It’s time to start using up those summer strawberries. The summer fruits and berries seem better this year than last year – not sure why.
Usually I have to pick through my local grocery store’s selection, often just giving up, or go down to Central Market where I know the quality will be top-notch. This last batch of strawberries came from Costco and they were ripe and sweet – perfect for recipes or just eating one-by-one.
I wanted something different and decided on these Gold Medal Strawberry-Smash muffins. I altered the recipe slightly by adding almond and they were so very, very good!
These muffins came out tender and loaded with strawberries. The recipe starts out by macerating the strawberries simply with sugar and leaving them for about 15 minutes.
The result is a bowl full of beautiful, sweet strawberries swimming in strawberry juice. Don’t skip this part!
The rest of the recipe is easy. Just stir in the rest of the ingredients, making sure you don’t over blend or they’ll be tough. You may see a touch of flour, but that’s OK. It’ll take care of that when you bake the muffins.
I thought these Gold Medal Strawberry-Smash Muffins were great when I ate one warm out of the oven, but they are even better after they’re completely cooled. Those strawberries really shined through.
These will definitely stay in my regular strawberry-season baking routine!
Gold Medal Strawberry-Smash Muffins
Loved these lightly sweet, full of strawberries muffins. Tender and delicious with a hint of almond.
Ingredients
- 2 C fresh strawberries, chopped
- 2/3 C sugar
- 1/3 C vegetable oil
- 2 eggs, lightly beaten with a fork
- 1/2 tsp almond extract
- 1 1/2 C all-purpose flour
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp salt
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 410°. Put a paper baking cup in each of 12 regular-size muffin cups.
- Place the strawberries and sugar into a medium bowl and stir until strawberries are coated. Leave for 15 minutes, stirring once.
- Lightly smash strawberries with a fork, leaving a few larger pieces of strawberry. Stir in the sugar, oil, eggs, and almond extract until mixed.
- In a small bowl, stir the flour, baking soda, and salt together. Add flour mixture to wet mixture, just stirring 6 to 7 strokes, until just blended. You may see a little flour still, but that's OK.
- Spoon the batter into the muffin cups and bake 13-15 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool completely. Store at room temperature in a loose container or freeze after completely cooled.
Notes
Tips and Stuff:
The color of the muffin batter is slightly brown from the strawberries.
For more almond flavor and to look pretty, you could place sliced, toasted almonds on top of the muffins before baking.
Nutrition Information:
Yield: 12 Serving Size: 1 muffinAmount Per Serving: Calories: 171Unsaturated Fat: 0g