Spiced Persimmon, Pear and Pine Nut Muffins

Like the rest of the foodie world, I have a subscription to Cooking Light Magazine. This month they featured a recipe called "Spiced Persimmon and Pecan Muffins." As luck would have it, a co-worker of mine brought me a couple persimmons to work so I could play with the ingredient. Unfortunately - the only nuts I had were pine nuts. As per usual, I had to change up the recipe a bit...ok, a lot. But it turned out quite tasty! Just goes to show how versatile the recipe is - I substituted different fruits, different nuts, different flour...it didn't really matter, still good.

Spiced Persimmon, Pear and Pine Nut Muffins

Ingredients
3/4 cup pine nuts
2 1/4 cup flour
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 1/2 cubed pear
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
1 cup fat-free plain yogurt
1/3 cup honey
1/4 cup olive oil
2 teaspoons grated fresh ginger
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 eggs
2 diced, peeled persimmon

Directions
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. This recipe yields about 18 large muffins. Put the pine nuts, flour, sugar, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, vanilla and eggs in bowl.



Grind cloves, this was actually kind of fun. Add to the bowl along with yogurt, honey, oil, and ginger.

Cube and peel the persimmon and pear. Add to bowl.

Blend the mixture well, divide into muffin cups and bake about 18 minutes. Yum!