strawberry muffins

After our massive strawberry haul over the weekend I’ve been trying to find recipes to use them up!   We did strawberry shortcake. I’m freezing some for some use I haven’t even thought about yet.   I’m pretty sure I’ll attempt a jam or jelly or something involving mashing strawberries.   Next up, strawberry cinnamon muffins!   Let’s be honest, we don’t hear about strawberry muffins often, do we?   There’s a reason for that, we’ll revisit that thought in just a moment.

The needs/recipe  for strawberry cinnamon muffins is relatively simple:

Ingredients

- 2 eggs
- 2/3 cup sugar
- 1/2 cup milk
- 1/4 cup plain yogurt
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1/2 stick butter, melted and cooled
- 2 cups flour
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1 1/2 cups strawberries, hulled and cut in chunks

Directions

Preheat oven to 375°F/200°C. Grease muffin tins or line with paper cups.

In a large mixing bowl, whisk together eggs and sugar until light. Add milk, yogurt, vanilla, and melted butter. Gently whisk.

In another bowl, combine flour, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon. Add to milk mixture and stir just until flour disappears. Gently stir in berries.

Spoon thick batter into muffin cups to the top. Bake about 25 minutes, until tster comes out clean. Invert and cool on rack.

I was so excited for these puppies, and I was left pretty underwhelmed when I finally pulled them out of the oven:

Not only did my muffins look depressed (I should’ve filled the batter to the top of the baking cups) they were soggy inside!  It took forever for them to bake and even when they were “done” they still seemed wet inside !    I’m assuming that the moisture held in the strawberry contributed to the damp insides of this strawberry muffin (doesn’t this post sound dirty??)    After letting them harden on their own overnight they were edible, and even tasty, but I was still disappointed.

Have you ever tried to bake with strawberries before?  Any tips?   Ever had a soggy muffin or an underwhelming baking experience (c’mon I know you’ve had at least one!)

Better luck next time!   If you have a great strawberry recipe let me know, I’ll definitely try it this week!!

strawberry pickin’

For the last three years we take 3-4 trips a summer to Bohringer’s Fruit Farms in Middleburgh.   Strawberries, blackberries, blueberries and more, they have it all!   Strawberry season JUST  started and we decided instead of staying in watching the rain we’d run out in it and pick strawberries.

Bohringer’s Farms is literally below Vrooman’s Nose in Schoharie County:

It is an absolutely gorgeous view, especially as a storm rolls in (you actually see the clouds roll in an explode.)   You drive right up, grab a carton and go to town with pickin!

Despite the dreary and rainy conditions there were quite a few pickers with us this afternoon, and of course we had THAT VIEW!

The boys jumped right in with picking, we came prepared for the meh weather:

I have to admit I was giddy when I checked out my first strawberry patch, I love picking strawberries!

Plunk, there goes my first berry!

If you’re new to strawberry picking I’ll give you this advice, look in a good area and then lift up as many patches as you can to find the best berries.   This early in the season all berries aren’t amazing, but some are superb!   Look for those!  Avoid the albino strawberries:

We picked a ton of strawberries, ok maybe not a ton but A LOT:

What can you do with all these strawberries?   Make lots of goodies!!!!

First thing that came to mind was strawberry shortcake.   Growing up my family loved to eat the prepackaged, premade shells (aka tiny angel food cakes) with some cool whip.  Personally I LOVED that, but manfriend and kiddo were looking for something a little more homemade. So I found a great strawberry shortcake recipe from scratch.

Ingredients

  • 3 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1/4 cup white sugar
  • 4 teaspoons baking powder
  • 3/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
  • 1 cup butter
  • 2/3 cup heavy cream
  • 1 egg, beaten
  • 3 cups sliced fresh strawberries
  • 3 tablespoons white sugar

Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
  2. In a large bowl, mix flour, 1/4 cup sugar, baking powder and cream of tartar. Cut in butter with pastry blender or two knives. Stir in cream and egg. Turn out onto a lightly floured surface and knead 2 minutes. Press into a half-inch thick sheet. Cut into squares. Place on baking sheets.
  3. Bake in preheated oven 20 minutes, or until golden. Sprinkle 3 tablespoons sugar over sliced berries.
  4. Let shortcakes cool before splitting and filling with sugared berries.
This recipe was so easy, it really comes down to how well the dough works out:
Manfriend and kiddo made their own whipped cream (heavy cream, sugar, vanilla, stiry like crazy) and when we brought all the pieces of the strawberry shortcake puzzle together we got:
YUM doesn’t even begin to describe how delicious this was.   Not healthy at all but still delicious.   I have TONS more strawberries to use up so many more recipes are coming this week but I also NEED strawberry recipes so please let me know if you have any.   I would love to make jam but I’m actually afraid to google it because I’m frightened of how complicated it might be.
WOOOOO, STRAWBERRIES!!!

look into my ring

If you read my blog or follow me on twitter you know I love big ass rings!   I found a great one at Target this morning, isn’t the color/whatever’s inside of it awesome?   Bonus that it’s big and it was $5!!!

I actually found myself staring into the ring today,almost getting lost in it.  It’s ok, you can laugh at me.   :)

Ok, moms and dads, do you ever get last minute info from your little darlings?   Example, this evening kiddo had an event at school, this morning he said, “Ohhhhhhhh, I need black pants and a white shirt for tonight, bye!!!”

Normally that wouldn’t be a problem, but a recent growth spurt and a kid who HATES shopping has put his wardrobe into a tight space.    After running into 2 Targets, a Marshall’s, and a JC Penney I was still white polo shirtless and black pantless…luckily his dad found the pants and I picked up a polo after work but it was just rushing that we could have avoided.   Ever get that last minute request from your kid?

Kiddo did a great job at his event tonight and we thought we would celebrate with Emack & Bolio’s on Delaware.

Sidenote, do I need to specify which Emack & Bolio’s?   The other location, in Guilderland, closed, right?

I love this place it’s like a fantasy in the middle of Albany.    I think I was more excited than kiddo for ice cream, oh yea no fro yo, I went for the full on cream of ice.     I went with Deep Purple Cow (black raspberry ice cream, white and dark chocolate pieces and blueberry) it was fantabulous:


I really love the atmosphere of Emack & Bolio’s it’s so cozy! (ignore my very pale knee if you can.)

There was even a quick chess match over ice cream and cappuccino’s tonight:

After the match we relaxed outside in the garden area, love it.   I want to make my backyard look like Emack & Bolio’s! (that’s a blurry manfriend in the pic)

Great, great night.   Hope you’re enjoying the cool down and ready to take on a fabulous Friday!!

meh and a summer cocktail

This weekend just flew by !   I worked a little, had some yummy yogurt with the kiddo at Coney Express, vegged a little, made a frittata, and a yummy salad:


I feel like I make some of my most delicious salads on the fly.  I threw this one together on Friday night and it was awesome !   Baby spinach, carrots, cilantro, fresh corn, tomato and shrimp covered in lemon, perfection !    I also enjoyed my new fave summer cocktail:

It’s just strawberry kiwi crystal light and a splash of vodka.   Perfect and yummy as it gets a little warmer !    Do you have a favorite summer cocktail?


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