Delicious vegan muffins, made with simple ingredients, very chocolatey but not too sweet, with juicy cubes of a succulent pear and decadent chocolate chips blended in the batter.
Breakfast is the most important meal of the day. Whether you study, work or stay at home, whether you are young or older, with breakfast you set the foundation to a good day. It is the fuel your brain and muscles need to face the day's activities. It is my preferred meal of the day. It is my last thought or talk of the night ("Amore, what are we having for breakfast tomorrow?" or, if I already know what we're having, and it is one of my favorite: "Is it morning yet?") and my first words in the morning: ("Where's my breakfast?" or "Is it ready yet?"). 😉
Of course I am playful and a bit of a joker, like my husband. We both like to play and there are certain recurring sentences or questions/answers that just trigger our laughter.
Anyway, I am serious about breakfast. I am also habitual, kind of like a cat. I usually have multiple small meals during the day, my body just cannot bear huge feasts. As per breakfast, I need to have something as soon as I wake up and get out of bed, and that something is usually chosen among few repetitive things. And I need time, don't ask me to rush breakfast or worse, to skip it. I would end up with a headache, most of the cases, or with a bad mood the whole day.
So that's also why, among my favorite things to bake, there are sweets that I like having for breakfast: scones, brioches, loaves, bundt and pound cakes, some cookies and yes, muffins. Pancakes, waffles and french toasts, my husband makes them for me and croissants, crumpets and doughnuts are not in the list only because I have not attempted to make them yet. Not yet, but soon. And when the above mentioned items are not available for breakfast, I am quite happy to have toasted bread or toasted english muffin with hazelnut spread or peanut butter/almond butter and jam. Everything gulped down with a cappuccino or an americano (a little honey or brown sugar and just few drops of soy or almond milk, please 😉 ).
These Chocolate Pear Muffins lasted for a couple of breakfasts and some snacks and we loved them. Vegan, with simple ingredients, very chocolatey but not too sweet, with juicy cubes of pears hidden in the batter and 2 kinds of chocolate chips: bittersweet inside and reese peanut butter on top. Do I need to say more?
The almond flour and almond milk just added a lightness to the batter, plus another level of flavor. The vegetable oil (or coconut oil) created the perfect moistness and the vanilla and cocoa burst in your tastebuds and nostrils at each bite. So easy and fast to make, I made this wonderful Chocolate Pear Muffins the first time during my one day Vegan Baking Workshop in Rome last April and I was waiting for the ideal Fall day to bake them again. (Why Fall? For the pears. In the summer I hardly think of them, or buy them, intrigued as I am by the myriad of summer fruits).
Grown-ups loved them, I know that for a fact, but I'm pretty sure kids will love them, too, since they're very chocolatey, and at the same time you'll sneak some fruit inside. A healthy sweet...can that be possible? I think so, although, ça va sans dire, with obvious good sense: everything in moderation. And variety. And excercise.
Chocolate Pear Muffins
- Total Time: 35 minutes
- Yield: 12 muffins 1x
Ingredients
- 150 g (1 cup) all-purpose flour
- 30 g (⅓ cup) dutch cocoa
- 20 g (¼ cup) almond flour (or hazelnut, or chestnut flour)
- 130 g (1 cup) brown sugar
- 220 ml (¾ cup) almond milk (or soy milk)
- 50 ml (¼ cup) vegetable oil (or 20 ml extra virgin olive oil + 30 ml coconut oil)
- ½ tsp vanillla
- ½ Tbsp baking powder
- 2 small pears
- 70 g (⅓ cup + 1 Tbsp) semi sweet chocolate chips
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 355° F (180° C) and line a muffin pan with 12 muffin pads.
- In a medium bowl mix together all-purpose flour, cocoa, almond flour.
- Add brown sugar, chocolate chips, baking powder. Mix.
- Add vanilla, milk, vegetable oil and lastly the diced pears. Mix well but do not overmix.
- With an ice cream scoop, pour the batter in each muffin pad. Add 2-3 chocolate chps on top.
- Bake in the preheated oven for about 20 - 25 minutes.
- Let them cool on a rack before enjoying them.
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 25 minutes
Enjoy these lovely chocolate pear muffins and if you want to taste some of my other delicious muffins, here they are: Strawberry Thumbprint Corn Muffins; Blueberry-Saskatoon-Lime Cornmeal Muffins; Strawberry Muffins.
Ricetta in Italiano.
