Pears in a pear tree (minus the partridge) stir up into a memorable breakfast muffin

I’m just not believin’ these delicious pears are really ours—well, not exactly ours, but God’s. He loans us our garden to tend and cultivate. But we sure are having a good time tending and cultivating. And to look at our pear tree, only in its second season, and see all those gorgeous pears dangling from its limbs as though they were Christmas ornaments—well, it just takes my breath away.

I’ve got just the recipe in which to use them, too—Pear Pecan Muffins, clipped from a 2002 Taste of Home magazine that featured every kind of muffin under the sun. Any time I have some pears on hand, I whip these up. The pear chunks merged with our homegrown pecans stir into what becomes a marvelous breakfast treat—terrific with a glass of cold milk or a steaming cup of coffee or tea.

When you first mix up the batter, you may wonder why it doesn’t seem more moist. The batter doesn’t pour into the greased muffin cups. You kinda have to massage it in, just as you might spoon cookie dough onto a cookie sheet and sorta shape it as you go. What happens is that as the muffins bake, the juice from the pears oozes into the batter. This actually produces a very moist muffin. If it’s somewhat on the crumbly side, don’t despair. The muffin itself is like an all-over streusel topping that has baked around the pears.

I used this as a Saturday morning treat to jumpstart a busy weekend with kinfolk visiting. I wanted to share with them some of our backyard garden’s finest.

Pear Pecan Muffins

3 cups all-purpose flour

2 cups sugar (or sugar substitute)

2 teaspoons baking soda

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon salt (or salt substitute)

2 eggs (or 1/2 cup egg substitute)

1 cup vegetable oil

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

4 cups chopped peeled ripe pears (about 6 medium)

1 cup chopped pecans

In a large bowl combine the flour, sugar, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt. In another bowl combine the eggs, oil, and vanilla; stir into dry ingredients just until moistened. Fold in the pears and pecans. Fill muffin cups two-thirds full. Bake at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick emerges clean. Cool for 5 minutes before you remove muffins from pans to wire racks. Makes about 2 dozen.