Strawberry Muffins

Sometimes when I'm at home and in the mood to bake, I just want to bake.  Meaning that I just want to bake something without having to worry if it will come out right or how many times I will need to change up the recipe to make it accurate.  In simpler terms what I am saying is that sometimes I like to pull a recipe from one of my cookbooks and just make it.  Don't get me wrong, I love creating my own recipes but it is time consuming.  It's nice to just find a recipe and know that it's going to work if I follow all of the steps right.  That's exactly what I did this week.

I am a huge Food Network fan.  It's always on my tv and I have my favorite chefs that I love to watch and I know exactly what time they come on.  Ina Garten is the chef on Barefoot Contessa, one of my absolute favorites.  I swear nothing this lady makes is bad.  One day, when I was watching her show, she started making strawberry muffins and I started thinking that I have never actually had a strawberry muffin.  I have had many strawberry cupcakes in my life, but never a muffin.  I found her recipe to be unique because she adds quite a bit of cinnamon to this recipe.  Come to think of it, I never even thought how strawberries and cinnamon taste together.  When I made these muffins the other day it was probably one of the best decisions I have ever made.  These muffins are delicious!  And this exactly why I have felt the need to share all of this with you...

Strawberry Muffins
recipe from Barefoot Contessa

3 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 tablespoons ground cinnamon
1 1/4 cups milk
2 extra-large eggs, lightly beaten
1/2 pound (2 sticks) unsalted butter, melted
2 cups diced fresh strawberries
1 1/2 cups sugar

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Line muffin tins with paper liners.

Sift the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon together in a large bowl. Stir with your hand to be sure the ingredients are combined. In a 2-cup glass measure, combine the milk, eggs, and melted butter. Make a well in the middle of the dry mixture, pour the wet mixture into the well, and stir until just combined. There will be some lumps but don't overmix the batter! Add the strawberries and sugar and stir gently to combine.

Using a 2 1/4-inch ice cream scoop, spoon the batter into the muffin cups to fill the liners. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, until a cake tester comes out clean and the tops are nicely browned.

*Feel free to use any type of fruit that you like! 

How to be a Better Baker

Sometimes I get so caught up in what I am doing that I forget some of my readers may not be "natural" bakers or maybe are just looking for some tips on how to be better at baking.  It's nothing to be ashamed about.  Trust me, I go to bookstores all the time and sit in the cookbook section trying to find books about how to make better cakes or cookies.  I decided instead of giving you another recipe of mine to make, I would give you some tips on how you can make your desserts better.

1.  Always use the best ingredients.
You are probably thinking, well that's a given.  But, using pure vanilla extract over imitation vanilla is going to make your cookies taste a whole lot better.  These ingredients don't necessarily have to be more expensive they just need to be good!  Next time you are buying ingredients and you have a choice over good quality chocolate over really cheap chocolate, pick the good quality stuff.  You will find that your dessert will taste better and that it's really not that much more expensive.

2. When making cakes, remember to alternate.
I bet most of you have read a recipe and read where it says to "alternate the flour mixture with the liquid, starting and ending with the flour".  It really does make for a better cake!  When you dump everything in and then mix the end result is a dry, dense cake.  Alternating will make your cake light and moist which is exactly what we want.  So next time you read that in a recipe, don't skip it!

3. Use room temperature ingredients.
Always make sure your butter, eggs, milk, or any dairy products that you will be using in your recipe are at room temperature.  It has been proven that ingredients at room temperature incorporate better than cold ones do.  When your ingredients are nicely incorporated, it creates a nice, light batter and will then result in a nice dessert!

4. Do not overmix.
I know now that I am saying this you will become highly aware of your mixing and sometimes might not even mix your batter enough.  That's exactly what happened to me when I found out this tip.  Just be aware that after adding flour to your batter of the amount of mixing going on.  If too much mixing occurs the gluten will start to develop and make the cookie (or cake or pie dough) tough.  A good note to know when mixing is you have mixed just enough when the dough is developed and there is no more flour visible.

5. A great substitute.
Did you know that if you take any kind of milk in your refrigerator and add some white vinegar to it, that it is a great substitute for buttermilk?  I actually do this all the time instead of buying buttermilk.  I just don't use buttermilk in my house enough to buy a carton of it.  This substitute works great in all cakes that call for buttermilk!



These are just a few tips that I thought might be helpful.  If you have any other questions or an idea for a blog post just contact me!