Pear Oat Crumble Muffins

Tunes: 80’s Pop Hits

Tonight I finally made muffins!  I’ve wanted a muffin for at least a week now.  Originally I was going to make apple muffins, but then I realized I didn’t have any apples.  I did have pears though so I went with that and I am soooooo glad that I did.  They came out quite delicious!!

Yield: 12

2½ TBSP ground flaxseed + 3 TBSP hot water

1 cup whole wheat pastry flour

1¼ cups Country Choice Organic Multigrain hot cereal (rye, barley, oats and wheat) (I found this at Trader Joe’s.  Oats would work too)

¼ tsp fine sea salt

2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp cinnamon

¼ tsp nutmeg

1/8 tsp cloves

¼ cup safflower oil

½ cup maple syrup

1 cup oat milk

1 tsp vanilla

1 cup diced pear

Streusel Topping:  ¼ cup multigrain hot cereal

¼ tsp cinnamon

3 TBSP date sugar

2 TBSP Earth Balance olive oil buttery spread

1.  Combine the ground flaxseed and hot water; set aside.  Line 12 muffin tin cups with cupcake liners.

2.  In a large bowl, mix together the flour, hot cereal, sea salt, baking powder and spices.

3.  In another bowl, whisk together the oil, maple, oat milk and vanilla.  Add the oil mix into the flour mix; stir to just combine.  Fold in pears.  Evenly fill muffin tin cups.

4.  Streusel topping: combine the hot cereal, cinnamon and date sugar.  Mash in butter with the back of a spoon to form crumbles.  Sprinkle over the top of the muffins.

5.  Bake at 375°F for about 20 to 30 minutes, when a knife inserted into the center comes out clean.  Cool in muffin pan for a bit then transfer to cooling rack to cool completely.

*Since they’re so fresh, I plan on storing them in the refrigerator.

*The streusel topping got a little bit dark, it could maybe get sprinkled on about half way through baking and be alright.

I will probably try these with some almond butter and try to get to my health food store to buy myself some vegan cream cheese to try on them, I think that would do quite nicely.