Pear Cardamom Muffins with a Hazelnut Crunch Top

Prep Time: 15 mins  | Cook Time:  15-20 mins | Course: Breakfast | Yield: 12

Tender moist muffins studded with pears, infused with cardamom and topped with a cardamom sugar and hazelnut crunch. Heavily adapted from the Pillsbury Best Muffins and Quick Breads Cookbook.

1 ¾ cup flour

⅓ cup sugar

1 Tbsp baking powder

1 tsp cardamom

¼ tsp salt

½ cup milk

¼ cup hazelnut, other nut or olive oil

1 egg

2 pears, 1 diced/1 sliced

Topping:

⅓ cup sugar

⅓ cup hazelnut flour (or well ground hazelnuts)

1 tsp cardamom

Preheat oven to 400*. Insert a muffin tin with muffin liners. Whisk flour, sugar, baking powder, cardamom and salt in a 2-quart mixing bowl.

Whisk milk, oil and egg in a 2 cup measurer. Add diced pear to the flour mixture, then pour in the milk mixture and gently fold together. Mix topping ingredients together.

Drop dough in liners evenly, about ¾ full. Top each muffin with a slice of pear and top with the cardamom sugar topping; it looks like a lot, but I divided it all evenly over the muffins. Mhhh! Bake for 15-20 minutes or until a toothpick tester comes out clean.