Strawberry Fields Forever

Hello friends, sorry about the recent radio silence. The padre and madre came to España and we have

been wandering around sweating buckets and looking at old things for the past week...

Today I have a quick-and-easy for you: strawberry corn muffins. Corn muffins on their own are kind of sad and unloved--unless you're at Jason's Deli where I have previously shoved a whole handful into my pockets for later consumption (why are they so good there???).

But aside from Jason's corn muffins are typically dry and flavorless and left standing alone when all the good flavor of muffins are gone...until these. These strawberry corn muffins are so dense and sweet and flavorful and basically exploding with fresh berry goodness that they will be gone before you can say strawberry fields forever.

These corn muffins are much healthier than your basic recipe because instead of using canola oil and white sugar they use strawberry yogurt. I am a big fan of mixing 1/2 c. plain non-fat yogurt with 1 tbs. all-fruit strawberry preserves but you can also use store-bought. These little beauties cook up in no time and look so pretty you can give them as a gift or bring them to a brunch.

I recommend using organic wild strawberries for these: they are very small and incredibly sweet and will change the flavor profile entirely. You can also use conventional strawberries but try and pick exceptionally flavorful ones. I have made these with both kinds of strawberries but the wild batch (thank you, Pittsburgh farmer's market!) won by a landslide. It's the perfect recipe to usher in late-spring/early summer produce and these born-again muffins will rock your world.


Ingredients:
1 c. cornmeal
1 c. all-purpose flour
3/4 c. strawberry yogurt
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1 egg, beaten
1/4 tsp. vanilla extract
1/2 c. milk
1 - 1/2 c. ripe strawberries, hulled

1. Preheat oven to 400C. Grease muffin tin or line with paper liners.

2. In a large bowl, mix together dry ingredients. Gently stir in milk, egg, vanilla, yogurt and stir to combine. Fold in strawberries gently.

3. Bake for about 15-20 minutes or until golden brown and springy or a knife inserted into center comes out clean.