Muffins make for a ?berry? good treat

I always know that summer has truly arrived when I see loads of fresh strawberries staring at me in the grocery store.

This year, I was especially looking forward to that moment in time, because I had a recipe I really wanted to try for strawberry and cream muffins.

One of our awesome readers, Stephanie Seiler, sent it to me awhile back, and I?ve been holding on to it, waiting for the day when those beautiful, fresh strawberries were ready to come home with me.

Well, that day finally came this week when I saw a container of strawberries I just couldn?t resist, and they found their way?amid some nibbling for quality control purposes, of course?into a fresh batch of muffins. And they were awesome. It won?t surprise me a bit if another batch is in the oven before the summer is over.

The original recipe comes from the May 2, 2011, issue of People Magazine, but I?ll totally give Stephanie all the credit for finding such a delicious recipe. My only change in ingredients was to double the vanilla (and I used a nicely rounded cup of strawberries), and I made these as full-sized muffins, because I don?t have a mini-muffin tin, so mine stayed in the oven for about 15 minutes rather than the 12 to 14 in the recipe.

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Strawberry and Cream

Mini Muffins

Ingredients

1 cup fresh strawberries, diced into quarter-inch pieces

1 squeeze of lemon juice

1/4 cup vegetable oil

1/3 cup sour cream (I used fat free)

2 teaspoons vanilla

1 large egg

1 cup flour

1/2 cup sugar

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon powdered sugar

Directions

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

Line a 24-cup mini-muffin pan with paper baking cups (I made a dozen regular-sized muffins.).

Spritz your diced strawberries with lemon juice, stir them gently, and set them aside.

Beat together the oil, sour cream, vanilla and egg until it?s well-combined.

Stir in the flour, sugar and baking powder (I did this by hand).

Fold in the strawberries and then spoon the mixture into the muffin cups, distributing the batter evenly between all of them.

Bake for 12 to 14 minutes or until a tester comes out clean when inserted in the middle of one of the muffins.

Let the pan cool on a wire rack for a few minutes then remove the muffins from the tin and let them cool completely.

Finish them off by sprinkling them with powdered sugar.

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I think these would be great for breakfast, but also would make a pretty and yummy treat for a baby shower, anniversary party, etc.

A big thank-you goes out to Stephanie for sharing her recipe. We really enjoyed these, and with how quickly they?ve gone, I think I?ll be making a double batch next time.

Good thing it?s summer.

When not helping husband Joey with newspaper work, Lindsey teaches speech, debate and forensics at Haven High School. She can be reached at lindseyclarion@gmail.com.

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