Brown Sugar Pear Muffins

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.

To make the streusel, in a small bowl, combine the flour and cinnamon. Using a pastry cutter or two knives, cut the butter into the flour until you have small crumbly bits. Stir in the ground almonds. Set aside.

For the muffins, in a medium-sized bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, salt, almonds, cinnamon, ginger, and cardamom. Set aside. Using a electric hand mixer or a stand mixer, beat together the sugars and butter until creamy, about 3 minutes.

Cut the vanilla bean in half, then cut a slit down the middle in the half you are using. Use a knife or spoon to scrape out the beans. Add the eggs, vanilla bean, and almond extract to the butter mixture, beating to combine. Stir in half of the flour mixture followed by half of the grated pear, and repeat.

Line muffin cups with paper liners. Divide batter evenly among cups—I used a scant 1/4 cup per muffin. Sprinkle the tops of the batter with the streusel mixture.

Bake on the middle rack until muffins are golden brown, and the top of the muffins bounce back when you press on them, about 20 to 30 minutes. Set on a wire rack to cool for 5 minutes. Remove muffins from the tin and let cool for another 15 minutes.

Recipe makes approximately 2 dozen muffins.