Pear, apple and cider muffins

Ingredients

• 2 pears
• 80g full-fat yogurt
• 80ml vegetable oil
• 200g golden caster sugar
• 125g stewed apple
• 2 medium free-range eggs
• 100ml dry cider
• 325g plain flour
• 1½ tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp ground ginger
• ½ tsp ground cinnamon
• 2 tbsp runny honey

Method

1. Heat the oven to 340°F/300°F fan. Quarter and core the pears, finely chop 1½ of them and finely slice the remaining ½ pear.
2. Put the yogurt, oil, sugar, apples and eggs in a large mixing bowl and whisk until smooth. Pour over the cider and whisk again.
3. Add the flour, baking powder, spices and chopped pears, then fold everything together until just combined, being careful not to overmix the batter as this can make the muffins dense and tough.
4. Divide the mixture evenly among the muffin cases, then top each with pear slices. Bake for 40-45 minutes until risen, golden and a skewer pushed into the middle of a muffin comes out clean.
5. Remove the muffins from the tin and brush the tops with runny honey, if using. Allow them to cool, then wrap as gifts or store in a sealed container until ready to eat.