Strawberry-lemon muffins, made with fresh berries and lemon, are tart and sweet and perfect for brunch!
Ingredients
muffins
3tablespoonscoconut, avocado or canola oil
½cupunsalted butter, softened
1cupgranulated sugar
¾cupsour cream
2eggs, room temperature is best
1 teaspoonlemon zest
1teaspoonalmond or vanilla extract
2 ½cupsall-purpose flour
1teaspoonbaking powder
1teaspoonbaking soda
½teaspoonsalt
1 ½cupsdiced fresh strawberries, washed and stemmed
lemon infused sugar
¼cupgranulated or turbinado sugar
½teaspoonlemon zest
glaze
1cuppowdered sugar
2tablespoonslemon juice
Instructions
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Place the rack in the center of the oven.
Generously grease a 12-cup muffin tin or use paper cupcake liners.
In a large bowl or in the bowl of a stand mixer, place oil, butter, sugar, sour cream, eggs, lemon zest, and extract. Beat for about 1 minute, until blended well.
Add the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt to the bowl all at once, then add the diced strawberries on top of the dry ingredients. Fold together BY HAND using a large spoon or spatula. Fold just until the flour disappears.
Evenly and generously scoop the batter into muffin cups.
For lemon infused sugar topping, mix together sugar and lemon zest in a small bowl. Top each muffin with sugar before baking. If topping with glaze, wait to glaze until after baking.
Bake for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean or the top of the muffin springs back when lightly touched.
For lemon glaze, whisk all ingredients in a small bowl. Drizzle muffins with half of the glaze after the muffins have cooled for about 10 minutes. Let the muffins cool completely and drizzle again before serving.
Notes
Allowing the strawberries to be coated in flour keeps them from sinking to the bottom of the muffin tins while baking.
Canola oil and butter produce the most moist combination.
For best results and even baking, dice the strawberries into ½-inch pieces. We do not recommend using frozen strawberries in this recipe. Frozen blueberries, raspberries, or blackberries are okay, but frozen strawberries tend to get too mushy while baking.
Adding almond or vanilla extract is not necessary but provides better flavor overall.
Greek yogurt may be substituted for sour cream. Plain light sour cream may also be used.
Do not use a mixer once the flour is added to the batter. Simply fold together for best results and the most tender muffin.
Use paper cupcake liners in the muffin tins for easiest cleanup!
This recipe yields 12-15 muffins, depending on size of muffin tin and scoop used. The scoop used in the post was almost 1/2 cup per scoop.