Pear Pecan or Blueberry Bran Muffins!

Recently, I've been craving muffins. I get the status updates on Facebook from the Ula Cafe in JP, and as a result, sometimes even have dreams about baked goods. Their muffin this morning was pear pecan, and I loved it so much that I made it my project for the evening : ) I also really wanted "the dome" and finally figured it out! It's all about the brown sugar on top...

Note on 7/19/10: Since making this muffin, it's gone from pear-pecan to blueberry-almond to ginger peach. It works with anything you've got!

Ingredients:

1 cup miller's wheat bran
2/3 cup whole wheat flour
2/3 cup all purpose flour
1 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/8 teaspoon salt

1 cup buttermilk
2/3 cup honey (or less, to taste)
1/2 cup canola oil (a smidge less will also do)
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 and 1/2 ripe pears
20 pecans, chopped
2 tablespoons raw brown sugar, for the tops

Mix dry ingredients in a mixing bowl. In a separate bowl, mix the wet ingredients together, and gently wisk until mixture is light and fluffy. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry -- you might think the ratio is off, but muffins usually have a higher liquid content than other baked goods; just be careful not to stir too much. In fact, before you stir, spoon in your diced pears and chopped pecans, and then give the mixture about 15 swirls. It's ready to be baked! Spoon the mixture in a muffin tin of your choice -- I used a crown muffin tin (because I really wanted the top!) but imagine that the top would rise with a standard pan as well. I filled my crown tin pretty much to the top, and the muffins rose almost 3/4" out of the pan, if that is any indication. Sprinkle the tops of the muffins with about 1 teaspoon each of raw brown sugar.

Bake at 375 for a good twenty minutes, or until tops are golden. Makes exactly six large muffins.