The season has brought us some unusual weather and lush strawberries along with cooler temps this week that might warrant a cup of coffee and chocolate covered strawberries beside a warm fire! But for breakfast, this recipe is easy and you can make it anytime of the year if you freeze some extra berries. Many of you know that I love going up to Whitted-Bowers Farm just north of Hillsborough. I was really excited to see their new sales shed with all the lovely baskets hanging on the wall and the skylights that let natural light fill the room even on a damp rainy morning. If my back would hold out, I could probably spend the day picking berries in that setting.
Since I always pick more than I can possibly use in a day or so, it’s necessary to store some. So I dry and half or quarter them before storing them in containers in the freezer. I know they are going to be blended, cooked or mashed so I don’t worry about adding sugar or making them freeze in any particular way. For this recipe I used my version of a Strawberry Balsamic Jam which is more like spreadable fruit with a little pectin from some dried apples I keep around in the fridge.
The batter should have the consistency of cake batter before you cook it. And this week I had an opportunity to try out some new larger mini muffin pans from Williams-Sonoma. I did not get the “gold-touch” pans although they looked quite nice. It might be something to consider if you are gentle with your pans and you want to make sure you don’t have any problems with sticking. I lug mine back and forth to the commercial kitchen, on vacation and on occasion they get loaned out, so I didn’t want to invest in the super-nice model for fear I would scratch them up with my unconventional lifestyle. The heavy aluminum ones with the steal coating worked very well. I always grease the pans with coconut oil or butter and I didn’t have problems with sticking. The first use of these pans was in the large convection oven and there wasn’t any twisting or warping during multiple bake times. There is a good lip around the edge for handling these pans in and out of the oven. It’s a great safety feature, in my opinion, because they are quite a bit more heavy than traditional aluminum pans.
Strawberry Muffins
Ingredients
- 1 3/4 cup all-purpose organic flour
- 1/2 teaspoon Himalayan fine salt
- 2 tablespoons cane sugar
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/8 – 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
- 1/8 – 1/4 teaspoon Ceylon cinnamon
- 2 eggs (farm eggs – regular size, not L/XL)
- 1/3 cup cane sugar
- 1/3 cup coconut sugar (with or w/out vanilla)
- 1/2 cup organic greek yogurt (regular or non-fat)
- 2 tablespoons butter melted and cooled
- 2 tablespoons coconut oil, (warm just to liquid state)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/2 cup fresh strawberry puree with juice
- 1/2 cup strawberry preserve puree
Preparation
- Sift together the flour, 2 tablespoons sugar, salt, baking soda, nutmeg and cinnamon. Set aside
- In a mixer, combine the eggs and both sugars until smooth.
- Add the melted and cooled butter and coconut oil. Blend.
- Add the yogurt and vanilla extract along with the strawberries and preserves. Blend well.
- In 3 parts add the dry ingredients and incorporate quickly without over-mixing.
- Scrape down the sides of the bowl and by hand gently fold in any remaining dry ingredients.
- If the consistency is not like cake batter, add some additional jam or strawberry puree to thin the batter.
- Grease the muffin tins with butter or coconut oil.
- Fill the cups about 3/4 full, but no more. They will rise.
- Bake at 375F for 11-13 minutes. Just bake until set, otherwise they will be overdone when cooled.
- For a convection oven, lower the heat to 250 and bake time to 9-10 minutes.
- Dust with confectioners sugar just before serving if you want to spruce them up.
Notes
- These were good made with Strawberry Balsamic Preserves.
- For added texture, finely chop your strawberries instead of using a puree base.
- They will not keep as well using the chopped berries and the texture and bake time can vary up to a minute.
