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Low Sugar Pear & Ginger Muffins | Raising Sugar Free Kids - a filling, dense, tasty muffin recipe that is perfect served warm on a cold morning. Packed with fibre and low in sugar, these muffins are healthy and delicious, and can easily be made dairy free if you need to!
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Low Sugar Pear & Ginger Muffins
Prep Time
5 mins
Cook Time
25 mins
Total Time
30 mins
 
A dense, delicious and deceptively sweet muffin recipe that is best served warm with a cup of coffee and a dollop of yogurt on a cold morning. Adapted from Sophie Dahl's "Miss Dahl's Voluptuous Delights".
Course: Breakfast, Dessert, Snack
Servings: 8 muffins
Ingredients
  • 1 cup (140g) wholegrain flour (gluten-free is fine - my favourite flour to use in these is spelt)
  • 1 cup (100g) oats (gluten-free is fine)
  • 2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda (baking soda)
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons ground ginger
  • 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • 1/2 teaspoon mixed spice or pumpkin spice mix
  • 1 cup (225g) pureed roasted pear (see method on how to make this)
  • 2 medium eggs
  • 1/2 cup (125ml) full-fat plain yogurt (coconut is fine)
  • 3 tablespoons xylitol or 4-5 tablespoons rice syrup*
  • 4-5 drops liquid stevia (or to taste)
  • 1 large pear, diced (optional)
  • 1/2 cup (60g) chopped walnuts, optional (they are also delicious with chocolate chips or chopped 85-90% dark chocolate)
Instructions

  1. For the roasted pear puree: roast 2-3 pears in an oven preheated to 200C/400F/gas 6 for 15-20 mins until soft, then puree in a mixer until smooth (I like to keep the skins on but you can peel them before roasting if you prefer). You can easily batch make this and keep it in the fridge for up to a week, or freeze in ice cube trays to have on hand for more muffins, as a sub for applesauce in bakes, or in smoothies.

  2. Preheat oven to 180C/350F/gas 4. Mix all of the dry ingredients together, then mix in the pear puree, eggs, yogurt, xylitol or syrup and stevia until just combined.

  3. Fold in the diced pear and chopped nuts, if using then spoon the mixture into a lightly greased muffin tin until each hole is about 2/3 full (it should make about 6-8 muffins). If you like, you can slice another pear into wedges and top each muffin with a wedge, for decoration.

  4. Bake in the preheated oven for 25-30 mins, or until cooked through. Serve warm (they dry out quickly when cool but will moisten again when warmed up) with yogurt (dairy or coconut) or cream.

Recipe Notes

*rice syrup is fructose-free, but it is counted as a free sugar by the World Healthy Organisation, so be mindful that it would mean the muffins have 1-2 teaspoons free sugars each, but rice syrup is pure glucose rather than fructose so is released more steadily and dealt with better by the body in moderation than fructose, which is dumped on the liver