The sweet secret of spiced-pear muffins
Lately I've been playing around with date sugar in my kitchen, and I've become increasingly sold on it as an alternative sweetener.
Date sugar is not a true sugar; it is a naturally sweet dried fruit - dates - finely ground to resemble white granulated sugar, and it can be used to replace true sugar in many recipes. Because date sugar contains the fiber, minerals and antioxidants of the whole fruit, it offers a more healthful alternative. This kind of sugar doesn't work as a replacement in all granulated-sugar recipes, though. Because it does not dissolve easily, it is not suitable for stirring into drinks or as a caramelizing agent, and its subtle yet distinct date flavor won't work with all dishes.
But I can vouch for the fact that date sugar is delicious when blended into smoothies, as well as in pancakes and waffles, banana bread and oatmeal cookies. And it works wonderfully in these warm spiced-pear muffins. (It acts more like a dry ingredient in recipes than granulated sugar does, so I have found it best to reduce the flour in a typical recipe by ½ cup for each ¾ cup date sugar used.)
For this recipe, the choice of sweetener is only one better-for-you element. The muffins are also made with whole-wheat pastry flour and a combination of oil and applesauce instead of butter. If you don't want to spring for date sugar, which is a bit pricey, you can use regular dark brown sugar instead and still produce a more healthful end product.
Either way, the muffins turn out moist and tender, lightly sweet, fragrant with fall spices, and studded with bits of soft pear and crunchy nuts. They may involve several substitutes from your standard muffin recipe, but they are certainly no compromise.
• Nutritionist Ellie Krieger hosts public television's "Ellie's Real Good Food."