Fresh Strawberry Muffins

You know what I think is the best fruit of all? Strawberries. Hands down, without a doubt. They’re just so delicious and mouthwatering! They’re also beautiful and really photogenic! I could go on and on about the amazing qualities of strawberries with lots more exclamation points at the end of each sentence, but I won’t do that to you.

I think my love for strawberries hasn’t only got to do with the fruit itself, but also with the memories attached to it. In the summer holidays my parents and I used to go camping in France, and I remember countless mornings when we would sit in front of our tent and eat a slice of baguette with some strawberries. We would always bicker about who’d get the best strawberries, and they were always divided evenly over us three.

Strawberries are serious business in my family, you see. This isn’t just any berry, this is a strawberry. The best berry in town! We still bicker about them to this day.

Anyway, enough with the nostalgia. When I saw the Dutch strawberries were on sale in my local supermarket, I decided I had to bake something scrumptious with them. I thought about a strawberry shortcake, or some other fancy tart or pie, but eventually I settled on plain old muffins. Because nothing can beat a good muffin!

My parents have already come over to taste them, and they were approved. I hope you like them, too!

You’ll need… (for 12 muffins)

– 125 g plain flour

– 125 g whole wheat flour

– 1,5 teaspoon baking powder

– ½ teaspoon salt

– ½  teaspoon ground cinnamon

– ¼ teaspoon finely ground black pepper

– 200 g sugar

– 120 ml sunflower oil

– 2 eggs

– 1 ½ teaspoon vanilla flavouring

– 180 g fresh strawberries, hulled and diced

– A bit of light brown sugar to sprinkle the muffins with

– muffin tin (for 12 muffins) and, optionally, paper cases

– and an oven, of course! These muffins need to be baked at 180 °C (don’t forget to preheat your oven!)

So, let’s get baking!

1. Mix together the dry ingredients Firstly, you need to mix together in a bowl the baking powder, salt, cinnamon, black pepper, sugar and the two types of flour. I used 125 g plain flour and 125 g whole wheat flour, but alternatively you can just use 250 g plain flour, or, if you want to go completely healthy (yeah, right) you can use 250 whole wheat flour. I used a whisk for these dry ingredients.

2. Add the wet ingredients and mix together Now, add the sunflower oil, the eggs and the vanilla flavouring and mix it all together. It’ll be quite a sticky mess, and not at all like a batter, but trust me — it’ll work! I used a spoon for mixing together the wet ingredients, since the whisk was no use as the entire “batter” got stuck inside it.

3. Add the strawberries! Next up, it’s time to add the pièce the résistance, the ingredient we’ve all been waiting for, the most delicious fruit there is … the strawberries! (I’m quite a fan of strawberries, can you tell?). Add the diced strawberries to your mixture and gently spoon them through it.

4. Divide your batter over 12 paper cases You’re batter is now done, so it’s time to divide it over the 12 paper cases (or straight into a greased muffin tin). Divide the mixture evenly, and, if you want your muffins to rise, only fill them 3/4 of the way. I didn’t really care about the rising, so I just used up my entire mixture. Don’t want it to go to waste!

5. Sprinkle those muffins The last thing to do before you’ll put your tin in the oven is to sprinkle some light brown sugar over the tops of your muffins. This will give them a nice crunch, which I think adds just that little extra bite to these delicious muffins!

6. Bake the muffins! Now, put the muffins into your preheated oven (180 °C) and let them bake for about 25 minutes or an inserted skewer comes out clean. When they’re done, take them out of the oven and let them cool inside their tin for 5-10 minutes. Then take them out of the tin and let them cool completely. Or taste them while they’re still warm, which is always a good idea!

And there you have it, some delicious strawberry muffins! Enjoy!