Strawberry Cream Muffins

Ah, spring! One of the best things is when the strawberries are plentiful and affordable in the grocery stores and farmer's markets. This is one treat we make every spring and they are very tasty. I think they're probably more cupcakes than muffins, but we'll keep the muffin title so we can still have them for breakfast!

Strawberry Cream Muffins

▪ 1 cup fresh strawberries, chopped

▪ 3/4 cup plus 2 Tbsp sugar, divided

▪ 1/4 cup butter, softened

▪ 1 egg

▪ 1/2 tsp almond extract

▪ 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

▪ 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

▪ 3 tsp baking powder

▪ 1/2 tsp salt

▪ 1 cup half-n-half cream

▪ 1 cup finely chopped vanilla or white chips

▪ 2 Tbsp brown sugar

In a small bowl, toss strawberries with ¼ cup sugar; set aside. In a large mixing bowl, cream butter and 1/2 cup sugar. Beat in egg and extracts. Combine the flour, baking powder and salt; add to creamed mixture alternately with cream. Stir in chips and reserved strawberries.

Fill greased or paper-lined muffin cups 3/4 full. Combine brown sugar and remaining sugar; sprinkle over batter. Bake at 375 for 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool for 5 minutes before removing from pan to a wire rack. Serve warm. Yield: 1 dozen.

Quick bite: Instead of strawberries, try fresh blueberries, raspberries, boysenberries or cranberries. Dry or cooked breakfast cereals, wheat germ, granola and nuts also make scrumptious additions to many muffins.

Mix Em' Up Muffins

This is a fun recipe to adapt to whatever you happen to have on hand or what sounds yummy. There are several variations of muffins that work, the banana is my favorite.

Banana Muffins:

4 mashed ripe bananas

1/3 c. sugar

1/3 c. oil

1 egg

3/4 c. whole wheat flour

3/4 c. white flour

1/4 cup wheat germ

1 tsp. soda

1 tsp. B. powder

1/2 tsp. salt

1/2 c. chopped walnuts are nice to add.

Mix the wet ingredients, and the sugar, blend well. Mix remaining dry ingredients. Stir both mixtures together until just combined. Pour into a muffin tin prepared with cooking spray. Bake at 350º for 20 min, or until tops spring back when poked.

Variations:

Pumpkin Spice

Subst. 1 cup pumpkin puree for bananas. Add 1 tsp. cinnamon, and nuts if desired.

Apple Oat

Subst. 1 cup applesauce for bananas. Add 1 diced, peeled apple and 1 tsp. cinnamon. Subst. 1/2 cup of the flour with oatmeal and sprinkle a tsp. of oats on each muffin before baking.

Blueberry Yogurt

Subst. 1 cup vanilla yogurt for bananas. Use all white flour, add 1 cup frozen blueberries to the flour before mixing.

My next experiment is to make a cranberry orange batch of muffins.

Also, you can adjust the wheat flour/white flour ratio to whatever you like. The wheat germ is for added Vitamin E and folic acid.

Bizzie's Blueberry Muffins

I've been taking pictures of yummy recipes as I make them, and am just getting around to putting them on here. This one is from Bizzie's "Tried and True" cookbook.

2 cups flour

1 T. baking powder

1/2 t. salt

1 egg

1 cup sugar

1/4 cup butter, melted and cooled slightly

1 1/4 cups sour cream

1 1/2 cups frozen blueberries

Adjust over rack to the middle position and heat the oven to 350 F. Spray a standard muffin tin with nonstick vegetable cooking spray. 

Whisk the flour, baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl until combined. Whisk the egg in a second medium bowl until well-combined and light-colored, about 20 seconds. Add the sugar and whisk vigorously until thick and homogenous, about 30 seconds; add the melted butter in 2 or 3 additions, whisking to combine after each addition. Add the sour cream in 2 additions, whisking just to combine.

Add the frozen berries to the dry ingredients and gently toss just to combine. Add the sour cream mixture and fold with a rubber spatula until the batter comes together and the berries are evenly distributed, 25 to 30 seconds. (Small spots of flour may remain and batter will be thick. Do not over mix.)

Use an ice cream scoop or large spoon to drop the batter into the greased muffin tins. Bake until light golden brown and a toothpick or skewer inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean--25 to 30 minutes, rotating the pan from front to back halfway through the baking time. Invert the muffins onto a wire rack, stand the muffins upright, and cool 5 minutes. Serve as is or use one of the toppings.

Toppings:

Cinnamon-sugar:

While the muffins are cooling, mix 1/2 cup sugar and 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon in a small bowl and melt 4 tablespoons butter in a small saucepan. After the baken muffins have cooled 5 minutes, and working one at a time, dip top of each muffin in melted butter and then cinnamon-sugar. Set the muffins upright on a wire rack; serve.

Ginger- or Lemon-glaze:

While the muffins are baking, mix 1 t. grated fresh ginger or grated lemon zest and 1/2 up sugar in a small bowl. Bring 1/4 cup lemon juice and 1/4 cup sugar to a simmer in a small saucepan over medium heat; simmer until the mixture is thick and syrupy and reduced to about 4 T. After the baked muffins have cooled 5 minutes, brush the tops with glaze, then, working one at a time, dip the tops in lemon sugar or ginger sugar. Set the muffins upright on a wire rack; serve.