One side effect of making lots of preserves is that one ends up with a variety of tasty odds and ends. Rarely does a recipe of jam divide evenly to fill the waiting jars; I often find myself with 1/4 - 1/2 cup of jam at the bottom of the pot when the capped jars have gone into their water bath. I’ve been wanting to buy some 4-oz. canning jars, so that I can put up even those little bits, but I haven’t found any at my local stores. So, I spoon the extra preserves into a container, and tuck it into the refrigerator. And sometimes a jar doesn’t seal, and thus joins the remnants in the refrigerator.
There’s only so much jam, fruit butter and preserves that two people can eat on toast and pancakes, or stir into Greek yogurt, so I find myself looking for other ways to use the leftovers. This morning, the preserve in questions was a half pint of spicy, slightly tart apple-pear-quince butter that had been in the fridge for a couple of weeks. I also had a couple of gorgeous bosc pears that had become a little overripe sitting out on the counter for a few days.
On a cool Sunday morning, I felt like baking. Starting with a recipe for applesauce muffins, I substituted wildly: I replaced half of the AP flour with sweet, nutty emmer flour, subbed the fruit butter for the applesauce (and added a couple of tablespoons of water when the batter looked too thick), cut the brown sugar in half because the fruit butter had already been sweetened with honey, reduced the butter by several tablespoons, and added a cup of finely diced pear. By the time I was finished, it really wasn’t the same recipe at all.
These muffins are moist, light-textured and gently spicy. The bits of cooked pear almost disappear into the crumb, but add a slight variation in texture, plus a lovely pear flavor. Paul would have liked them a little sweeter, while I thought that they were, if anything, a touch too sweet. We ate them plain; after all, they have both the sweet butter and fruit butter that I might spread on another muffin already baked in.
Pear and fruit butter muffins
3/4 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cups emmer flour (or whole wheat flour)
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
2 large eggs
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted, cooled to room temp.
1 cup homemade apple-pear-quince butter (or apple butter)
2 tablespoons water (or apple juice or pear nectar)
1-2 very ripe pears
Put oven rack in middle position and preheat oven to 400°F. Grease muffin pan.
Stir together flours, baking powder, baking soda, and spices in a bowl. Set aside.
Peel and core pear(s), then dice finely. Scrape diced pears and their juice into a measuring cup; you should have about one cup.
In a large bowl, whisk together eggs and brown sugar. Add butter, a little at a time, whisking until mixture is creamy. Stir in apple butter, water or juice, and pears. Fold in flour mixture until just combined. Spoon batter into muffin cups.
Bake until muffins are puffed and golden, about 20 minutes. Cool in the pan for a few minutes, then turn muffins out of the pan and cool a couple of minutes more before devouring.
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