Sweet, fluffy and perfectly domed, these bakery style strawberry muffins with just a hint of almond are the perfect way to start your morning.
With all the baking I do, we don't often have a glut of any one ingredient in our house. But this week the strawberry gods smiled upon and we were gifted multiple cartons.
So with so many delectable berries on the verge of spoiling, and an ever expanding list of other things that needed to get done, I knew I needed a deliciously easy way to use this free fruit.
What a nice problem.
So today I want to share with you my completely unplanned, unexpected freebie of a strawberry muffin recipe.
I've already made it three times this week attempting to use up the berries and can confirm, you need these strawberry dream muffins in your life.
Here's how to make these strawberry muffins
In a bowl, stir together the dry ingredients (flour, baking powder and salt). In a measuring cup, combine the wet ingredients (milk and almond extract) and microwave it for 20 seconds so that it's room temperature to just slightly warmed.
How do I make my muffins light and fluffy?
Start with room temperature ingredients. This is important because room temperature ingredients mix together more easily, creating a batter with evenly distributed ingredients that traps air and expands during baking. This results in a fluffier muffin with a nice, tall dome.
In the bowl of a stand mixer, cream the butter and sugar on medium until light and fluffy (about 2-3 minutes). Scrape down the sides of the bowl.
Why do we cream the butter and how do we know when it's ready?
Creaming these two ingredients together allows the sugar to aerate the butter, leading to muffins that are light with a fine crumb. Properly creamed butter is light, fluffy and doesn’t cling to the sides of the bowl.
Reduce the mixer to low and add the eggs one at a time, mixing just until combined. Again, scrape down the sides of the bowl.
With the mixer on low, add the dry ingredients in two parts and the wet ingredients in one, alternating between the two. Mix until just combined.
Fold the strawberries into the muffin batter.
Using a cookie scoop, fill every other cavity of two generously greased muffins pans with six tablespoons of batter each.
Sprinkle the top of each muffin with one tablespoons of brown sugar and bake at 400F for 18-20 minutes.
Allow the muffins to cool completely in their pans before attempting to remove them.
Once they've cooled, gently work a butter knife or offset spatula around the edge of the muffins before tilting the pan over a wire cooling rack.
Substitutions and modifications
Yes! If you don't have fresh strawberries in your area, you can use frozen strawberries in their place. Just be sure to bring the berries to room temperature and pour off any extra juice they release while thawing.
Yes! I used almond extract because it's such a wonderfully complimentary flavor for strawberries, but you can substitute vanilla extract for the almond at a 1:1 ratio.
Expert tips
- Softening refrigerated butter: Cut the butter into ½ tablespoon squares, place the squares on a plate and microwave it using 5 second increments until it’s softened.
- Bringing cold eggs to room temperature quickly: If you need to bring your eggs to room temperature quickly for this recipe, fill a bowl with hot water from your tap and place the eggs in it for about 5 minutes.
- Greasing your muffin pan: These muffins have a tendency to stick to their pan, so a well greased pan is a must in order to remove them without tearing. I've found a homemade pan release does the job best.
- Testing for doneness: Although tempting to wait until the toothpick comes out clean, doing so will likely lead to over-baking your muffins. Instead, you want your toothpick to come out without any raw batter and with some cooked crumbs still clinging to it.
- Storage: These muffins can be kept at room temperature in an air tight container or individually wrapped for 2-3 days.
Recipe
Bakery Style Strawberry Muffins
Sweet, fluffy and impossibly tall, these bakery style strawberry muffins with just a hint of almond are the perfect way to start your morning.
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 20 minutes
- Total Time: 30 minutes
- Yield: 10 1x
- Category: Breakfast
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Ingredients
- 2 cups all purpose flour
- 2 tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp kosher salt
- ½ cup whole milk, slightly warmed
- 1 tsp almond extract
- ½ cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
- ¾ cup granulated sugar
- 2 eggs, at room temperature
- 2 cups fresh strawberries, diced
- 3-4 tablespoon brown sugar
Instructions
- In a bowl, stir together the dry ingredients (flour, baking powder and salt).
- In a measuring cup, whisk together the wet ingredients (milk and extract). Microwave for 20 seconds so the mixture is slightly warmed.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer, cream the butter and sugar on a medium speed until light and fluffy (2-3 minutes). Scrape down the sides of the bowl.
- Reduce the mixer to low and add the eggs one at a time, mixing just until combined. Again, scrape down the sides of the bowl.
- With the mixer on low, add half of the dry ingredients, mixing until combined.
- Add the wet ingredients and continue mixing until combined.
- Add the remaining dry ingredients, mixing until just combined.
- Fold the strawberries into the muffin batter.
- Generously grease two muffin pans.
- Using a cookie scoop, fill every other cavity with six tablespoons of muffin batter.
- Sprinkle each muffin with one tablespoon of brown sugar.
- Bake at 400F for 18-20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out with only a few crumbs.
- Allow the muffins to cool completely in their pans.
- Gently work a butter knife or offset spatula around the edge of the muffins before tilting the pan over onto a wire cooling rack to turn them out.
Notes
-
- Softening refrigerated butter: Cut the butter into ½ tablespoon squares, place the squares on a plate and microwave it using 5 second increments until it’s softened.
- Bringing cold eggs to room temperature quickly: If you need to bring your eggs to room temperature quickly for this recipe, fill a bowl with hot water from your tap and place the eggs in it for about 5 minutes.
- Using frozen strawberries: If you don't have fresh strawberries in your area, you can use frozen strawberries in their place. Just be sure to bring the berries to room temperature and pour off any extra juice they release while thawing.
- Greasing your muffin pan: These muffins have a tendency to stick to their pan, so a well greased pan is a must in order to remove them without tearing. I've found a homemade pan release does the job best.
- Testing for doneness: Although tempting to wait until the toothpick comes out clean, doing so will likely lead to over-baking your muffins. Instead, you want your toothpick to come out without any raw batter and with some cooked crumbs still clinging to it.
- Storage: These muffins can be kept at room temperature in an air tight container or individually wrapped for 2-3 days.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 muffin
- Calories: 274
- Sugar: 20.7g
- Sodium: 202mg
- Fat: 10.8g
- Saturated Fat: 6.4g
- Carbohydrates: 41g
- Fiber: 1.3g
- Protein: 4.4g
- Cholesterol: 58mg
Keywords: strawberry muffins, strawberry muffin recipe, how to make strawberry muffins
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