Strawberry Ginger Muffins

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.

Summer Berry Crumble

Froooot

Last weekend, I had planned to pick up my boy from the train station, eat a quick dinner at home, and then drive up to New Haven. My parents had planned to be out visiting my brother and his wife and their newborn (baby niece!!!!), so dinner was going to be small and uneventful. That is, until their original plans for the day changed and they decided to come visit here instead- along with my grandma, uncle, and two family friends and their 2 year old.

All of a sudden there were 10.7 people to feed. I think that’s probably the only way to quantify 10 adults, a 3-week old, and a 1.8 year old. 10.7 people whom I absolutely love, but just very different from each of our original plans. My mom wanted to pick up something special for dessert (are we related?) so I offered instead to bake something. She was being indecisive so I hit the interwebs and found this recipe. It caught my eye for three reasons. First off, it’s vegan, so no dairy present for my lactose intolerance to pick a fight with. Second, it’s fruit-based, which is nice and refreshing on a super hot day when to be honest, I just don’t want to eat something warm and chocolatey. And yes- that probably is the ONLY time I have ever said that. The third point of attraction was how easy it is to make. All the ingredients are things you would generally have on hand; I only had to run out and pick up some fresh fruit. Also, it’s super adaptable- feel free to experiment with fruit ratios (throw ALL the fruit in the bowl) or with any combination of fruits!

I doubled the recipe to suit the large crowd and made two 9 inch square crumbles. It was delicious with vanilla ice cream if you want to take the vegan part out of it. Or whipped cream. It’s delicious on its own though, hot or cold! Also, leftovers=ideal breakfast. It’s totally fruit. Plus, there’s oats in it- give me one good reason why the presence of fruit and oats does not qualify this as a perfect breakfast food.


Summer Berry Crumble adapted from Joy the Baker

makes enough to fill a 9×9 pan, or 6 individual ramekins

For the fruit part

1 1/2 cups blueberries

1 1/2 cups raspberries

4 peaches, cut into chunks

2 Tbsp flour

1/2 tsp cinnamon

pinch of nutmeg

pinch of cloves

1/4 cup maple syrup

For the topping

1 1/2 cup old fashioned oats

1/3 cup flour

1 tsp cinnamon, 1/2 tsp nutmeg

1/8 tsp salt

2 Tbsp canola or vegetable oil

2 Tbsp maple syrup

1 tsp vanilla

1 Tbsp water

 

Preheat the oven to 350°F.

Combine all the ingredients for the fruit part in a bowl and toss until the fruit is generally coated. Set it aside for a moment while you put together the topping.

In another bowl, combine the dry ingredients for the topping (oats, flour, salt, and spices.) In yet another bowl, whisk together the wet ingredients (the oil, maple syrup, vanilla, and water.) Add the wet to the dry ingredients and blend together using a fork, making sure all the dry ingredients get nice and moist (embrace the word).

Add about half a cup of the topping to the fruit and mix them together. Put the fruit into a 9×9″ pan and then scoop and pat down the rest of the topping onto it. Bake for about 40 minutes, or until it’s bubbling and completely irresistible. Enjoy!


Take home message- sometimes, plans change. And when they do, make this berry crumble! I suppose this isn’t a universal solution. If you planned to see a movie with a friend and then they called to suggest going to the beach instead, your first thought shouldn’t be to make this. It should be sunscreen. Overall, it ended up being a lovely evening- I got to see my grandma meet her great-grandchild for the first time, watch a ~2 year old conquer multiple stairs on his own, and eat delicious food with beautiful people, which is generally my everyday goal in life.