I am about to tell you a beautiful love story. There once were two kindred souls coexisting in one kitchen their whole lives unbeknownst to one another. Their names were strawberries and ginger snaps. One night last week, I was having a snack, and the two met on my plate. Shortly after, they ended up together in one bite and it was magical. They realized how good they tasted together and knew it was their fate to meet this way. The end.
Thus concludes the love story, and begins the story of these muffins. I don’t know if this is actually a thing, like peaches and cream or blueberries and lemon. So maybe I’m not actually being that original but as far as my existence goes I have never had these two things in my mouth at once and my life is a different place now that I have. I started of how else I could combine these two flavors besides literally just stuffing my mouth simultaneously with ginger snaps and strawberries. Muffins came to mind first, but I’m definitely going to try pancakes/waffles/cupcakes in the future.
Look how happy they look together!! Both in their whole form and all chopped/mushed up. Oh, and in muffin form.
These muffins were RIDICULOUSLY moist inside, packed with juicy strawberries, and had an amazing crumb and airy texture. I’m not usually the kind of person to freak out over muffins, but these are so wonderful. I’m both a little bit shocked and a lot gastronomically pleased.
In order to make this recipe, I looked through a bunch of favorite muffin recipes to try and get the ratio of wet/dry ingredients right. The baking method is similar to the muffin info found in Joy of Cooking, otherwise known as the Don Corleone of cookbooks. It miraculously worked super well on the first time- if I were to do it again though, I would maybe add more of a ginger flavor, since the strawberries were being a bit of a dominatrix. Although when I was eating them I no longer cared about anything except for how yummy they were. Also, when I made the recipe I meant to make only 12 muffins, but I somehow had enough batter for 16. Apologies for the awkward second pan. But if you feel like calculating them for 12 and measuring out 3/4 of an egg…be my guest. Make sure you fill the extra muffin spots with a bit of water when you put them in the oven to keep the muffins moist and not hurt your pan. Mmmm, water muffins. My fave.
Strawberry Ginger Muffins
Makes 16 muffins
1 3/4 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup crushed ginger snaps (I used the brand Mrs. Pure, but feel free to use whatever you want/make your own!)
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup milk (I used almond milk, but regular would be fine too)
1/4 cup canola oil
1 1/2 cups chopped strawberries
3/4 cup sugar
1 egg
1/2 tsp ground ginger
Preheat oven to 400°F and line a muffin tin with baking cups.
In a large bowl, combine all the dry ingredients with a fork until well blended. Toss the strawberries in the flour mixture until they’re all coated. In a separate, smaller bowl, beat the wet ingredients with a fork. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and mixed until just combined.
Pour the batter into the prepared pan, filling each muffin cup 2/3 full. If you want to (I did and it was yummy!), sprinkle brown sugar on top before baking. Bake for 20-25 minutes. Let them cool in the pan for a lil bit before taking them out and eating them/letting them cool more. Enjoy!
Now they are living happily ever after together in my tummy. I like to think of myself as a matchmaker.