Happy weekend friends! I’m excited to have my dear friend Athina from Kicking Back The Pebbles as our guest blogger today. I hope you enjoy her delicious new recipe – Pear Almond Olive Oil Muffins. Have a beautiful weekend! ❤️❤️

Hello Kouzounas Kitchen’s fans and ardent foodies! I am beyond delighted to be here and well, a tad intimidated because oh dear, do I have some standards to live up to! So, in true timid mode, let me go on and blabber a whole lot about me, myself & I… I’ve been a stalwart bookworm ever since I can remember myself. I studied English & American Literature and became an EFL/ESOL Teacher. I successfully(!) combined teaching and working as an executive secretary, in a big advertising company and a law firm, for several years. I’m also a freelance feature writer & line (copy/content) editor. I started my blog, Kicking Back the Pebbles, in April 2012 as a creative outlet for me to express my love for all things food, home-making & traveling. I feature real food, made from scratch, with everyday ingredients you can find at the grocery store. I share my decluttering & organizing tips, affordable shopping finds, cleaning hacks. Passionate about nature & culture, I’m happy to take you on a virtual tour of all the places I visit. In this post, for my boon companion’s blog, I wanted to give you an easy & quick baking recipe that features seasonal Fall aromas and flavors, but doesn’t utilize the usual pumpkins or apples, even though—don’t get me wrong—I love ALL things pumpkin, and apple. I had a ta-dah moment while shopping at my greengrocer’s the other day, when I came across some luscious nashi pears: the delightful species of pear tree native to East Asia, has been successfully cultivated in Cyprus & Greece (in Naoussa-Imathia and Pella) for the past few years. We call them nashia/νάσια or apple-pears/αχλαδόμηλα. (And yes, for those of you who can tell, “αχλαδόμηλα” does really translate into “pear-apples” so I bet I had you scratching your head there, for a second!) Of course, you don’t need to use that exact variety, any kind will do. Olive/vegetable oil makes this recipe cholesterol free and real Greek yogurt offers a lighter texture. Do give them a try and let me know how they came out. And make sure you scroll all the way to the end, where I answer a few fun questions by Krystina, in the lamest way possible—just so that you get a better idea of who you’re dealing with!

Pear-Almond Olive Oil Muffins

Servings: 10-12 muffins

Ingredients:

• 1 cup + 1 tsp (255 gr) plain white flour
• ½ cup (125 gr) raw sugar
• 2 tsp baking powder
• ½ tsp baking soda (bicarbonate of soda)
• 1 egg
• 1 carton (200 gr) of plain Greek yogurt
• ½ cup (125 ml) almond milk
• ½ tsp almond extract
• ¼ cup (60 ml) mild, extra virgin olive oil or other mild vegetable oil
• 1 cup (250 gr or 2 medium-sized) diced pears
• 2 tbsp almond flakes

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 200 °C/392 °F.
2. In a mixing bowl, combine the flour, raw sugar, baking powder, and soda, and whisk to combine.
3. In a separate bowl, whisk together the egg, Greek yoghurt, milk, almond extract, and olive oil.
4. Make a small well in the center of the flour-mixture and pour in the egg-mixture. Whisk mildly to combine. Do not beat or overmix the batter.
5. Cut the pears into quarters and remove the stem, core and skin. Dice the pear flesh and measure out about 1 cup.
6. Add the diced pear to the batter and stir some more until just combined. The batter should still be kind of lumpy.
7. Brush a 12-cup muffin tin with olive oil or use muffin/cupcake liners.
8. Divide batter equally between the tin-cups. Sprinkle with almond flakes.
9. Bake for 40-45 minutes until well risen and golden brown.
10. Take out of the oven and let cool slightly, on a wire rack, before removing.

Q & A 

• If you were stranded on a Greek island, what island would you wish you were stranded on and why? What 3 things would you bring with you? (Ex: book, sunglasses, computer.)

Pffft, I’m going to cheat: any island with a fully equipped, geothermally heated, satellite internet-connected light-house on it! No need to bring anything along… no—wait, my cat!

• Who was your inspiration to start Kicking Back the Pebbles blog?

I was (and still am) an avid reader of home-improvement and DIY blogs. I used to read Young House Love non-stop back in 2012—they are, up to date, among my favorite bloggers—and I can say that I was absolutely inspired by them.

• If you can be one ice cream flavor, what would you be?

Plain old vanilla! (But, let me humblebrag, what would the world be without it?)

• What is your favorite # 1 post you have shared on KBTP? 

I am partial to my travel blogs. I must say, from my series on Istanbul, Turkey I am especially fond of my post on the Topkapi Palace where I get to talk to you about the Imperial Kitchens complex!

So much interesting info! You can find Kicking Back The Pebbles at:

Facebook

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Goodreads 

Twitter

Pinterest 

Athina’s Writing Portfolio: clippings.me

Thanks for enjoying  my guest blogger today! Please make sure to check out Kicking Back The Pebbles blog. ☑️☑️