These pear muffins with walnuts are such a treat! Naturally sweet and fragrant from the fresh pear, with a lovely nutty texture that will keep you full and nourished.
I love baking muffins. I prefer them to cupcakes, they have more substance in my mind.
They are more like a rustic little meal, full of fibre and goodness and great to have with you when you’re late for a meal.
They are hearty and you can pack them full of nutritional boosts whilst only adding to the texture & flavour.
This recipe cooks up a BIG batch of 12 pear muffins. Muffin cases are larger than cupcake cases so if you are using the latter, you may need to use a second tray if you have one.
If you do make smaller ones, just keep as eye on the timings as they won’t need so long in the oven.
Any muffin you make with fresh or tinned fruit will stay moist for days.
The chocolate muffins I bake tend to dry out really quickly, by the next day no one wants to eat them. Although they are sublime still warm from the oven.
When making muffins, the trick is to keep dry & wet ingredients separate until the last possible moment.
Work the dry stuff in a bowl, the wet stuff in a jug.
Mix the two together and dollop straight into the waiting muffin trays and into the oven.
Can I use apple instead of pear?
Absolutely! In fact, you could even mix things up a bit and use a mix of both apple and pear! And using sad-looking wrinkly fruit from your fruit bowl is also acceptable. Better turn them into muffins than let them go to waste :)
If you need more muffin baking inspiration, here’s my full list of Muffin Recipes!

- 250 g plain flour
- 3 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon ground ginger or mixed spice
- 75 g sugar
- 1 egg well beaten
- 150 ml milk coconut milk, fruit juice or water
- 175 g fresh pear peeled & chopped
- 75 ml vegetable oil or melted butter
- 75 g walnut halves broken up reserving 12 halves for decorating muffins
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Pop 12 muffin cases in the muffin tray, or lightly grease a silicone muffin tray. Preheat the oven to 375f / 190c / 170fan / Gas 5.
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In a large bowl sieve together all the dry ingredients (excluding the 12 walnut halves)
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In a jug, measure out the wet ingredients.
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When the oven is at temperature, lightly fold the wet ingredients into the dry, just until there are no dry bits left showing. Do not over stir.
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Spoon into the cases, pop a walnut half on top of each muffin and bang in the oven.
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After 20 - 25 minutes, check that the top of a muffin springs back when pressed. Take out and let cool on a cooling rack.
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These will freeze brilliantly.
Fiona Egglestone says
These sound amazing! I’ve never thought about using pear in muffins before but I’m definitely going to try this :-) Thanks for another great idea.
Jane Sarchet says
Hey Fiona! If you EVER need ideas for adding calories to your diet – this is the place!!! :)
Janei x
Adam says
ooooooo they sound scrumptious, might give them a try later ;)
Jane Sarchet says
Hope you enjoy them Adam! x
Sammy says
Really liked them, although they were really filling.
Jane Sarchet says
Yep, like a mini meal Sammy :)
Tamsin says
Yum! We made a batch yesterday and everyone loved them!
Jane Sarchet says
Woohoooo!!!
Carole says
Janie, these were great! The kids LOVED them so we never found out how long they stay moist for !!!
Thnks for the great recipe
Jane Sarchet says
Ha! So glad you all enjoyed them Carole :)