Roasted Strawberry Muffins

For me, a good muffin for breakfast never gets old. Pumpkin, chocolate, lemon poppy seed, and of course, every type of berry we can get our hands on. Though many berries can be easily swapped out in muffin recipes, to me strawberries just aren’t one of them. Strawberries contain a lot more juice than other berries and release a lot of liquid during cooking. As a result, baked goods with just regular ol’ strawberries mixed in have a tendency to be gummy and mushy.

Of course I’m not just going to pass up an opportunity to include those bright red jewels in the muffin repertoire, so instead I rely on a simple technique that fixes all those juice and texture issues. Roasting the berries brings out their natural sweetness while also releasing their liquid. The juices still contain plenty of flavor, so I reserve it and mix it in with the liquid portion of the ingredients in the muffin batter, adding less other liquid to compensate. This way, you keep all the wonderful strawberry flavor but without excess liquid and texture problems. (And by the way, I tested waaay too many batches of muffins before I was satisfied that the result was worthy of sharing here, so hopefully you will love these as much as we do!)

Note: This recipe was developed as part of my ongoing contribution to the Go Bold with Butter blog. Head over to see my posts as well as more great recipes from the other awesome bloggers involved with the project!

Yield about 16 muffins

Ingredients

1 lb. strawberries, rinsed, hulled and quartered
1 cup sugar, plus a pinch for roasting
Low-fat milk, if needed
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup white whole wheat flour*
1½ tsp. baking powder
½ tsp. salt
½ cup low-fat greek yogurt
2 large eggs
2 tsp. vanilla extract
8 tbsp. unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly
Coarse sugar, for topping (optional)

Directions

01
Preheat the oven to 400˚ F. Line a baking sheet with foil. Spread the berries out on the baking sheet, sprinkle with a pinch of sugar and toss gently to mix. Roast, stirring once or twice, until the berries are tender and have released most of their juices, about 20-22 minutes. Place a colander or strainer over a bowl or liquid measuring cup and strain the berries, reserving the excess juices. You will have approximately 4 tablespoons (¼ cup) of juice. Add just enough milk to make 6 tablespoons total of liquid if you are short on juice.
02
Lower the oven temperature to 350˚ F. Line muffin pans with paper liners. In a medium bowl, combine the sugar, flours, baking powder and salt. Whisk to blend. In a large mixing bowl, combine the reserved strawberry juice/milk, greek yogurt, eggs, and vanilla extract. Whisk until smooth. Whisk in the melted butter. Add the dry ingredients to the bowl with the wet ingredients and whisk just until combined and no dry streaks remain. Fold in the strawberries with a spatula.
03
Divide the batter between the prepared muffin liners. Sprinkle the tops with coarse sugar, if desired. Bake, rotating the pans halfway through, until the muffins are set and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 18-20 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack and let cool.
04
*I prefer to use half white whole wheat flour in nearly all baked goods we eat for breakfast, but you can use all all-purpose flour if you wish.