Chocolate and Pear Muffins: It’s starting to get a little chilly!

Directions

1. Let’s start by preparing a muffin pan: I recommend using paper liners so we don’t waste time buttering and flouring the pan.

2. Take the butter out of the fridge, wash two pears, and cut them into fairly small pieces, as shown in the photo, then set them aside—we’ll need them later.

   

3. Let’s also prepare the dark chocolate, cut into small pieces. If you prefer, you can use chocolate chips, but I always prefer the bar.

4. Combine the room-temperature butter and sugar in the stand mixer and beat the mixture until creamy.

5. Add the eggs and mix everything together. Then, little by little, add the sifted flour mixed with the baking powder, alternating it with the milk.

6. Continue mixing the mixture for 2–3 minutes until you get a dough like this (see photo), and preheat the oven to 180°C in conventional mode.

   

7. At this point, add the sliced pears and the chocolate, and stir with a spatula.

   

8. Now let’s spoon the mixture into the paper cups, being careful not to fill them more than 2/3 full, otherwise the batter will spill over while baking.

9. To make it easier, I use an ice cream scoop—the kind used to make ice cream balls, so to speak.

   

10. If the oven is preheated, bake for 20 minutes (remember: 180°C in a conventional oven).

    

11. Always do the toothpick test before taking them out of the oven, because baking times vary from oven to oven.

    

12. Once they're done baking, take them out of the baking sheet and let them cool on a wire rack—yum!