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Muffins Pere e Cioccolato
- Total Time: 35 minutes
Ingredients
- 150 g farina 0
- 30 g cacao amaro
- 20 g farina di mandorle (o nocciole, o castagne)
- 130 g zucchero di canna
- 220 ml latte di soia
- 50 ml olio di semi (o 20 ml olio e.v.o. + 30 ml olio di semi)
- ½ cucchiaino di vaniglia
- ½ bustina di lievito in polvere
- 70 g di gocce di cioccolato
- 2 pere
Instructions
- Preriscaldare il forno a 180° C e preparare una teglia da muffins con 12 pirottini di carta.
- In una ciotola mescolare la farina zero con il cacao e la farina di mandorle.
- Agiungere lo zucchero, la vaniglia, le gocce di cioccolato il lievito. Mescolare bene il tutto.
- Versare il latte, l'olio e le pere tagliate a cubetti.
- Amalgamare tutti gli ingredienti, poi versare l'impasto nei pirottini.
- Aggiungere ad ognuno 2-3 gocce di cioccolato.
- Infornare e cuocere per 20-25 minuti.
- Lasciare raffreddare su una gratella.
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 25 minutes
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 12 muffins
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I love baking and kneading dough because it takes me to a happy place in my soul.
karrie @ Tasty Ever After says
I'm coming over for breakfast! hahaha! Love that these muffins are vegan and that you diced, instead of pureeing, the pears. They look so yummy and so easy to put together too. I do a huge Christmas breakfast every year and will have to add these to the menu 🙂
Thank you Karrie! They are easy, fast and delicious. You might hear a knock at the door and a "oh oh eh" this Christmas 😉 .
Mark says
Very good post:-). Best regards!
Thank you! Hope you try the muffins and let me know 🙂 .
Teresa says
These look fantastic, with a perfect crumb. I just tried Abate Fetel pears for the first time and I bet they'd be lovely in this recipe.
Thanks Teresa, they are really delicious. You'd never say they're vegan! Abate pears are fantastic, you might just need one, since they're bigger. I'm sure you'll love them.
Ken Burson says
Hi Nicoletta,
Your muffins look incredible! Thanks for posting.
I found your recipe as I was looking for one that could be a guide to quantities of ingredients. Here's what I mean.
In Barcelona recently, we ate vegan chocolate muffins with caramelized pears from Teresa Carles restaurant. They were maybe the best dessert I've eaten. Staff were nice enough to provide ingredients but we couldn't, unsurprisingly, get the recipe.
The ingredients are, in Spanish, pera, azucar integral caña, platano, leche do soja, harina de trigo, aciete de girasol, cobertura chocolate negro 55%, salvado fino, harina de maizena, levadura, sal, bicarbonato. The google translation is: pear, brown sugar cane, banana, soymilk, wheat flour, sunflower oil, black chocolate 55% coverage, fine bran, corn starch flour, yeast, salt, baking soda.
Would you care to take a shot at using that list of ingredients or would you provide ideas about quantities? In using your recipe for quantities, if I used two pears and a total of one cup of wheat flour, fine bran, and corn starch, would I be close to success? Or, if I were to add caramelized pear to your recipe, what adjustment might be needed? I'm not a baker, so this comes mostly out of ignorance, but I wanted also to confirm that what I consider to be a small amount of flour in your recipe is not just a typo.
Thanks for any comments! Anything at all would be gracious and a help.
Ken Burson
Thank you for your interest in our muffins. We are currently away on vacation but when we're back home I am going to give it a try matching the ingredients that you have listed. If I succeed I am going to post the muffins and recipe on our blog and also I will leave a note on your comment of this post.
Rebecca says
Do you have the ingredients list in cups, etc? Thanks
Hello Rebecca, I've just updated the recipe with the ingredients listed in grams/ml and cups. Enjoy the muffins!
Ruth says
I made these with my kids (5&2yo) today. I didn’t have almond flour so used coconut flour instead and I grated my pears and only used 1/2 cup sugar. Very delicious recipe, nice and moist. Plus I love incorporating fruit with chocolate. Thank you, I will be making again ????
So nice to bake with your kids! Glad you all enjoyed the muffins. Thank you for the feedback!
Marcin says
So good...blanched pears on top of your muffins and voila????
Pics:
https://ibb.co/T0ZKQQ5
How pretty topped with blanched pears! Glad you enjoyed them, thank you for sharing!