The two recipes that are sure to win over my children for breakfast are pancakes and muffins. But when it comes to muffins, “the ones with crumbly topping on top are the best!” as my daughter likes to say.
And today’s pear crumble muffins are no different. Moist in the inside, with a fluffy and airy texture, topped with a crisp crumble are winners every time!
My grandmother used to use canned pears in her pear crumble muffin recipe, which is why I’m excited to have partnered with Libby’s to make these quick and delicious muffins that make a terrific special breakfast for all ages.
As a child living in Spain, I spent most afternoons and weekends at my grandmother’s house. Over the years, I learned to appreciate the love and kindness that went into every meal she cooked. But baking, though, those were special treats reserved for the weekend.
As an inquisitive child, I would ask a lot of questions that I’m sure my grandmother found to be repetitive and possibly annoying. You know, the type of questions that would start with “why” and end with “but why?”
To her credit, she never grew tired of explaining why things had to be done in a certain way in the kitchen. It’s because of her answers that I am now able to create easy shortcuts in many recipes or know why it’s good to use canned fruit in many of her baked goods recipes.
She’d say that canned fruit has a consistent texture that always cooks evenly. And, even with small baked goods like muffins, the result would be fruit with a softer texture that is pleasant with every bite. This isn’t always the case with fresh fruit, as it often takes longer than the baking time for it to soften up. Plus, the canned pears in this recipe are high in moisture, so they help the muffins have a softer and fluffier texture.
As I share many of her recipes in this blog and my cookbooks; one of the questions that I’m often asked is if she left me a recipe book of sorts. Sadly, no. My aunt Amparo is a chef, and thankfully she has written down many of my grandmother’s recipes as cooked them along with her over the years.
And this recipe is one of them. Check out how easy these muffins are to make:
Because really, who has time to measure flour early in the morning barely caffeinated? Not this girl. My husband jokes that I don’t get breakfast started until the first cup of coffee kicks in, so there is always that!
The crumbly topping of this muffin not only looks fantastic but will leave you wanting more. And with Libby’s making a large variety of canned fruits, you can use just about any substitute for the pears making this recipe very flexible.
What’s your favorite way to use canned fruit?
Pear Crumble Muffins
- Yield: 12 muffins
Ingredients
For the crumble:
- 1/3 cup all-purpose flour*
- 2 tablespoons brown sugar, packed
- 1 tablespoon granulated sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
- 2 tablespoons butter, melted
For the muffins:
- 2 cups all-purpose flour*
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup butter or coconut oil, melted
- 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
- 1/4 cup granulated sugar
- 1/2 cup milk
- 2 eggs, beaten
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 15 oz. can of Libby’s® Pear Halves in Pear Juice, drained, about 1½ cups chopped
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375F and line 12 muffin cups with paper liners or generously grease and flour each cavity.
- Prepare the crumble toppings by combining with a fork the dry crumble ingredients in a medium bowl. Then, pour the melted butter into the mixture and with the fork or by using your hands, combine mixture into a crumbly topping. Set aside.
- In a medium bowl, combine flour, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt. Set aside.
- In a large bowl or the bowl of your food processor, combine melted butter (or coconut oil), brown sugar, granulated sugar, milk, eggs, and vanilla.
- Gradually add in flour mixture into the wet mixture until just combine, careful to not over mix. Gently fold in chopped pears.
- Divide batter into the prepared muffin tins, filling them about 3/4 full. Top with crumble topping (you might have a little extra) and bake, for 22-25 minutes until the crumble tops are golden and a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.
- Remove from oven and allow muffins to cool prior to serving.
Notes
Make these whole-wheat by using whole-wheat baking flour (white whole-wheat). If you use regular whole-wheat flour, use only 50% whole-wheat and 50% all-purpose flour to avoid dense muffins. You can make these gluten-free by using a 1:1 gluten-free flour mixture. Depending on the brand, you might need 2-3 tablespoons less flour as gluten-free flour absorbs more liquid.
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From time to time, I work with awesome companies to develop recipes for this website. Today’s post was brought to you by Libby’s. All opinions are 100% my own. Thank you for supporting the brands that encourage my creativity.
Leave a Reply 90 comments
These look delicious! I love the crumble topping.
I make apple crumble for my family – we love the crumble. I’ll try these with pear next time!
I haven’t used canned fruit before but I have used frozen berries to make a delicious coffee cake berry crumble. Yummy!
I love anything semi homemade. So one of my favorite recipes is an easy peach cobbler all done in one baking dish: canned peaches, butter, and self rising flour, sugar and milk!
Peach cobbler is the only recipe I make with canned fruit but I will definitely try this! I love muffins!
Love this recipe!!
