Pear, Walnut and White Chocolate Muffins

These Pear, Walnut and White Chocolate Muffins are delish; the pear makes them really moist and the walnut and white chocolate compliments the fruit perfectly.  We had some pears sitting around going uneaten, but once transformed into these muffins, they were gone in a flash!  My Nana tried them while she was up in Auckland over Christmas and I have had to send her the recipe too.

Ingredients:
½ cup walnuts, finely chopped
1 cup flour
⅓ cup wholemeal flour
1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
⅔ cup packed brown sugar
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 teaspoons vanilla essence
1 cup plain yogurt
1 large egg
1 ½ cups finely diced peeled pears
½ cup white chocolate bits
1 tablespoon sugar
½ teaspoon cinnamon

Method:
Preheat the oven to 180°C.  Grease or line a 12 cup muffin tin with muffin papers.
In a medium sized bowl, mix the flours, baking powder, baking soda and salt together. Stir in the walnuts and make a well in centre of mixture.
Combine the brown sugar, oil, vanilla essence, yogurt and egg in a small bowl.  Add the wet mixture to the flour mixture, stirring just until moist.  Fold in diced pear and white chocolate.
Spoon the batter into the prepared muffin tin.  Mix together the sugar and cinnamon in a small bowl. Sprinkle the cinnamon sugar over the muffin batter.  Bake the muffins for 20 minutes or until the muffins spring back when touched lightly in centre.  Leave to cool in the muffin tin for five minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.