Strawberry Muffins

It is summer and the strawberries are getting better. We used to live  in California and the strawberries were so good as they were grown there.  When you live on the east coast the strawberries have a bit of travel and they just aren't as good.  Lately they are quite good.  But I can't eat a pound of strawberries by myself and Lee doesn't usually eat much.  So I decided to put them in some muffins. 

Strawberry Muffins

cupcake liners 

Pam

2 cups +2 teaspoons flour, divided use

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup (1 stick) softened butter

1 cup sugar

2 eggs

1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/4 teaspoon almond extract

1/2 cup milk or half and half. I used half and half.

2 1/4 diced strawberries, divided

Topping

3 Tablespoons raw sugar or Turbinado sugar

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

        

Preheat the oven to 375°. Place the cupcake liners in a 12 cup muffin pan. Spray lightly with Pam.  Set aside.

In a stand mixer, I use a Kitchen Aid, beat the softened butter until light and fluffy, scraping down as needed.  While it is beating, mix 2 cups of the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a medium bowl. Set aside.

Add the sugar into the mixer and keep beating.  When the sugar is incorporated add in the eggs and then the vanilla and almond extract.

Mix in half the flour and then 1/2 the milk.  When those are mixed, add in the other half of the flour and the rest of the milk.

Sprinkle 2 cups of the strawberries with the last 2 teaspoons of flour. Mix gently. This will help to prevent all the strawberries from sinking to the bottom of the muffin cups.

Set aside about 1/2 cup of the berries and fold the bigger portion into the batter. 

Use an ice cream scoop.  Place one scant scoop of batter in each muffin cup.  

Top with a few of the reserved strawberries and press down gently to keep them from rolling off.

For the topping, mix the vanilla with the raw sugar in a small bowl.  Sprinkle it over the muffins.

Bake for 30 minutes or until the tops start to turn brown and a cake tester comes out clean.

The muffins were just the right amount of sweet and tart.  They were moist and delicious.

        

They were great plain. But also delightful with butter.

Keep leftovers in an air tight container.  The fresh strawberries made the muffins a little too moist the next day.  I put them in the toaster oven on 300° for a couple of minutes and that fixed the issue.