fresh strawberry muffins

1/2 cup butter, softened
3/4 cup sugar
1 egg
2 cups flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup milk
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 cups chopped strawberries
3 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon

Cream butter and sugar. Add egg and mix well.

Sift flour, baking powder, and salt in a small bowl. Add flour mixture and milk alternately to butter mixture. Add vanilla. Gently stir in strawberries.

Spoon batter into muffin pans.

Combine sugar and cinnamon and sprinkle over muffins.

Bake at 400º for 20-25 minutes.

Makes one dozen muffins. (Make sure you eat them the day you bake them. They aren’t so great the next day.)

 

Cornbread Cake

1 c. sugar
1 c. butter
1 ½ c. flour
1 c. cornmeal
2 t. baking powder
2 t. salt
2 beaten eggs
1 ½ c. milk

Cream sugar and butter. Add rest of ingredients. Put in a greased 9x9 pan. Bake 350 for 30 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean. Can be doubled and baked in 9 x 13 for approximately one hour.

Blackberry Muffins

Ingredients

• 2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
• 1 Tbsp baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 large eggs
• 1 cup sour cream
• 1 teaspoon milk
• 1 cup sugar
• 8 Tbsp warm melted butter (1 stick)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 1/2 cups (about 5-6 oz) of fresh blackberries, cut in half (often available at Trader Joe's, you can use frozen blackberries if fresh are not available, defrost and drain them first.)

Method

1 Position rack in center of oven. Preheat oven to 400°F. Grease a standard 12 muffin pan or line with paper muffin cups. (Actually, with the berries you'll have more batter than just for 12 muffins. This batch made 18 muffins.)
2 Whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a large bowl.
3 In a separate bowl, whisk together eggs, sour cream, milk, sugar, butter and vanilla.
4 Add the wet mixture to the dry mixture and mix together with a few light strokes, just until the dry ingredients are moistened. Add the berries. (If you are using frozen berries, defrost them first, then drain the excess liquid, then coat them lightly in flour.) Do not overmix! Overmixing will cause the muffins to be dense, not fluffy. The batter should not be smooth.
5 Divide the batter evenly among the muffin cups. Bake until a toothpick inserted into the middle of 1 or 2 of the muffins comes out clean, 17-20 minutes (or longer). Let cool for 2 to 3 minutes before removing from the pan. If not serving hot, let cool on a rack.
Serve as soon as possible, preferably within a few hours of baking.

Cranberry Muffins

Ingredients:

1 1/4 cups sugar
1/4 cup butter or margarine, softened
2 eggs
1/2 cup milk
2 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup chopped walnut (substituted chocolate chips)
2 cups Ocean Spray® Fresh or Frozen Cranberries, coarsely chopped

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350ºF.

Mix sugar and butter together in a medium mixing bowl until completely blended. Add eggs one at a time, beating after each addition. Stir together flour, baking powder and salt in a separate medium mixing bowl. Add this alternately with the milk to the butter mixture. Stir in nuts and cranberries. Spoon into 12 paper-lined muffin cups, filling 3/4 full with batter.

Bake 25-30 minutes or until golden brown. Makes 12 muffins.