strawberry flax muffins

Greetings! I usually consider muffins to be more like a breakfast item rather than a dessert, but these muffins…these muffins can certainly pass as dessert, even with the healthier ingredients! In fact, I think I could’ve made them even healthier with whole wheat and less sugar. I do think the quality of the strawberries you use makes a huge difference though, so make sure the strawberries you are using are fresh and ripe and full of good flavor!

By the way, feel free to chop the strawberries up and fold them into the batter rather than to use them as “toppings”; I prefer them to be in larger pieces and at the top instead of sometimes being at the bottom of the muffin, which often makes them lopsided. Also, feel free to double the recipe; I realize 7 is an odd number, but it was the right amount for us.

strawberry flax muffins, makes 7 standard-sized muffins

ingredients

wet ingredients:

2 Tablespoons unsalted butter, melted, plus more for greasing muffin tin

1/4 cup olive or other vegetable oil

2 large eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/4 teaspoon almond extract

dry ingredients:

1 cup all purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1/4 cup flax seeds

1/4 teaspoons salt

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

toppings:

7-8 medium strawberries, hulled and sliced

demerara sugar, optional

method

Heat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease 7 muffin tins with butter or line with paper liners. Set aside.

Mix the wet ingredients–butter, oil, eggs, vanilla, and almond extracts–together in a medium bowl and whisk to combine.

In another bowl, mix the dry ingredients–flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, sugar, flax seeds, salt, baking powder, baking soda–together by stirring with a whisk several times.

Combine the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients, stirring only until most of the dry ingredients are moistened.

Divide the batter evenly among the muffin molds, followed by topping each muffin with about four or five slices of strawberry, then a sprinkling of demerara sugar.

Bake for about 25 minutes until golden brown on top and no longer soft in the center tops. Remove from the oven and cool slightly on a wire rack.