I’d been dying to bake something incorporating pear, hazelnut and dark chocolate for quite a while, so I was excited to finally bake these muffins! Well…they’re more cupcake sized, but with a more muffin-like texture.

Anyway…they’re yummy.

I made a large batch, so adjust the amounts as needed.

To make 24 cupcake/muffins:

Wet ingredients

• 4 pears (peeled and cored – reserve the peel for the topping if you like)
• 3 large eggs
• 3 tbsp melted coconut oil
• 1/4 cup unsweetened almond milk
• 1/2 tsp apple cider vinegar or lemon juice

Dry ingredients

• 200g hazelnuts
• 140g dark chocolate (I used a mix of 72% and 85%)
• Vanilla, cinnamon and nutmeg (about 1 – 2 tsp of each, depending on your tastes)
• 1/2 to 3/4 cup coconut palm sugar (again, depending on your tastes – I thought these were a bit too far on the sweet side, but other people thought they were fine)
• 1/2 cup almond flour
• 2 tbsp coconut flour
• 2 tsbp arrowroot powder
• 2 cups gluten-free rolled oats
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp baking soda
• (Extra nuts/dates – optional)

1. Toast the hazelnuts (don’t let them burn, or they’ll be quite bitter). Leave the oven on (at about 190 celsius) for later.

2. Grind about half the hazelnuts with half the rolled oats. Combine with the other dry ingredients.

3. Grate 1 or 2 of the pears. Blitz the other pears in a food processor, with the eggs and almond milk.

4. Mix the wet ingredients into the dry ones. Add the grated pear.

5. Coarsley chop (in the food processor) the rest of the hazelnuts and the chocolate to make nice chunks. Add this to the batter.

6. If you want to make a topping, blitz up the pear peel with some chopped nuts (hazelnuts or walnuts work well) and some dates (I used about 8).

7. Spoon the batter into cupcake cases. Add a small amount of topping if you want to. Bake at about 195 celsius for 20-25 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean.

You might think they’re a bit underdone, but as long as a toothpick comes out clean they’re fine! If you overbake them, they’ll be very dry and crumbly. Once these have been refrigerated, they’ll have a lovely moist texture and won’t stick to the cases too much.