Cooking Adventure: Strawberry Muffins

What's the difference between a muffin and a cupcake? Is it frosting? Sprinkles? Flour/sugar/butter ratio? My all-time favorite, the blueberry muffin, is usually sugary enough to be considered a dessert.

Whatever. YOU GUYS, STRAWBERRIES ARE IN SEASON!

OH MY GOD

Strawberries are the most abused of the berries. At any supermarket, at the beginning of spring, you can see large displays full of little plastic baskets, overflowing with huge, bright red strawberries.

They taste like wrong.

Hard, with an audible crunch, and without a hint of sweetness. They're only good for covering in sugar and using in pies, or blended into a smoothie with lots of sugar. Or eaten after sitting overnight in a tub of sugar.

What I'm trying to say is that they're not sweet.

But oh, joy! I managed to find a little Asian market that has giant, beautiful, sweet strawberries.

I kind of like strawberries.

My family managed to eat an entire box (12 baskets) of these delicious little things on their own. Now that we're on the second box, we've managed to slow down a bit.

Barely.

I figured fresh strawberries probably tasted good in something, so I went hunting for a recipe. Nothing looked particularly appetizing (why do people insist on putting cinnamon in everything?!), but I managed to find a recipe that I could adapt to my needs. These muffins are mildly sweet - very good for a "breakfast muffin".

Ingredients:

2 large eggs

2/3 cup granulated sugar (normal, plain, white sugar)

1/2 cup milk

1/4 cup plain yogurt (in a pinch, you could probably use sour cream)

1 tsp vanilla

1/2 stick butter, melted and cooled

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 tbsp baking powder (or 2 tsp. baking soda and 1 tsp. cream of tartar)

1/4 tsp salt

1 1/2 cups strawberries, hulled (tops off) and cut into chunks.

You can hull a strawberry two ways.

#1: Cut at an angle around the green leafy bit, creating a conical hole and preserving as much fruit as possible.

Sarlacc pit?

#2: Lop off the top at a straight angle. Faster and safer, but you lose more fruit.

Beheaded.

Firstly, preheat your oven to 375° F if it's old and temperamental like mine. Otherwise, start preheating it 5-10 minutes in advance. You want a well pre-heated oven. Not that you ever want a poorly pre-heated oven.

Secondly, chop up all your strawberries. They don't have to be particularly even.

Yo dawg, I heard you like strawberries...

You'll need about 6 big strawberries.

Or a dozen tiny ones.

In a large bowl, combine eggs and sugar.

Do not listen to the voices.

Then add the milk, yogurt, vanilla and butter.

It'll already smell good. Don't eat this. It does not taste good. Don't ask.

In another bowl, combine the flour, baking powder and salt. Stir it up really well, then dump the whole thing into the egg mix. There's no "gradual combining" in this kitchen. Stir it until the flour is "just moist". This means there are no more hidden flour pockets, but it still looks lumpy.

Of course, if they're hidden, how would you knooooow?

Gently stir in the strawberry chunks. Sit them down and explain how it's going to go, and do your best to assuage their fears.

It's a big step for them.

What I mean is, don't just mash them into the batter. Try to fold the batter over them, rather than push the chunks into the batter.

This. Smells. So. Good.

Line a 12-cup muffin pan with paper liners and fill each cup just to the top of the liner. You will have just enough batter to do this.

Ooooooh.

Aaaaaaaah.

Bake at 375° F for 25 minutes. At 25 minutes, insert a toothpick into the center of one of the muffins. If it comes out crumb-free it's ready. If it comes out with red strawberry goop and one or two (literally one or two) crumbs attached, it's still ready. If it comes out with raw dough, or a bunch of crumbs, keep the muffins in the oven for about 5 more minutes and test again. Remove from the oven and breathe deep.

But not so deeply or sharply that you inhale a muffin.

Turn out from the muffin pan on a wire rack, a plate, or the bare counter. A cool surface so the muffins can cool down and you won't scald your mouth on molten strawberry.

When they are cool enough to eat, devour.

Never. Stop. Devouring.

Great for breakfast. Or lunch. Or anytime. Forever.

Happy baking!