The Nuni just started preschool a few weeks ago. My baby is growing up! Generally she’s very happy and excited about school, because there are not one, but TWO slides and also there is a play kitchen. This new development does bring with it all sorts of new questions, such as “How many changes of clothes do I need to send each day because she will get the clothes she wore to school covered in paint?” or “Is it normal for a two year old to talk about kissing all the boys in her classroom?” or “Why does she keep telling the teachers that other kids’ jackets are hers?” The most important question of all, though, is what to provide for that time-honored ritual – the after school snack.

I pick Nuni up from school right at the start of rush hour, and our trip home can be LONG, so I have to make sure I’m carrying something that can be eaten in the car, which means that has a low choke risk (because I’m a paranoid parent) and ideally, some good fat and protein, since my skinny minnie has been running around all day (did I mention there are TWO slides?). Cheese is the obvious answer, but it’s often rejected — I wanted something that would be appealing but still pack a nutritional punch. When talking with Stephanie of Wasabimon and Karen of Fickle Feast about gluten free baking, I got the idea to use nut flours to up the protein content in a standard muffin, which also has the added bonus of turning the standard muffin into something else entirely. These pear and almond muffins are part muffin, part pastry (the base is very similar to frangipane, and the pear and almond combination is a classic French patisserie flavor) and part cupcakes (at least if you have a toddler who is obsessed with cupcakes). They’re sweet but not too sweet, rich, and incredibly moist from the pear and the almonds, with a pleasant grainy texture that comes from both the pears and the almond meal. Plus, they’re gluten free, so if you know someone who is allergic to gluten or otherwise avoids it, these are a perfect sweet treat. Even if you’re not avoiding gluten, these are pretty perfect sweet treat. In fact, it was awfully hard to save them for the Nuni and not eat them all myself, but that’s parental love for you. She was thrilled with her afternoon cupcakes, as the crumbs all over the back seat of my car can attest. Gluten Free Pear Almond Muffins Serves: 12
Prep time: 10 mins
Total time: 30 mins
These muffins don't store beautifully at room temperature for more than a day or two, so if you plan to eat them over the course of a week I would keep them in the refrigerator.
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