Roasted Strawberry Crumb Muffins

Hello! Nice to meet all you, Culinary Couture readers! :D  I`m Lynna and I regularly blog at Hearts In My Oven. As you all know by now, Meriem has asked some of her blogger buddies to guest post for her this month. I couldn`t be happier to guest post for her!

A few months back, I discovered Meriem's Apple Peanut Butter Muffins post for her Mystery Dish Challenge. I thought it was such a cool and interesting concept! When she emailed me to ask if I was interesting in joining, I was ecstatic! I dreamt up this Puff Pastry Apple Pie with Frosted Flakes Crumble for the challenge. I`ve been following Meriem since her muffin post. I mean, how can I not when she continuously post delicious recipes, like tiramisu macarons, or gorgeous cakes!


Today, I'm happy to share with you all this wonderful roasted strawberry muffin recipe. Strawberries are in season during the Summer months. Aside from stuffing yourself silly with all sorts of fruits this summer, baking with them is a must!

If you`ve never tried roasting strawberries, I highly recommend you try it at least once. It`s really simple. The smell when they come out of the oven is indescribable! I know muffin recipes should be quick and fast, so you might be discouraged to try this recipe with the extra steps. Why would you add an extra step to roast strawberries? Why smash the roasted strawberries to get their juice? Because it enhances the strawberry flavor! Oh, it totally does. I wanted to really get the strawberry taste, so I decided to smash the strawberry juice and add it to the batter ;)

This recipe uses yogurt, which gives these muffins a tangy taste and smell, in addition to the strawberries. As a result, these muffins are deliciously moist!

I hope you all enjoy these strawberry muffins! And, Happy Ramadan to Meriem and to all those observing it as well!

Roasted Strawberry Crumb Muffins

Yield: 12 muffins

Ingredients:

For the roasted strawberries:
1 lb strawberries, hulled & quartered
1 tablespoon granulated sugar

For the muffins:
2 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar, packed
1 and 1/4 cup yogurt
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 cup butter, brown

For the crumb:
5 tablespoons all purpose flour
2 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons butter, cold

Directions:

For the roasted strawberries:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

In a medium bowl, combine strawberries and sugar. Spread on a lined baking sheet and bake for 25 minutes. Remove from oven and reserve half of the roasted strawberries for later.*

Put the other half on a fine mesh sieve, and with the back of a fork, smash the strawberries to squeeze out the juice into a measuring cup until you get about 3-4 tablespoons (about ¼ cup).

For the muffins:
Reduce oven temperature to 375 degrees F. Line or grease muffin pan.

In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon.

In a large bowl, whisk together the sugars, eggs, yogurt, vanilla, butter, and strawberry juice from earlier. Toss the roasted strawberries in the flour mixture to coat. Using a rubber spatula, fold the dry ingredients (flour, etc) into the wet ingredients (sugars, eggs, etc) until just combined. (Do not overmix.)

Using a cookie scoop, divide and scoop batter into prepared muffin pan.

For the crumb:
In a small bowl, combine the flour and sugar. Cut in the butter using a pastry cutter or the back of a fork.

Sprinkle crumbs on top of muffins. Bake for 15-18 minutes, or until toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Allow muffins to cool on a cooling rack for at least 5-10 minutes.

*Notes: I diced the roasted strawberries, to make them smaller. This way, you won`t get soggy muffins from any large strawberry pieces. :)

Coating the strawberries in flour will help prevent them from sinking to the bottom when baking.

Adapted from Anecdotes and Apples