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Strawberry season is upon us, and with an abundance of ripe and delicious berries, use some of your haul to bake up these dreamy Strawberry & Cream Muffins.
Strawberry & Cream Muffins are the answer to too many berries to eat up all at once. Who has this problem? Well, I do after I have returned from the U-Pick fields at Boone Hall Plantation. I always clean and slice as many berries as I think we can eat as a family - on cereal and granola for breakfast, in smoothies and on salads for lunch, and atop luscious shortcakes and over ice cream for after dinner. Heck I even wash them and freeze them whole if I need to, but something always tells me to bake up a batch of these Strawberry & Cream Muffins, just because...
These bakery style Strawberry & Cream Muffins are sweet, moist, and BIG. Put the tea kettle on and grab a plate…
We moved my Grandmother to an assisted living facility just down the road from my house a few years back. Well, I guess it's been a few more than a 'few' now. Sometimes, it is hard to think that she is not with us anymore, as so many times I will laugh at something and immediately think to share it with her. She positively LOVED these muffins. You see, in an effort to attract visitors into her doorway, I'd bake batches of these muffins and walk them down to her. I always displayed them on a pretty but reusable plastic platter, and came armed with tea bags and a stack of pretty paper napkins. I'd place them on the counter in her kitchenette which was just inside her door. It was kind of like catching fish, but you used strawberry muffins rather than bait, and you caught passersby rather than fish. Residents would walk up and down the hallway past Gram's door, popping in to say hello and snag a muffin. It worked wonders...that is if Gram didn't hoard the muffins for herself.
Be warned, these muffins are packed FULL of berry flavor. They are especially delicious when eaten warm, with a smear of butter. DO THIS.
I love berries and fruit of any kind. Quite sure you all know this thanks to my obsessive chatter about fruit. For real though, my first container of strawberries for this season was so, so delicious. I could not stop eating them. Since I knew there was the definite possibility of eating myself sick, I decided to turn them into extra soft and buttery Strawberry & Cream Muffins. Of course, then I could not stop eating the muffins.
Anyway, these muffins are basic as far as the batter goes. I like to use a combo of melted butter, eggs, and fresh buttermilk to keep the muffins moist, soft, and fluffy. The cream cheese centers are a burst of subtle sweetness, flavored only with quality vanilla. The stars of the show are the berries. Strawberry & Cream Muffins are just so darn goooooood…
Ingredients
Did you know that it’s super easy to print out a version of a half recipe or even a double recipe on Not Entirely Average? Hover over the serving size (highlighted in blue, it says 24 on this recipe) and then slide the the white line to the left to make less or to the right to make more. This "calculator" allows you to play until you get the number of servings you want. Easy.
For the Muffin Batter
- 2 cups all purpose flour
- 3/4 cup granulated sugar
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 cup buttermilk
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly
- 1 teaspoon quality vanilla
- 2 large eggs
- 1 cup fresh strawberries, diced into very small pieces
For the Cream Filling
- 4 ounces cream cheese, softened
- 1/4 cup granulated sugar
- 1 tablespoon quality vanilla
For the Almond Streusel
- 1/2 cup all purpose flour
- 1/4 cup granulated sugar
- 1/4 cup sliced almonds
- 1/4 cup ice cold butter, cubed
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350° and line muffin tin(s) with paper liners.
- In a small bowl, mix together the ingredients for the cream filling until very smooth, and set aside.
- Make the almond streusel by first combining the flour and sugar in a medium bowl. Cut in the butter until your mixture resembles the consistency of peas. Stir in the sliced almonds and set aside.
- For the muffin batter, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt.
- In a separate bowl, whisk the buttermilk together with the eggs, melted butter, and the vanilla.
- Stir the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients until just incorporated. Do not over-mix. Batter will be lumpy.
- Spoon the batter into the prepared tins, filling ONLY half way. Sprinkle a teaspoon of the strawberries over the batter. Top the strawberries with a teaspoon of cream filling, and then another tablespoon or so of batter. If you still have diced strawberries remaining, add a few bits to the top of the batter.
- Sprinkle each muffin with almond streusel.
- Bake the muffins for 25 minutes or until muffins are a light golden color and a toothpick comes out clean.
- Allow muffins to cool in the muffin tin(s) for 10 minutes before removing to a wire rack.
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