Thursday, May 5, 2011

Strawberries and Cream Muffins





I am not a big royal watcher, and I didn't get up at 3 a.m. to watch William and Kate get married, but I did watch the replays and found myself smiling ear to ear as they finally tied the knot. It's fun and amazing to watch a new couple start a new life together!

Nigella Lawson, who has a couple of shows on Food Network and the Cooking Channel is a Brit who shared a fun recipe to make for watching the royal couple in style, Strawberries and Cream Mini Muffins. As an avid strawberry and cream eater for Wimbledon, I was intrigued by this recipe and decided to make them for my enjoyment while watching recaps of the wedding day. I don't have a mini muffin pan, so I made these as regular size muffins.

They are surprisingly light, even though they feel heavy, and delicate and FULL of strawberry flavor. Best of all for me, they are only 177 calories per large muffin! WAHOO! If you like strawberries, give these a try, whether watching the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, or just dreaming of jolly old England!

Strawberries and Cream Muffins (courtesy of Nigella Lawson)
Ingredients:

1 cup strawberries, slightly under-ripe, diced into quarter-inch pieces
1 squeeze of lemon juice
1 cup flour
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 cup vegetable oil (I used canola oil)
1/3 cup sour cream (I used light sour cream)
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 large egg
1 tbs powdered sugar

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Spray or line a 24 cup mini-muffin pan, or 9 cups in a 12 cup regular muffin pan.

2. Put diced strawberries in a bowl, spritz lemon juice on them and stir gently to combine.

3. In a medium-size bowl, stir together flour, sugar and baking powder.

4. In a small bowl, beat together oil, sour cream, vanilla and egg. Pour mixture over dry ingredients, stirring to combine with a wooden spoon. Fold in strawberries.

5. Divide batter evenly among the muffin cups. Bake for 12-14 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

6. Place pan on a wire rack and leave for 5 minutes. Take out muffins and continue cooling on the wire rack. When muffins are completely cool, sprinkle powdered sugar over the top.

3 comments:

  1. Hi,
    The muffins came out perfect. In order to get the muffins to rise a bit more or get that dome shape, I put the batter in the oven at 210 degrees for the first 7 minutes, then reduced the temperature to 180 for the next 8 minutes. Also, I did not have sour cream, so i substituted it with yoghurt.
    Thank you,
    Nazia

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  2. Hi,
    Can this recipe be made into a loaf pan instead?

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    Replies
    1. I'm sure this recipe would work in a loaf pan. I haven't tried it, but see the comments above from Nazia about creating more of a domed top on the muffins - I would imagine this would work for the loaf pan as well. You will have to increase the cooked time for the loaf pan - I would start with 30 minutes and add in increments of 5 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean. This will be a denser bread, just as the muffins are dense, but I'm sure it will be delicious!

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