Tag: low sugar

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Pear Almond Muffins

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Guess what was on sale at the farmers market this week-end? 🙂 Pears! Yumm! I love pears, when  you get them when they are juuust right, juicy, ripe but not too soft. Which is a fine balance and therefore, having bought a bunch I now gotta ‘consume’ them rather quickly.  I like apples but, let’s face it, pears are almost regal compared to a ‘commoner’ apple (No offense, Apple, love you too), maybe I just have this opinion because we can now get pretty good apples year round and they ceased to feel special, not being really seasonal anymore whereas pears are just never quite like they are in the fall… or maybe it’s because of this memory of my Mom saying ‘Pears are the queen of fruits’, who knows 🙂      Ahh the things we remember…

Besides eating pears fresh, melt chocolate chips as a sauce ( a personal favorite, use dark chocolate), roasting as a side, or baking a pear upside down cake or Tarte Tatin, oh and don’t forget, making pear vanilla butter (getting to that one later on, but it’s the very best thing you can do with your time if you have pears…and time, promise) what is one to do with  a bushel of pears?

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Muffins! Quick, easy and portable, now we are talking!

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Makes 12 regular size

Ingredients

  • 1/2 cup whole wheat pastry flour
  • 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour (I have used all whole wheat, it just gets a bit denser)
  • 2 tsp baking powder
  • 1/2 tsp baking soda
  • 1 1/4 cup ripe but firm pear, diced finely (from 1 to 2 pears, depending on size)
  • 1/2 cup coconut palm sugar, sugar or sucanat
  • 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1/2 tsp almond extract
  • 2 tbsp almond butter
  • 2 tbsp oil (you can leave the oil out, the consistency will change a little, but it’s still yum)
  • 1 lg egg
  • 1/4 cup milk (dairy or almond milk)

 Directions

  1. In a large bowl, mix together the first four ingredients
  2. add sucanat or coconut sugar, and diced pear and stir to coat
  3. add the remainder of the ingredients and stir until just combined then drop by the table spoons into lines muffin pan
  4. bake in a preheated oven at 400F for 15-20 minutes or until tester inserted into muffin comes out clear
  5. Let cool slightly before serving.

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And just like that, they are all gone:)

Gotta get back to the oven, I am seeing some Pear Gingerbread Muffins in my near future…

Copyright © 2011 Simple Healthy Homemade. All rights reserved.

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Pumpkin Cream Cheese Stuffed French Toast

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One of my favorite breakfast spots in the area makes this amazing stuffed french toast that’s to die for.  They are, however, closed on Sundays, which would only be like the perfect brunch day. So obviously it was only a matter of time until I had to try and recreate so I could have it anytime. Ahh the convenience of it 😉 And of course I will still go and have breakfast there, some days there is nothing better than to just sit down and have someone do all the work for you, including the dishes 🙂

Here’s my version using, you guessed it, some of that pumpkin that’s still left over from making pumpkin lattes, mini tartletts and goat cheese pumpkin ravioli. If you cook for one or two people only, you gotta be inventive and use what you have several different ways, so it doesn’t go bad, and I am not one to waste anything if I can help it, so bare with me if you feel pumpkin OD coming on. I’ll be onto something else soon, I promise.

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Any bread will work for this, crusty bread just has to be soaked a bit longer. We used to make a dish like this back home, using any leftover day old bread, although we didn’t call it ‘french toast’, and we did not stuff it with anything.

Ingredients

  • 4 slices of toast bread (or any day old bread, roughly equivalent in size, I used Ezekiel)
  • 2 eggs, beaten
  • 1/2 cup milk, warm
  • coconut oil for cooking
  • 4 oz cream cheese
  • 1/4 cup pumpkin puree
  • 2 tbsp granulated palm sugar, or sweetener of choice
  • 1/4 tsp cinnamon
  • 1/4 tsp pumpkin pie spice
  • optional grated coconut for garnish, toasted if desired

Directions:

  1. Soften cream cheese, and stir until smooth
  2. Add the spices, sugar and the pumpkin puree, mix until incorporated.
  3. Place milk and eggs in two separate deep flat dishes
  4. Turn the bread in the milk, then turn in the beaten egg and place in heated skillet. Cook until golden brown, then flip over to cook the second side. Remove from pan and set aside and keep warm.
  5. After making the second slice, while still in the skillet, top with 3 tblsp pumpkin cream cheese mix and top with another slice of french toast, and sprinkle with toasted coconut. (If your skillet is big enough, you might be able to cook all four slices at once, but mine only fits 2)

THE best!

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Copyright © 2011 Simple Healthy Homemade. All rights reserved.