Cherry cheese danish
★★★★★
My favorite is “ambrosia” – a kind of canned fruit salad with coconut, yogurt/sour cream, and sometimes marshmallows. I enjoy changing up the kinds of fruit I use, and it is a huge hit with the kids while still being a treat I can feel good about.
Love the recipe will try it soon ..I use the pineapple to make mini upside down cake for my kids in the holidays
I love using canned cherries for mini cheesecakes.
I use canned cherries for mini cheesecakes.
Pineapple lush!
I make blueberry cobbler cobbler with fresh berries and flour, milk and sugar. It is so good.
Peach tart with a crumble topping is my favorite fruit dish to make from canned goods, yum!
I make a killer upside down cake with (home) canned peaches. Nothing is yummier!! I have several jars of home canned pears and I can’t wait to try out these muffins!!
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I don’t normally use canned fruit, but I’d love to try the GF version of these!
I am a big fan of canned fruit in desserts. Pineapple upside down cake is one and Mandarin Orange Cake is another. Anxious to make the Pear Muffins
Pumpkin (turned into pies or smoothies) is my favorite canned fruit to bake with – I’d love to win the contest. 🙂
Pineapple blended with yogurt!
Cherry dump cake but that’s canned pie filling so not sure if that counts. Pineapple upside cake! It was the first baking I ever did by myself as a child and it’s one of my favorite desserts. I also like to make pineapple salsa using canned pineapple. I really like canned mandarin oranges in Chinese chicken salad. Mashed up canned apricots and banana are a great replacement for eggs in chocolate chip cookies.
I usually make fruit crisp. But, I can’t wait to try out these muffins! My family loves muffins for breakfast but I get bored making the same recipes over and over. I am really looking forward to trying these out and adding them to our rotation. Thank you for the great inspiration!!
★★★★★
I make a cherry crumble with canned cherries. I love the easiness of working with canned fruit sometimes!!
cherry cobbler
I use Canned crushed pineapple in my carrot muffins.
Looks yummy. I use canned crushed pineapple in my carrot muffins.
Pineapple Whips or Dump Cakes! They are always easy and yummy!
I used canned peaches, pears and pineapple to make a summer fruit salad. I also use fresh strawberries and bananas. The canned fruit is just so easy to use, dice it up and throw it in.
I love to make pineapple baked oatmeal used canned crushed pineapple!
I’VE NEVER MADE ANYTHING MORE THAN A PIE WITH CANNED FRUIT, BUT I’VE PUT CANNED PEARS ON MY GROCERY LIST SO I CAN GIVE THIS A GO!
Canned pumpkin goes well in sauces, pancakes, waffles, muffins, pies, bread, smoothies etc!
I found a yummy recipe for pear-peach-cherry sauce, a twist on applesauce, using these three canned fruits. My kids love it. I think the softer consistency of canned fruits wins out for this recipe, too.
We actually don’t use canned fruit much, I’m thinking I need to look into using it more!
I like to use canned fruit in crisps and cobblers. Yum!
I have never baked with canned fruit, but i will have to try these muffins.
I love Libby’s canned pumpkin to make pumpkin bread and muffins and my new favorite is canned apples and peaches for quick dessert prep. Yum!
I use canned fruit cocktail in jello.
I love to make apple enchiladas! Will definitely be trying your recipe…thanks!
Mandarin orange cake
We enjoyed these muffins, but my favorite recipe is dump cake. We make it for family events. It uses canned pineapple and canned cherry filling.
★★★★
We enjoy baking peach cobbler.
What temperature should the oven be to bake these?
Also, for the crumble topping, is it 2 TBSP brown sugar?
Thanks, these look delicious!
Thanks for catching that Eileen! I just updated the recipe. The oven should be set to 375F and yes, that would be 2 tablespoons. Thank you!
Thanks!
My favorite way to use canned fruit is to make peach cobbler. But Making in the oven is not enough fun for me, I make it the dutch oven.
Oh, these look delicious! Thanks for the great recipe – I love anything with crumble topping and cinnamon and I’ve never made pear muffins before! Thanks for the video, recipe and giveaway!
Never used canned fruit but I use fresh apples!
Baking!!!
We make the best pumpkin cookies ever with libby’s canned pumpkin. We only use libby’s its quality can’t be beat!
I used canned fruit to make any kind of fruit crisp. Tried this muffin recipe and loved it! I also love using Libby’s fruit cocktail, along with canned pie filling, to make a wintertime fruit salad when not a lot of fruit is available in stores for a reasonable price! Thank you, Laura, for your wonderful recipes and thank you to Libby’s for this opportunity!
★★★★★
Congratulations! You are our winner for this giveaway! Please check your email from Stephanie@momables.com
I often use canned fruit in baked oatmeal.
I like to use a can of crushed pineapple and make watergate salad.
Pêche Melba …. When fresh peaches are not in season, and I find myself craving this dessert, I make it with caned peaches…
Also, I like to make homemade gelatin (jello) with diced fruit. It is a very light and refreshing dessert for the hot summer days.
