Pear Oat Muffins

Happy π Day, math nerds!  I've been on a bit of a home repair tear lately, so my cooking is suffering.  But I got a very sweet reminder to post from my newborn cousin who is surprisingly adept at Facebook for her age.  So I give you a delicious breakfast treat.  These muffins are filling, slightly sweet, and totally delicious.  They puffed up into a glorious golden dome much better than my muffins usually do.  I think this is because of the right ratio of wet to dry ingredients, but MORE importantly because I just brought new baking powder and baking soda.  I never really "run out" of these things, so I rarely think to replace them when I'm at the store.  But this is a good reminder that my baked goods are always greatly improved when I am using fresh ingredients.  I happen to be hosting my 3 favorite people who are not named Mark this weekend and I will feed these muffins to them.  While my sister, mom, and dad are busy chewing...they'll be too busy to drive me (and my long-suffering husband) crazy :)

Pear Oat Muffins (makes 24 muffins)

Ingredients:

1 cup oats, plus 2 Tbs. for topping the muffins
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
3/4 cup sugar
1 Tbs. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp cinnamon
2 ripe pears (chopped ripe)
3/4 sour cream
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 Tbs. vanilla extract
2 eggs

1.  Preheat oven to 400 degrees and combine your dry ingredients together in a large bowl.

2. Peel and grate the pear using a box grater.

It will be very juicy - that's good you want the fruit and the juices.

3.  Whisk together sour cream, oil, vanilla, and eggs.
4.  Mix the pear and wet ingredients into the dry until just combined.

5.  Evenly divide the batter between 24 muffin tins and sprinkle the top with the remaining 2 Tbs. of oats.

6.  Bake for 18 minutes until slightly golden and puffed up.

7.  Remove from the pan and allow to cool on a rack.
Best the same day, but they will keep fresh in an airtight container for a few days.