Gordon Ramsay’s pear and granola muffins are soft, cinnamon-spiced muffins filled with fresh pear pieces and topped with crunchy granola, baked at 180°C for 25–30 minutes. The recipe comes from Ultimate Home Cooking and makes 16.
In the YouTube video on his official channel, Ramsay says peeling the pears is “really important, nothing worse when you’re trying to enjoy that muffin and you’re negotiating with a big sliver skin of pear.” He slices them round the core on four sides, nice and thin, so they soften completely into the batter rather than sitting in hard chunks.
The trick that makes these different from every other fruit muffin is the granola split. Half goes into the batter for texture all the way through, and the other half gets sprinkled on top before baking so you get what Ramsay calls “a stool texture, spicy pair and a nice crunchy topping” that “makes the muffin taste and feel a little bit more luxurious.”
Gordon Ramsay Pear and Granola Muffins
Course: Breakfast, DessertCuisine: BritishDifficulty: Easy16
muffins15
minutes30
minutes195
kcal45
minutesFrom Gordon Ramsay Ultimate Home Cooking and his official YouTube video. Cinnamon-spiced pear muffins with half the granola baked through and half crunched on top. Ramsay says to make the batter the night before and bake fresh in the morning.
Ingredients
300g self-raising flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp ground cinnamon
Pinch of sea salt
125g light muscovado sugar
250ml whole milk
2 large eggs, beaten
100g unsalted butter, melted
2 small ripe pears, peeled, cored, and cut into small thin pieces
100g crunchy granola
Directions
- Preheat: Set the oven to 180°C (350°F)/160°C fan/Gas 4. Line two muffin trays with paper cases.
- Mix the dry: Sift the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt into a large bowl, then stir in the muscovado sugar.
- Mix the wet: Whisk the milk, beaten eggs, and melted butter together in a jug.
- Combine by hand: Pour the wet into the dry and fold together gently with your hands or a spoon. Ramsay says don’t overwork your muffin mixture because overmixing makes them heavy. Stop while it’s still slightly lumpy.
- Add pear and granola: Fold in the pear pieces and half the granola.
- Fill and top: Spoon into the cases, filling each two-thirds full. Sprinkle the remaining granola over the tops.
- Bake: Cook for 25–30 minutes until a skewer comes out clean. Tap both ends of the tray on the worktop before baking to settle the batter evenly.
- Cool: Leave for 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack. Best served warm.
FAQs
Why does Ramsay peel the pears?
Because the skin doesn’t break down in the oven the way apple skin does. It turns into a tough, papery strip that catches in your teeth while the rest of the muffin melts away.
Ramsay is clear about this in the video: “nothing worse when you’re trying to enjoy that muffin and you’re negotiating with a big sliver skin of pear.” Peel them, slice round the core on all four sides, and cut thin so they cook through evenly.
Why split the granola between batter and topping?
Granola stirred into the batter softens during baking, so it adds chew and nuttiness through every layer without any crunch. The granola sprinkled on top stays dry and crisp because it sits above the moisture line.
That contrast is the whole point. Without the split, you either get crunchy granola on top with nothing inside, or soft granola throughout with a flat top. Ramsay’s split gives you both textures in every bite.
Why light muscovado and not white sugar?
Ramsay calls it “refined brown sugar, really rich and somewhat spicy” in the video, and it works because the molasses in muscovado pairs naturally with cinnamon and pear. White sugar would make a perfectly fine muffin, but it would taste one-dimensional.
He uses the same muscovado in his base muffin recipe and says the pinch of salt is “really important for the overall flavour, you don’t want the muffin to be too sweet.” The salt, the muscovado, and the cinnamon all work together to keep sweetness in check.
Can you make these the night before?
Ramsay specifically recommends this in the cookbook: “you can make the batter, refrigerate it the night before you need it, then mix it again in the morning and bake.” He calls them “great at any time of day, from breakfast through elevenses to afternoon tea.”
Give the batter a gentle fold in the morning before spooning into the cases, don’t whisk it. The pear pieces release a little juice overnight, which actually adds moisture to the crumb. Sprinkle the top granola fresh just before it goes in the oven so it stays crunchy.
