These cute little pink muffins are the strawberriest muffins ever. I had to use a word that’s not even in the dictionary to describe them because these little gems are bursting with strawberry flavor. They’re made with fresh strawberry purée and finished with homemade strawberry sugar. The strawberry purée helps to make the muffins soft and moist on the inside and the strawberry sugar gives a nice crunchy texture and a bright strawberry flavor on the outside.
The strawberry sugar is made by pulverizing freeze dried strawberries together with sugar. Freeze dried strawberries are not the same as dried strawberries. You can find freeze dried strawberries at grocery markets, gourmet stores and online. They’re typically located near the nuts and dried fruit in most markets.
To watch the Instagram video of Double Strawberry Mini Muffins click here.
Servings |
mini muffins
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- 1 cup (200g) plus 2 tablespoons (25g) sugar, divided
- 1/2 cup (14g) freeze dried strawberries not dried
- 1 1/2 cups (191g) all purpose flour, sifted
- 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
- 1/3 cup (74ml) vegetable oil
- 1 large egg
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1/2 teaspoon pure strawberry extract
- 1/2 cup (118ml) strawberry puree
- 2 pea size drops pink gel food color optional
- 6 tablespoons (85g) butter, melted
Ingredients
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- Combine the freeze dried strawberries and 2 tablespoons (25g) of sugar in a small food processor or a clean spice grinder. Process until finely ground. Add 1/2 cup (3 1/2 oz or 100g) of sugar and pulse a few times until well combined. Place the strawberry sugar in a shallow bowl and set aside.
- Preheat the oven to 350ºF (180ºC). Grease and flour a 24-serving mini muffin pan.** Do not skip this step and do not use liners. The muffins need to form a crust on the outside so they don't soak up too much butter in the final step.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt
- In a large bowl, whisk together the remaining 1/2 cup (100g) of sugar with the oil, egg and extracts until smooth. Whisk in the strawberry purée until well combined.
- Stir in the flour mixture with a rubber spatula, just until combined. The batter will be thick.
- Transfer the batter evenly into the prepared muffin pan cups.
- Bake until a toothpick inserted into the center of the muffins comes out clean, about 10-12 minutes. Do not over bake! Be diligent, since over baking can happen very quickly with mini muffins.
- Let the muffins cool in the pan for 5 minutes. Turn the muffins out onto a cooling rack. Place the melted butter in a small bowl. Dunk the warm muffins briefly in the melted butter, then roll them in the strawberry sugar.
To find the gel food color I used, click here.
To find the mini muffin pan I used, click here.