Pear Polenta Muffins

Ripe juicy pears and a polenta flour base make this new muffin recipe an instant favorite. I'll mention right off the bat- it's not low carb. It uses a moderate amount of sugar and some rice flour with organic corn meal. But if you're pining for a gluten-free vegan muffin recipe that you will absolutely love and devour with relish and lick your fingers and say softly (in your best Lauren Bacall voice), You know those pear muffins you got over there, Steve? You wanna toss me another?

These are it.

I developed this recipe before I switched to lower carb eating and it was so damn good I knew I had to post it- even though it's currently on my off-limits list. But you lower glycemic eaters out there- have no fear. This is such a good recipe I'm convinced it's going to translate beautifully into a lower carb treat as well. I plan on fiddling with the flours and using agave as the sweetener. An experiment to look forward to- after I've paired down my waistline a little more. (It is true. Food blogging can make you a tad chubby. I mean, somebody has to taste test.)

Pear Polenta Muffins Recipe

This recipe is vegan, meaning no eggs or dairy are used. But you'd never know it. These muffins are grainy and tender with soft sweet bites of pear that almost melt in your mouth.

2 cups peeled, cored and diced ripe pears- 2-3 pears- depending upon size
3/4 cup organic ground cornmeal
3/4 cup rice flour
1/4 cup tapioca starch
1 teaspoon sea salt
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 cup light olive oil
1 soft ripe banana, mashed well
1/3 to 1/2 cup hemp or rice milk, as needed
2/3 cup organic brown or raw sugar
1 tablespoon good vanilla extract
A sprinkle of organic raw sugar for topping, if desired

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line a twelve muffin tin with liners.

In a large bowl combine the dry ingredients- cornmeal, rice flour, tapioca starch, sea salt, baking powder and cinnamon; whisk with a fork to blend. Set aside.

In a separate bowl beat the light olive oil with the mashed banana; add 1/3 cup hemp milk, sugar and vanilla; beat until smooth.

Add the wet mixture into the dry ingredients and beat lightly until well blended; but do not beat it to death. The batter should be like a thick muffin batter (not as thin as a cake batter). If your batter is dry or stiff add a tablespoon of hemp or rice milk at a time and stir until it loosens up.

Stir in the pears.

Drop the batter into the muffin cups by spoonfuls; distribute evenly among the twelve cups. I like to make sure there are a few pear pieces sticking out of the tops. Sprinkle with a dusting of raw sugar.

Bake in the center of a preheated oven for 20 to 25 minutes or so until the muffins are firm to the touch on top and a wooden pick inserted into the center emerges clean. Try the pick method twice- you might hit a moist pear.

Set the pan on a rack to cool for a couple of minutes; then liberate the muffins from the hot pan- this keeps the bottoms from steaming and getting soggy. Cool the muffins on a wire rack.

To store- wrap and freeze cooled muffins in the freezer. They thaw easily and taste tender and sweet when still a wee bit chilled. They also are delicious warm.

Makes 12 muffins.

Tip: Room temperature pears help keep the baking time even; room temperature ingredients work best in gluten-free baking.

Printer-friendly recipe

More vegan muffin recipes to try:

Brown Sugar Blueberry Muffins
Strawberry Banana Muffins
Pumpkin Berry Muffins