Hello, everyone! I hope that you are enjoying a beautiful day. The weather forecast predicted clouds and rain yet we have sun and a warm temperature. I am keeping myself busy with a bit of baking rather than thinking of decreasing my estimates for GDP growth due to the federal government shutdown.
Early fall is a good time to use fresh pears and the last of the season of fresh figs. If you can’t find fresh figs in the grocery store, a dried version will also be good in this recipe. If you prefer an alternate dried fruit, apricots or raisins would work well too. My inspiration was Five and Spice’s version of Pear and Fig Morning Muffins since the pictures looked delicious. I substituted the all purpose flour with a combination of whole wheat and oat, swapped the butter with canola oil, added some cinnamon, and used plain yogurt instead of buttermilk. Yes, these ingredients worked out very well together. Hopefully our federal legislators will work together soon too.
If you have not yet answered my current survey, please do since economists really thrive on analyzing survey results. Just visit my homepage and in two clicks you can provide an opinion to your favorite way of enjoying apples and pears, along with seeing the current tally of results. Thanks!
Ingredients:
4 Tbs. canola oil
1/3 cup figs, finely chopped (either fresh or dried)
1 small-medium pear, ripe but still firm, finely chopped
1 cup whole wheat flour
3/4 cup oat flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. ground cardamom
1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
3 Tbs. honey
1 large egg, at room temperature
1 egg yolk, at room temperature
1 cup plus 2 Tbs. yogurt
Preparation:
Preheat your oven to 400F.
In a small-medium bowl, combine the flours, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cardamom, and cinnamon. Set aside.
In a medium-large mixing bowl whisk together the honey, egg, and egg yolk for a couple of minutes, until the color lightens. Then whisk in the canola oil until well combined. Finally whisk in the yogurt.
Pour in the dry ingredients and stir together with a wooden spoon. Add the chopped fruits on top of the batter. Stir just enough to mix it in, then stop.
Use 2 spoons to drop heaping spoonfuls of batter into the lined muffin tins.
Bake for about 20 minutes, until golden on top and a toothpick inserted into a muffin comes out clean. Makes 12 muffins.
SensitiveEconomist 