These Pear Carrot Streusel Muffins are laced with layers of flavor and have such a delicate, craveable texture. They’re filled with freshly diced pears and grated carrots then piled high with crumbly streusel. This is everything I want in a muffin. This recipe is gluten free and your family would never guess that just from tasting them!
I feel like it has been forever and a day since I had a muffin. But trust me, I haven’t stopped thinking about them.
When it comes to muffins I can be pretty picky. First of all, gluten free please. That’s 99% of my problem with finding a muffin. Then, I want a good topping. If it doesn’t have a crystallized sugar topping or a streusel…um no thanks.
Let’s be honest: a muffin is a naked cupcake, so if you’re making me forgo frosting, there better be something stellar going on up top. Streusel. Muffin. Please.
Anyhoodle. So, I want a muffin that has a great topping. And it needs to have great flavor without being cloyingly sweet. But it can’t be dry. Too much to ask?
So when I busted open Alaina’s cookbook, Alternative Baker, and saw a muffin recipe, I just knew it would be a good one. Nay, a great one. I trust her to the moon and back when it comes to alternative grain baked goods. And then…
I totally strolled my own path. I used her recipe outline and ran away with the flavors, using what I had and what inspired me that day. I just had to. And I’m SO glad I did.
Thus, Pear Carrot Streusel Muffins were born. Glorious muffins. Piled HIGH with streusel. And bursting with fresh pear and naturally sweet carrots.
Catch that? Naturally sweet. That meant I could push the sugar in it way down and still have a sweet and moist breakfast treat. In case you were curious, I used coconut sugar in the recipe to get that caramel-esque taste you’d get from brown sugar but without the negative effects on your blood sugar.
Some important notes about your ingredients: use a firm but ripe pear. I used a pear that was still crunchy but the flavor was developed. If you use a mushy pear, you’ll have mushy bits in your batter. A more firm pear will bake into tender pieces in your muffins. Also, use freshly grated carrot. Just whip out that cheese grater and grate a giant carrot and you’re done.
Sweet rice flour is what they use to make mochi, it isn’t the same as regular white rice flour, so just read your labels (you can easily find this flour at an Asian food market if you can’t find it in your grocery store). And finally, don’t get overwhelmed by the ingredient list. Just put all of your ingredients on the counter in front of you and work your way through them, setting each one aside as you measure it out. You really can whip these up pretty fast if you’re prepared!
This recipe makes 10 standard sized muffins. I like to fill my muffin tins all the way up with this one, press the streusel into the tops and bake them. They don’t rise very much so don’t worry about the muffins becoming one giant blob thing; that won’t happen. Ready to make some muffins?! Let’s go!
- Streusel
- 3 Tbs. cold unsalted butter
- ¼ cup sweet white rice flour
- 2 Tbs. blanched almond flour
- 1 Tbs. tapioca flour
- ½ cup gluten free rolled oats
- ¼ cup coconut sugar
- ½ tsp. cinnamon
- pinch of sea salt
- Muffins
- 1/3 cup unsweetened almond milk
- 2 tsp. vanilla extract
- 8 Tbs. unsalted butter, room temperature
- 1/3 cup coconut sugar
- 2 large eggs, room temperature
- ¾ cup sweet white rice flour
- ¼ cup blanched almond flour
- ½ cup brown rice flour
- 2 tsp. baking powder
- pinch of sea salt
- 2 tsp. cinnamon
- ½ a large ripe pear
- ½ cup finely shredded carrot
- Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F. and grease your muffin tins with butter (grease around the top of each muffin compartment too so the streusel doesn’t stick). You can use muffin liners or not.
- In the bowl of your mixer with the paddle attachment, combine the streusel ingredients and beat on medium speed until the butter and ingredients creates clumps, 2 minutes. Scoop the streusel into a bowl and set aside. Now make the muffin batter.
- Dice your pear into small pieces, around 1cm each. Grate your carrots if you haven’t already. Set aside.
- In the bowl of your mixer, add the room temperature butter and coconut sugar. Beat until creamed together and fluffy, then add the eggs one at a time. Turn down the speed and add all of the dry ingredients, the milk and the vanilla (everything BUT the carrot and pear). Let the mixer slowly pull the ingredients together into a batter then turn the mixer off. Stir in the carrots and the pear until well distributed.
- Use a large spoon or an ice cream scoop to scoop equal amounts of batter into your tin, leaving the batter slightly domed on top. You want each muffin compartment almost completely full. Then, divide the streusel topping among the muffins, pressing it into the top of the batter (they may seem like they have “too much” streusel, but this is correct).
- Bake for 25-30 minutes, or until a toothpick test comes out clean. Let the muffins cool on a wire rack at least 10 minutes before carefully removing each from the tin (I like to run a sharp knife around each muffin compartment and carefully lift each out). Then let the muffins cool more.
- Eat, enjoy!
- Keep cooled muffins in an air-tight container in the fridge for 5 days. These muffins are best when they are fresh from the oven.
Side note: need something to help you focus on happy moments each day? Take the Rock Your Happy Challenge with me! I set aside just a few moments everyday to do the daily challenge and it really helps you focus on yourself. I can’t recommend it enough!
These do look like GLORIOUS muffins! I love the creative flavor combo here. Can’t wait to try them
Hi Melissa – these muffins are gorgeous!! Love the streusel. Hard to believe they are GF. Super job!!!