I can’t get enough of the beautiful Carlsbad strawberries that you can pick up fresh or pick yourself locally. They are so sweet and delicious. These muffins are sprinkled with a little strawberry sugar for extra flavor. I had the strawberry powdered sugar left over from my hand pies and they were a perfect sprinkle of love to top the muffins, especially on Mother’s Day! This recipe can make an even dozen, but I made my muffins a little extra large, so I had 11 muffins. You may have to adjust the baking time just a bit if you are a fan of a more bakery style muffin as I am. You could also substitute different berries in your muffins.

Pretty in Pink!

Ingredients:

for muffins and compote:

  • 3 cups diced strawberries, divided
  • 2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
  • 2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1 cup + 1/4 cup sugar
  • 1 teaspoon cornstarch
  • 1 teaspoon reduced balsamic vinegar reduction (optional)
  • 2 large eggs
  • 1 cup buttermilk
  • 4 tablespoons unsalted butter – melted and slightly cooled
  • 1/4 cup vegetable oil
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla

for strawberry powdered sugar:

  • 1 1/2 cups freeze dried strawberries
  • 3/4 cup powdered sugar

Directions:

for strawberry powdered sugar:

In a food processor, blend the powdered sugar and strawberries into a fine powder. Store sugar in a ziplock bag, reserving extra as topping for ice cream or other muffins.

for muffins:

Preheat the oven to 425. Place a cup of fresh strawberries in a small saucepan, add sugar and dilute the cornstarch in a teaspoon of water and balsamic vinegar (if using) and bring the mixture to a simmer mashing them as they start to break down so there are small chunks and mixture begins to thicken (about 5 minutes). Remove from heat and set aside.

In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, salt and baking powder. In a medium bowl, whisk together the eggs and sugar until dissolved. Add buttermilk, vanilla, oil and butter to combine. Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients and blend until combined but don’t over mix. Toss the remaining 2 cups of strawberries in a tablespoon of flour and mix to incorporate in batter.

Spray a standard sized muffin tin with nonstick cooking spray or alternatively line with muffin liners and fill the tin full of batter almost to the top in 10 of the tins (for extra large muffins, batter will be thick). Spoon about 2 teaspoons of compote onto each muffin and swirl mixture into the batter as best you can. Bake for 18-20 minutes or until toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. Remove from oven and allow to cool for about 10 minutes, place on wire rack to cool completely sprinkling with strawberry powdered sugar if using. Enjoy!