Pear Cupcakes

I find we usually have spare fruit at the end of the week which if not eaten or used up would go to waste. So I like to throw them in a cake and hey! semi-healthy snacks. For a list of pears click here: http://www.epicurious.com/articlesguides/seasonalcooking/farmtotable/visualguidepears

I've recently taken a liking to wholemeal flour cupcakes, as I think it makes it makes the items more filling and a bit crisper on the top,  but you can use any flour.

Ingredients

4 pears, peeled hulled and cut into cubes

200g wholemeal self-raising flour

150g brown sugar, and another 50g to sprinkle on top

150g butter

2 eggs

15mil,  or a capful, of vanilla essense

If necessary, up to 60ml milk

Method

Cream butter and sugar. (Although, to be honest I usually just melt the butter from its frozen freezer state and let the boys mix by hand).

Add the eggs and vanilla then mix well. After that, stir in the flour.

Make sure everything is well combined and the batter should not be as runny as usual cake batter. This is because as the pears are uncooked it will release juices while baking. If you batter is as normal, the juices will make a soggy uncooked dough of a cupcake.  So the batter should be a little thicker than usual, only add the milk if you need to.

Mix in the pear cubes and spoon into a 12 hole muffin tin. Make sure each cupcake will have some pear cubes in it!

Sprinkle the remaining sugar on top of each cupcake and bake in a preheated oven at 200c for 20mins or until a toohpick inserted comes out dry.