Fall has definitely arrived—at least here in Milan—and I’ve decided to bid a final farewell to the nice weather with these chocolate and pear muffins! In fact, just from the cover photo, you can see that I actually made this recipe back in September. I was sure the bad weather was coming, but we were spared until early November—not bad, I must say! So here’s the recipe for chocolate and pear muffins.

The first recipe this fall is for apple and raisin muffins—they’re delicious! We can even pretend they’re “healthy”—after all, there’s clearly fruit in them! All joking aside, I don’t know about where you are, but here in Milan we’re having a fantastic start to fall! I hope you’re having fun and that this has helped you get over some of that so-called “back-to-school stress”! :D . Let’s jump right into the recipe and the shopping list for apple and raisin muffins!

I’m also following Bake Off 2017, and after the second episode (you can watch it here if you haven’t seen it yet: LINK), Knam made me crave torta della nonna. Since I didn’t have all the ingredients (and didn’t want to make it as complicated as hers—let’s face it…), I tried this recipe, which is much simpler but still very good! For those who may have missed it, and for your convenience, Knam’s recipe (dedicated to his wife Alessandra, Ed.) is here: LINK. Oh, and for those who don’t know: pine nuts are crazy expensive! :D