Baking Challenge Week 5 - Breakfast - Spiced Pear Muffins

I go through distinct muffin phases--for a month or two, I'll make at least a batch a week, and then, suddenly, I won't bake a single muffin for months.

The muffin that has broken me out of this last dry spell?  A recipe that I created!  It's packed with pear and golden raisins, flavored with two of my favorite spices, ginger and cardamom.  Cardamom might, in fact, be my favorite spice ever.  I should have been born Swedish, they put it in everything they bake, I swear!

Spiced Pear Muffins
(makes 12)

• 1/2 cup oat bran
• 1/4 cup light brown sugar
• 2 tbsp vegetable oil
• 2 tbsp water
• 1 medium pear, peeled, cored, and roughly grated (about 1 cup packed)
• 1/2 cup golden raisins
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp ground cardamom
• 1 tsp ground ginger
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 egg

In a bowl, combine the oat bran and brown sugar.  Add the oil and water, mix well, and set aside 15 minutes to soften the bran.

Add the grated pear, raisins, flour, baking powder, cardamom, ginger, and salt.  Stir until evenly blended, then add the egg and mix just until everything is bound together.  (It will still be fairly stiff and lumpy.)

Divide the batter evenly among 12 muffin cups lined with paper liners.  Bake at 350 F for 20-23 minutes, until slightly risen and golden brown.  Serve warm, or cool completely on a wire rack.

Start with the brown sugar and oat bran.

Looks like the worst oatmeal ever, at this point.

I thought the grated pear looks a little like tiny french fries...

Everybody (but the egg) in the pool!

Now it looks like a fruit crumble gone horribly awry, but I promise, it will get better...

Fill those cups, and bake!

And try to resist eating them all at once...