Apologies and Strawberry Muffins

I apologize, dear readers.  I have woefully neglected posting on this blog for over a month now.  I have no excuses.  Well, I have lots of excuses, but none that would really hold any water.  Instead, I have a peace offering.  Strawberry Muffins.

I've been thinking alot about my Grandmother lately.  She was an amazing woman, matriarch to this enormous family, keeping everyone in line and happy.  Grandma knew how to cook.  Specifically, she could bake.  I can still smell her bread coming out of the oven, taste its freshness.  Whenever I would come for a visit, she would make me a root beer float and sandwich with thick slices of summer sausage, butter and her homemade bread.  Oh, what I would not give for a slice of her bread!  For dessert, there was always a fresh pan of muffins on her kitchen table.  Moist and fluffy.  Grandma made delicious muffins.  I cherish each memory I have of that wonderful woman.  I can still hear her voice, her laughter, and feel the love that was shared with each dish around her kitchen table.  I am so proud to have her strength in my blood.  Blessed by my grandmothers love, I think of her often.  Grandma was such a good cook.  I often wish I could share my love of cooking with her.  Show her what she passed to me without even realizing it.  Today as I was working out my muffin recipe, I was thinking of her.  Wondering if she learned from her mother, or her grandmother.  I can still see her in the kitchen, pouring in the milk, adding the fruit.  I think she'd be impressed with these strawberry muffins.  I think she'd be pleased that I'm sharing them with those that I love.  Whenever somebody dies, we hear the familiar phrase that 'those we love are never really gone from us'.  Grandma will never be gone from me.  I think of her often, smile at her memory, and remember afternoons gone by, full of bread, root beer and muffins.


Notes about muffins:


I had to do some toying to make these muffins as moist as I wanted them.  I love scratch recipes, but well, sometimes boxed just seems better.  I wanted these to be as moist as the boxed recipes, but with better flavor.  After really doing my homework, I found that the key to moist muffins is not just the high fat content, but not over mixing the batter.  It's better to have a few lumps of dry ingredients in the batter.  It will just bake out.  Over mixing works the gluten, and you end up with dry muffins.  Most muffin recipes do not call for heavy cream.  However, I really wanted to increase the fat content, but did not want to use sour cream in this recipe.  I found that a 1/4 cup of heavy cream worked to really add moisture without making the muffins too cake-like.  While we're at it, let's talk substitutions.  I have stressed often enough not to substitute butter, so I won't go there.  However, most of us don't have a carton of buttermilk in the fridge.  A wonderful substitution for buttermilk is to make your own by adding a tablespoon of vinegar or lemon juice to a cup of milk.  Allow it to thicken on the counter for 5 to 10 minutes.  Voila!  Buttermilk.


Strawberry Muffins


1/2 C butter, room temperature (1 stick)
1 1/2 C granulated sugar
4 large eggs
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
3 C all purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
zest of 1 lemon, finely grated
1 C buttermilk
1/4 C heavy cream
1 pint strawberries, sliced


Grease 12 muffin cups or line with paper muffin liners.


In a large mixing bowl with an electric hand-held mixer on high setting, cream butter and sugar; beat in eggs, one at a time, beating after each addition. Blend in vanilla extract.


In a separate bowl, stir together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.


With a wooden spoon, stir flour mixture into creamed mixture. Gradually stir in lemon peel, heavy cream and buttermilk until dry ingredients are just moistened; do not over-mix. Gently fold in the strawberries.  Spoon batter into prepared muffin pan, filling each muffin cup full. Sprinkle the tops with granulated sugar or streusel.


Bake muffins at 350° for 20 to 30 minutes. Cool in pan on rack for 15 minutes. Gently turn strawberry muffins onto the rack. Serve strawberry muffins warm.