love them in a muffin...trust me!
My recipe is quick and easy with most of it prepared in one large bowl and a jug - saves on clean up, YAY!

We enjoyed nibbling on these while watching the last GOT episode. We're all HUGE fans of this show but not as fanatical as some I believe - did you know there is a petition demanding a rewrite of this last season? There's obviously some seriously invested people out there who were majorly disappointed.  If you think this has a happy ending, you haven't been paying attention.
If you would like to bake a batch of my Pear and Pecan Muffins you can download the recipe card by clicking on the link or right click on the photo below and save it to your computer.

I hope you enjoyed the finale of Game of Thrones and I hope you love this muffin recipe too. The writers obviously divided their fan base but you'll have the family bending the knee when you bake them a batch of my Pear and Pecan Muffins.  ;)

Happy baking :)