Can’t wait to try this recipe! I use canned peaches and apples to make a cobbler.
At the moment, our favorite canned fruit “recipe” is yogurt parfaits. We take our home made yogurt and our favorite canned fruits and layer away……topped off with a few mini chocolate chips of course ;o)
I use canned pineapple in salsa!
This looks so delicious! I usually use canned blueberries to make homemade blueberry cobbler!
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I can’t wait to try this recipe! My kids love muffins! I think I want to try it with apples and peaches too, kind of like pie in a muffin. Libby canned fruits are the best! I don’t think you can go wrong with any of their canned fruit.
My boys loved the canned pineapple and even prefer it over fresh!
I have never used canned fruit for my baking. I will give it a try!
I love to use canned fruit for several recipes, but my favorite is peach cobbler.
I’m really looking forward to trying this recipe as it looks amazing!
I have never used canNed fruit before, and will have to. These look delicious thank you for sharing the recipe
My favorite recipe using canned fruit is pineapple fluff with a candied pretzel topping. I used crushed pineapple, cream cheese, sugar, whipped cream and mix that together to make a fluff or salad. I then mix crushed pretzels with sugar and butter, bake then crumble the cooled pretzels on top. Yum!
I have used canned mandarin oranges in white cake mix and then used the juice from the mandarin oranges to make orange whipping cream to go on top!
I grill pineapple rings with pork chops marinated with the pineapple juice and a little mustard.
I love using canned pumpkin for lots of recipes! Even just adding some to a basic pancake or baked good (or oatmeal!) makes me so happy!
Super excited to try this recipe! I haven’t used canned fruit for a recipe in many years as I Garden & have friends & family that share their abundance of fresh friut too! So I will cook down the fruit a little then add to recipe! Thank you for the tip & recipe & I would Adore new Bakeware!!!!!!!
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I love to make pineapple upside down cake and peach cobbler from canned fruits.
We have several mug cake recipes with canned pumpkin that are yummy. We also have a “Mexican wedding cake” recipe that uses crushed pineapple in heavy syrup as the main sweetener. It’s really yummy, but definitely a once in a while treat!
★★★★
These are delicious! Just made them this morning for the kids.
Great recipe…I like using canned pumpkins in muffins and bread!
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Peaches for peach cobbler, pineapple for pineapple upside down cake, pumpkin for pumpkin rolls, crushed pineapple for cranberry salad, I could go on and on and on 🙂
★★★★★
Canned fruit in a muffin? Who’d’ve thought!
We just use canned fruit and a nice shelf stable pantry item to augment meals… I don’t think I’ve ever cooked or baked with it. Take that back! I’ve cooked with canned pineapple. I have a sweet and sour meatball recipe that I like to make, though I don’t usually bother with making the meatballs and will instead sub all beef hot dogs 🙂
Carrot cake with crushed pineapple. Can’t wait to try these muffins, they look delicious!
I love using canned pineapple rings in pineapple upside down cake!
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Canned pineapple rings in an upside down pineapple cake is my favorite canned fruit recipe!!
★★★★
Love to make your peach bread, Laura, from your cookbook with canned peaches. Comes out even and delicious!
Oh yes! Totally a great recipe and use for canned fruit!
Pineapple Upside Down Cake
I’ve never baked with canned fruit. This is one recipe that I will definitely like to try!
★★★★
I use canned pineapple in my zucchini bread
I have only used canned fruit to make a pie – but I am really interested in making these muffins as I already have pears in the pantry. Can’t wait to try this.
Our favorite use for canned fruit in the summer is the homemade version of Dole Whip, canned pineapple, frozen, and smashed up in the blender until it’s light & fluffy. We love muffins with canned peaches in the cooler months! These pear ones look delicious as well!
Sounds good for my kids, never cared for pears realy.
I made these and use fresh grated pears instead of tins
The children ate them without really tasting the pears which meant I got fruit into them (other than apples) without them being aware of it 🙂
The pears just made it moister and fluffier but didn’t really add any ‘pear taste’.
I tried them out at the office and they all disappeared
I will try with pieces of pear next time (I have 2 big pear trees in my garden and need ways to use up the pears)
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Love this recipe, thank you for sharing. My favorite recipe using canned fruit is “Cherry Pie Supreme.” It is the absolute best, and speaking of this, I think I have some muffins and a pie to make this week. 🙂
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thank you so much for sharing you loved these muffins Melanie!
I used to freeze baked muffins, but find we prefer to freeze the batter in muffin liners and then bake “as needed.” How do you think these would freeze before baking?
They absolutely will freeze prior to baking very well!
Thanks so much!! We made some today for school snacks. Some for the freezer and some for eating. They were yummy!!
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