Strawberry Muffins with Streusel Topping
I talked about how we can be frugal shoppers and a conscientous consumers all rolled into one. You may lean more to one end of the spectrum or the other, but there is definitely room in the zoo for a happy combination of both.
In that post, I made the observation that, “Buying bum produce, no matter how cheap, is a waste of money.” Michael Pollan calls it “voting with your fork.” In other words, we send a message every time we buy food. Like most of you, I strive to buy quality produce in season. Generally this isn’t a problem.
No problem, that is, until those cartons of ridiculously red strawberries start rolling in from California. Oh! The temptation! The agony!
After a winter’s worth of bananas, apples, and oranges, my summer-produce-starved heart is craving flavor and color and variety. The Amnesia sets in. The self-control vanishes. I stack 9 pounds in my shopping cart. No joke. And… no surprise, they are hard and sour and bland. Oh! The disappointment! The regret!
Obviously, these sturdy-to-ship hybrids can’t compete with the flavorful strawberries that will start popping up in our local farm stands in June. Is there anything better than a vine-ripened Hood strawberry? A taste of heaven. (Granted, there is a big difference with California strawberries and California strawberries commercially grown to ship.)
But wait! There is hope. Pureeing or baking fruit intensifies the flavor. Combining fruit with other ingredients makes it more interesting, especially when it’s not the peak of its season. Getting creative allows you to eat and actually enjoy those crazy California strawberries.
For the simplest solution: slice the strawberries, toss with a little sugar, and let them sit for 10-15 minutes to bring out the juice (the longer they sit, the softer they get). It’s called macerating. Serve these slightly sweetened berries with yogurt or layered with shortcake and whipped cream.
Or… Toss whole strawberries in a smoothie or a milkshake. Make a syrup for your stack of pancakes or bowl of ice cream. Add them to rhubarb pie. Tuck them into sweet breads or muffins (recipe below).
For those of you looking to whip up more baked goods from scratch, muffins or quick breads are a great place to start. The ingredient list is basic, the steps are simple, and the results are popular. This muffin recipe is a good example. Try it as listed the first time, then make changes to suit your tastes.
Try frozen blueberries or chopped strawberries. Omit the fruit and stir in chocolate chips instead. Combine cinnamon with diced, canned peaches. Substitute some applesauce for the butter. Quick breads and muffins are forgiving recipes, perfectly suited for different seasons and preferences.
Basic Fruit Muffins with Streusel
Yields 24 muffins
Ingredients
Muffins:
2 1/2 c. unbleached all-purpose flour
2/3 c. sugar
2 1/2 t. baking powder
1/4 t. salt
1 c. berries or other fruit (fresh or frozen)
1 c. buttermilk (regular milk works fine)
1/2 c. butter, melted
2 eggs, beaten
1 t. lemon zest (optional)
Streusel Topping (optional, not pictured):
1/4 c. sugar
1 1/2 T. flour
1/2 t. cinnamon
1 T. butter, melted
- Preheat oven to 400. Coat muffin pan with cooking spray or line with paper cups. Combine the streusel ingredients with a fork; set aside.
- In a large bowl, combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. Gently stir in the fruit.
- In another bowl, combine the buttermilk, butter, eggs, and zest. Add to the dry ingredients and stir until combined.
- Fill muffin tins 3/4 full. Top muffins with the streusel mixture.
- Bake in preheated oven for 15-20 minutes.
Now this is a sweet strawberry you can sink your teeth into.
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Or instead of buying expensive organic berries, grow some! Strawberry starts are really inexpensive and very easy to care for. We have a large raised bed full of a few different everbearing varieties – about 75 plants, and it keeps my large family in strawberries from June until September. In midsummer, if I don’t go out and pick every day, I’ll lose some to rot. Even if you don’t have the space for a bed like this, strawberries are easy to grow in pots on a patio or balcony. They also make lovely hanging baskets!
Oh Emily, I hear you…like you said…I’m so tired of oranges and bananas by the end of winter I gladly buy and eat the CA strawberries…even though they pale in comparison to the OR strawberries…so looking forward to June. The berries do get better over the months…the April strawberries are better than the Feb ones!
After MANY years of listening to my wife complain about her disappointment in spring strawberries from CA, I finally convinced her to only purchase the local organic ones in June. We gorge ourselves on them…and we never have any rot because we purchase a flat at a time…6 boxes to eat fresh and the other 6 we stem, put on cookie sheets in the freezer and once frozen re-package into freezer bags. We prefer the fresh over the frozen but in a pinch…like for Easter dessert…or in the morning as a smoothie…the frozen ones are fine.
I made these with frozen mixed berries from Costco. They are amazing. BTW, this was my first attempt ever at baking from scratch. Thanks for the excellent recipe!
I made these muffins earlier today with strawberries and orange zest! Sooo good! Thank you for posting the recipe!
Food for Thought:
“No berry is more loaded with agricultural chemicals than a conventional strawberry(yes this is talking about the berries you buy at Safeway and Fred Meyer)… In a study of 42 fruits and vegetables, strawberries were found to have one of the highest concentrations of chemical contaminant. That’s the chief reason to buy organic strawberries.” – The Organic Food Shopper’s Guide, page 166
Each to their own…just thought this was interesting!
I was just going to post that I only buy organic strawberries, and the ones I’ve gotten the past couple weeks are delicious and flavorful. I also have found that they last longer in my fridge. More expensive? Yes. But since I read the book Food, Inc. and the chapter about migrant farm workers in California dying from heat exhaustion and chemical exposure, I have to vote with my fork, and I vote organic. Especially after you go pick strawberries a couple times–you realize how hard and back-breaking the work is, and wonder how they can sell them for $1 a pound! How can that possibly cover the costs to grow, pick and transport the berries? I am looking forward to berry season here, for sure! 🙂
Nichole I appreciate your thoughts, as I had heard about this awhile ago (briefly run on the news some time ago) & forgot-& am thinking I should try more to avoid the worst chemical types of fruits & vegs. Especially as my son loves strawberries. Where do you find “the organic shoppers guide”?
Personally I love all the strawberries-local are best, but are short lived-I often even miss the picking season-have to do better this year!
Charolyn- The dirty dozen & clean fifteen lists are good places to start!
Check out this article for more:
http://articles.cnn.com/2010-06-01/health/dirty.dozen.produce.pesticide_1_pesticide-residue-pesticide-tests-fruits-and-vegetables?_s=PM:HEALTH
I should have said I like TART things. It is different than sour. Sorry.
You know, it’s all a matter of taste. I grew up in So. Calif. and even though I have lived in WA almost 30 years, I still prefer those berries. The WA berries are too sweet for me and I have had to often throw them away because they rot so fast. I will admit that I do love sour things and add extra lemon to almost anything even slightly lemony. So, as I said, it’s all a matter of taste (especialyy that which you grew up with).
I agree, they rot tooooooooo quickly. They are yummy though.
Sliced strawberries and amaretto 🙂 My guilty non-pregnant treat. Drizzle amaretto, let sit 15 minutes or overnight, then enjoy.
Made these muffins with frozen blackberries as soon as I saw your recipe. So good! Didn’t have the lemon zest on hand (buried someplace; didn’t want to take the time to find it) but they still tasted wonderful!
Yum! Those look good. I actually just bought some strawberries at Safeway and they were surprisingly delicious! Though, they still pale in comparison to Hood berries:)