Stawberry Muffins

When we made the marmalade for the Mac-Nut Chicken earlier this week, we used frozen pineapple and mango that came frozen with strawberries in a bag marketed for use in smoothies. Dan had the great idea to save the strawberries and use them for muffins.

Although I didn't post about it, a couple week's back we used leftover fruit from the Super Bowl party to make muffins, and they went a bit awry. The fruit was frozen, and very liquid, and it ended up both watering down the muffins and getting lost when I mixed it in. The muffins had to be cooked longer, fell in the middle, were gummy, and the flavor was muddy.

Hopefully learning from my mistakes, I decided to adjust the recipe this week to account for the moisture that would surely be released by the frozen strawberries during cooking. I made up the usual muffin batter, but omitted the 1/4 cup water and cutting back a tiny bit on the milk (maybe 1 couple tablespoons less than a cup), making a thick batter that I divided between the muffin pans. I sliced the frozen strawberries in half, then pressed 4 halves in the top center of each muffin, creating a core of strawberries in each. I baked them at 400 degrees F for 20 minutes, and they turned out great. The stawberry flavor isn't lost in all the batter, and the muffin batter was moist but cooked through and crispy and golden on the edges. I think this same method would work well for making muffins with some jam on top, or with other frozen fruits. It might be fun to adapt the lemon muffin recipe we made last week with this one, and use a lemon curd in the center.

Berry Center Muffins
3 cups all purpose flour
1 Tbspn baking powder
1 tspn salt
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 tspn Flax Seed Powder
1/2 cup butter, melted
Scant 1 cup milk
1/2 cup honey
2 eggs
24 frozen Strawberries

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Melt butter in microwave for 30 seconds, then in 10 second increments until liquid. Mix flour, baking powder, and salt with a whisk in a large bowl. Add 1/2 cup brown sugar and stir with whisk to blend. Combine eggs, 1/2 milk, honey and flax powder in a medium bowl. Add 1/2 milk to melted butter. Pour butter mixture into egg mixture slowly, whisking to combine. Add wet mixture to dry mixture and stir just until combined. Spoon into a well-greased muffin tin. Cut strawberries in half, and press 4 halves in the center of each muffin. Bake for 20 minutes. Makes a dozen muffins.