These paleo pear and cranberry muffins are tender, moist, and grain-free. They're naturally sweetened with ripe pears and honey. Use either fresh or dried cranberries.
After feasting on holiday cookies and tarts last month, it's time to get back to making wholesome muffins and quick breads for healthy snacks. I'm ready, aren't you? Let's talk about these Pear and Cranberry Muffins.
I can't resist the sweet tiny pears when I see them in the produce section of my local supermarket. I bought a bag full of Seckel pears with plans to make these Mulled Cinnamon Orange Pears with Mascarpone again, but making healthy snacks for weekday mornings was a higher priority this week.
These Pear and Cranberry Muffins won out.
These muffins hardly need any sweetener at all, as the pears are naturally sweet and the tart cranberries add a nice kick. They have a perfectly pleasant chewy exterior, just enough to entice you in to the soft fruit inside.
This paleo muffin recipe is an easy one.
Simply mix the dry ingredients in one bowl, the wet in another, make a well in the middle of the dry ingredients and gently stir in the wet ingredients and the fruit.
Fill parchment paper-lined muffin cups three-quarters full and bake in a slow oven until nicely browned. Done!
Enjoy with your morning coffee or tea and let's get back on track and commit to "eat clean"!
Paleo Pear and Cranberry Muffins
Ingredients
- 2 cups finely ground almond flour (200 grams)
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- 2 teaspoon cinnamon
- ⅛ teaspoon sea salt
- 3 eggs
- ¼ cup honey
- 3 tablespoon melted butter or coconut oil
- 2 tablespoon plant-based milk
- ¾ cup very finely diced, peeled, firm winter pears (like Anjou, Bosc, Seckel or Forelle)
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- ¼ cup fresh cranberries or dried cranberries, halved
Instructions
- Heat oven to 325°F and line 9 muffin tins with parchment paper liners.
- Measure or weigh almond flour and place in a large mixing bowl.
- Add baking powder, cinnamon and sea salt.
- In a medium bowl, whisk eggs, add honey and melted butter or coconut oil and milk.
- Peel, core, and very finely dice sweet ripe pears and toss with 1 tablespoon lemon juice to prevent browning.
- Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients and stir in pears and cranberries. The batter will look quite runny.
- Fill muffin cups ¾ full. Bake for 22-25 minutes.
Layl
My muffins turned out great! I didn’t have any dairy free milk and needed to keep the recipe dairy free so I actually just used water and it worked. I used one cup of pear - a little extra. They turned out Very moist and I didn’t have any trouble with using regular muffin papers. I also added some crystallized ginger to the top.
Great recipe!
Flavour & Savour
That's great to hear! Thanks for sharing your adaptations with the rest of us, and thanks for taking the time to comment!
Laura
Made these today! Delicious! Would make them again for sure.
Danielle
I just made these - thank you for the recipe! They are very tasty, but a tad dry... they even came out of the muffin tins pretty crumbly! I am wondering what I missed... but thank you for sharing!
Flavour & Savour
Hi Danielle,
I'm at a loss to explain why. I've made these many times and always found them to be really moist. If you followed the recipe instructions and the baking time exactly, all I can think of that might make a difference is the type (or grind) of almond flour you used. I used Bob's Red Mill almond flour, or even Bob's Red Mill Superfine Almond flour. Wish I could be there with you in your kitchen to help you out! 🙂
Bethany
These look delicious!
Flavour & Savour
Thanks Bethany! If you like these, you'll probably also like these Pina Colada Muffins that I made recently. I used the same recipe but substituted pineapple and coconut for the pear and cranberry.
Kayla
I tried making these muffins last night but my mixture even after adding the wet ingredients was still a dry powder! I followed the recipe perfectly too. I tried adding some coconut milk just to add some moisture, and the mix was moist, but not too wet. Even after a cup of milk, the muffins just tasted liked like a dry powder in the center. What could I have done differently??
They look so delicious, I just want to taste them!
Flavour & Savour
How disappointing for you! I’m at a bit of a loss to explain why they didn’t turn out for you, as I’ve never had a problem with this recipe. I have a few suggestions that might help, however. Try weighing the almond flour instead of measuring it. In my experience, 1 cup usually weighs 100 grams, but that can vary depending on where you live and the humidity in the air. Check to see if it was blanched almond flour you used. It’s standard practice to use large eggs in baking, not medium. Mixing the batter too much can cause muffins to be dry. The wet and dry ingredients need to be gently mixed until they are just combined. The last suggestion I have is to not pack them into the muffin cups too firmly. Grain-free baking has its challenges, especially when we are trying to re-create the texture and taste of a muffin made with wheat flour, and it can be frustrating at times. Thanks for your question, Kayla. I hope this helps a bit.
Audrey
I just made these and they were a lovely breakfast! I did not have cranberries, so used more pear. The muffins were just slightly sweet from the pear, and tasted wonderfully wholesome, not like breakfast cake 🙂 I did not have parchment liners, but greased my tin with coconut oil and the muffins popped right out.
I have been craving muffins all week, and dreamed last night that I had binged on costco-type huge, greasy, drenched in sugar, muffins. Obviously I needed to have a real muffin before I broke down and ate something horrid 🙂
Thank you for the recipe!
Flavour & Savour
Thanks, Audrey! I'll bet my readers will find your suggestions helpful. These are one of my favourites! Thanks for commenting!