Strawberry Muffin

Move aside, blueberries: These fruit-filled muffins are all about strawberries. These muffins don’t take a lot of work, yet they turn out perfectly tender with mouthwatering pieces of strawberries baked throughout. Plus, they smell incredible while they bake, like a big batch of sweet and fragrant strawberry jam. For a contrast in texture, each muffin is sprinkled with crunchy turbinado sugar before they go into the oven, resulting in a crisp, golden muffin top. 

Start with the muffin batter! Oil-based muffins tend to stay moist and tender longer than butter-based muffins. Here we use a neutral vegetable oil, but a richer, more fruity olive oil could be used in its place. Sour cream also helps give the muffins a moist crumb. Also make sure to bake the muffins just until they are done so they don’t dry out in the oven. When a toothpick inserted into the center of the muffin comes out clean, the muffins are done.

• Keep berries from sinking to the bottom: Often recipes call for tossing berries with flour before adding them to the muffin batter. Skip that step, as it really doesn’t have much effect and berries still sog out the bottom of the muffin liner. Instead, drop a small spoonful of batter into each muffin tin before tossing the berries into the batter. Then, toss the batter with the berries and finish filling the tins. The small batter buffer will bake golden, and delightful strawberry bites will be suspended throughout the muffin.
• Cool the muffins on a wire rack: Once out of the oven, remove the muffins from the muffin tins and let them cool completely on a wire rack so they don’t steam in the tins.
• Store properly: Once the muffins are baked and completely cooled, store them in a single layer in an airtight container lined with paper towels, which will help absorb excess moisture without drying the muffins out.

This recipe is best made using fresh strawberries. Frozen strawberries will have too much moisture and change the consistency of the muffin.