Strawberry Muffins

I love our local supermarket. Like every other grocery store nowadays, they have a rewards card program, and not only do you receive gas points and coupons, but throughout the store they often have 2 for 1 specials of which you can take advantage if you have the rewards card. Imagine my delight when there was a 2 for 1 special on strawberries last week! I felt like I had hit a gold mine!

Unfortunately in my foolish excitement, I didn't think Hubby and I could eat two cartons of strawberries before they went bad, so I froze the second carton in a plastic bag. This in itself wasn't a poor decision; the error came when I subsequently thawed the strawberries...and they turned into mush. I knew the only solution was to bake them! So I scoured my recipe books, and while this recipe doesn't suggest strawberries, the Joy of Cooking offers a delightful blueberry muffin recipe which works just as well with strawberries!

The strawberry mush made these muffins incredibly moist, so I think my freezing and thawing mishap turned out for the best!

Strawberry Muffins
12 muffins

Ingredients
1 1/2 cups sliced strawberries
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs
1 cup milk
2/3 cup packed brown sugar
4 to 8 tablespoons warm melted unsalted butter
1 teaspoon vanilla

Now I must quote a very wise word of advice from The Joy of Cooking: "If muffins must be made hours before they will be consumed, or even the day before, you are wise to use 6 to 8 tablespoons butter...." I followed this advice by using 6 tablespoons, and my friend Meagan who tasted them a few days later commented on how buttery and moist they tasted. The Joy of Cooking know their stuff!

Instructions
1. Position a rack in the center of the oven. Preheat the oven to 400°F. Grease a standard 12-muffin pan or line with paper cups.

2. Whisk together thoroughly in a large bowl: flour, baking powder, and salt.

3. Whisk together in another bowl: eggs, milk, brown sugar, butter, and vanilla. Add liquid mixture to the flour mixture and mix together with a few light strokes just until the dry ingredients are moistened. Do not overmix; the batter should not be smooth.

4. Fold strawberries into the batter. I dumped the strawberries in a line in the middle of the batter, then spooned batter from the sides on top of the berries until they were all covered.

5. Divide the batter among the muffin cups.

This photo illustrates why I don't consider myself a "baker." I'm too messy!

6. Bake until a toothpick inserted in 1 or 2 of the muffins comes out clean, 15 to 20 minutes. Let cool for 2 to 3 minutes before removing from the pan. If not serving hot, let cool on a rack.