Oregon's Pear Crunch Muffins

Oregon's contribution to the states' muffins series starts with the Rich 'n Sweet basic muffin recipe found at:

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/1100306/basic_recipes_for_state_muffins.html?cat=2

If you plan to try several of these states' recipes, you might want to print off the basic recipes for easy reference.

PEAR CRUNCH MUFFINS

Streusel

¼ cup flour

¼ cup sugar

¾ teaspoon cinnamon

2 tablespoons butter or margarine, softened

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1 recipe Rich 'n' Sweet Muffins

¼ teaspoon cinnamon

1 cup diced fresh or drained canned pears

Streusel: In a small bowl combine flour, sugar and cinnamon; mix well. Add butter or margarine. Cut in with pastry blender or 2 knives until mixture resembles fine crumbs.

Prepare muffin recipe as directed except reserve 2 tablespoons flour to toss with pears and increase baking powder to 2 ½ teaspoons. Add cinnamon to dry ingredients. Fold pears into finished batter. Spoon into prepared cups, then sprinkle streusel over batter in each muffin cup. Makes 1 dozen, about 250 calories each.

Always mix muffin batter only until blended, as overmixing can cause muffins to be coarse-textured and tough.