It may not seem like it if you are just reading this blog and not watching my life, but I have an enormous amount of difficulty making time to be domestic. I can't really complain in this economy, but the paying work seems to be crowding out what I consider to be the fun stuff: gardening, cooking, baking, and generally making my home a pleasant place for me and Mr. FC&G to be. Not to go all Mad Men on you, but suffice it to say I had a major meltdown Monday about not having the time to meet Mr. FC&G at the door with a martini for him in my hand and dinner on the table.
Mr. FC&G doesn't even drink martinis, might I add.
Anyway, Tuesday morning I took matters into my own hands and got up an hour early just to do some baking. The result was these strawberry muffins. Since I am still using up frozen strawberries from 2010, it seemed like a great idea. And it was.
I adapted this recipe from AllRecipes.com. I changed the canola oil to vegetable oil, and I used turbinado sugar instead of white sugar, which accounts for some of the extra browning. To compensate, next time I would cut the baking time back to 20 minutes and then check them.
Strawberry Muffins (adapted from AllRecipes.com)
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup milk
1 egg (free range if you can get it)
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 cup turbinado sugar
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup chopped strawberries
Preheat oven to 375 degrees; oil an 8 cup muffin tin, or use paper liners.
In a small bowl, combine oil, milk, and egg. Beat lightly. In a large bowl, mix flour, salt, baking powder and sugar. Toss in chopped strawberries and stir to coat with flour. Pour in milk mixture and stir together. (Note: This is the AllRecipes instruction. If you want the 7am FC&G version, it is "toss all ingredients in a bowl and mix.")
Fill muffin cups. Bake at 375 degrees F (190 degrees C) for 20 minutes, or until the tops bounce back from the touch. Cool 10 minutes and remove from pans.
The Analysis
Fast: These were very quick to make; I had them in the oven before the coffee finished brewing. Total prep and cook time was under 45 minutes.
Cheap: Certainly cheaper than grabbing a muffin at Starbucks, and healthier too.
Good: Mr. FC&G had five yesterday. I daresay he liked a strawberry muffin better than a martini.
Hi Jennifer! I stumbled across your website today and found this strawberry muffin recipe. I didn't have strawberries on hand so I substituted chocolate chips and dried cranberries. Delicious! Thanks for the recipe and I'm excited to start following along with your domestic adventures:)
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