It was around 11pm. I was asleep and Himel was doing some work in his laptop. Suddenly he woke me up and asked, "I am having cravings of something sweet. Is there anything in the pantry to eat?". I told him, "Yes, we have some chocolates in the refrigerator. If you want some, go and get." Now here comes the twist. "It's been a while, I haven't eaten any cake. Why don't you make any?" he told. Ohhh. That's the thing. He is not having the cravings of something sweet, he particularly wants to eat cake and for that he woke me up :P. So the very next morning I prepared the "Strawberry Muffin" and the moment I took out the muffins from the oven, he started planning to grab them. Though his plan failed and he had to wait until he finished his lunch. :P
Today I am presenting you "Strawberry Muffin". It's a perfect companion to your morning coffee as well as a treat to your mid afternoon cravings.
Tips:
I have used castor sugar in this recipe. You can replace the castor sugar with granulated sugar. For 1 cup of castor sugar, replace it with 1 cup plus 2 tsp granulated sugar.
All the ingredients should be in room temperature before making the cake. To soften the butter quickly, you can microwave in 15-20 seconds and stir it thoroughly or soften it in double boiler. Don't forget to bring it in room temperature before processing.
I used a medium sized (80 ml capacity) muffin pan. The measurements are perfect to make 6 medium sized muffins.
Muffin mixtures require minimum mixing and the batter should be thick and lumpy.
To test if muffins are cooked, they should be browned, risen, firm to touch and beginning to shrink from the sides of the pan. To check, put a skewer into the muffin. When withdrawn, the skewer should be clean.
Strawberry Muffin
Serves: 6
Preparation time: 30 minutes
Cooking time: 20-25 minutes
Ingredients:
40g unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
160g all purpose flour
90g castor sugar
1 tsp baking soda or Soda-Bi-Carb
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp cinnamon powder
1 tsp vanilla essence
45 ml milk, kept in room temperature
1 large egg (nearly 60g), kept in room temperature
100g strawberry, cut in small cube
1 tsp raw sugar (optional)
1 1/2 tbsp icing sugar for decoration (optional)
Instructions:
Combine the flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon powder in a mixing bowl. Whisk well and set aside. Don't forget to sift through a strainer to remove the lumps and large particles at the beginning.
In a small bowl, toss the strawberries with two teaspoons of this flour mixture. toss well.
Keep 40g of this flour coated strawberries for toppings.
Take the butter and sugar in a large mixing bowl. Beat the butter and sugar together with a hand whisk or hand mixer until smooth and creamed, about 2 minutes. Scrape down the sides with a spatula as needed.
Pour over the milk and mix it well again.
Cracked the egg and pour over into the mixture with vanilla essence. Beat the mixture until well combined.
Add the dry ingredients slowly, half the amount at a time and mix it well.
When all the dry ingredients will mix up, add the strawberries to the batter. Fold to combine. Do not over mix. Batter will be slightly thick.
Preheat the oven to 200°C. Line a muffin pan with the liners.
Pour/spoon the batter into the liners. Fill only 2/3 full to avoid baking over the sides.
Top with the reserved strawberries and raw sugar.
Bake for 20-25 minutes until the top of the muffin become golden, or until a toothpick inserted in the centre comes out clean.
Let the muffins cool in the pan for about 15-20 minutes and then transfer to the cooling rack.
Sprinkle some icing sugar for decoration and serve.
Cold muffins freeze well, transfer to freezer bags before freezing. It can be frozen up to 3 months. Thaw it over the counter or microwave in low temperature (30%) for 10-15 seconds.
Comments