“I don’t know why Dunkin Donuts can’t make muffins like these,” PT said, after chomping into one of my Strawberry Buttermilk Muffins.

 

“Because they’re not made with love, darling,” I responded.

 

Did you just throw up in your mouth… because we did.

 

Not ones for belaboring the sentimentalism of home-cookery, or the idea that ‘love is the secret ingredient,’ we quickly dissected the advantages/disadvantages of the DD (or any other coffee QSR*) commercial kitchen vs. my own sweet galley. They have industrial equipment, including a convection oven – I do not. They have professional bakers (I think), which I, patently, am not. They have millions of dollars in capital, and I, sadly, do not.

 

The advantages on my side (and every home cook’s side) is access to fresh and organic ingredients… yup, that’s about it. Millions of dollars, years of training, and the best equipment money can buy can’t compete with a handful of real strawberries, splash of buttermilk, and, dare I say, a little love.

 

Click here for a printable version of the recipe

Strawberry Buttermilk Muffins, Yields 12

Adapted from Best of Betterbaking.com

 

 

Ingredients:

 

For the Batter

 

Butter for greasing the muffin pan

½ Cup Vegetable Oil

1 1/3 Cup Brown Sugar

1 Tsp. Lemon Zest

1 Egg

2 Tsp. Best Quality Vanilla

1 Cup Buttermilk

2 ½ Cups Flour

¼ Tsp. Salt

2 ½ Tsp. Baking Powder

½ Tsp. Baking Soda

1 Tsp. Cinnamon

1 ½ Cup Frozen Strawberries**

 

For the Streusel Topping

1 Tbls. Butter

1/3 Cup Brown Sugar, packed

½ Tsp. Cinnamon

½ Cup Pecans

 

Preparation:

 

Preheat the oven to 400°. Grease a muffin pan with butter.

 

In a large bowl, whisk together the vegetable oil, brown sugar, and egg. Stir in the vanilla and buttermilk.

 

 

In a separate large bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and cinnamon. Stir the salt in well. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients.

 

Gently add in your strawberries and combine well.

 

 

Use an ice cream scoop (or tablespoon in a pinch) to fill the muffin cups to the top.

 

Bake for 15 minutes. Lower the oven temperature to 350° and bake for another 15 minutes. Check the muffins for doneness by inserting a toothpick and seeing that it comes out clean.

 

While the muffins are baking, make your streusel.***

 

Combine all of the ingredients in the bowl of a mini-food processor (or regular-sized if you don’t have a smaller version). Pulse until the streusel achieves a crumbly, buttery consistency (about 10-12 pulses). Set aside.****

 

 

Let the muffins cool in the pan for 5 minutes and then turn out onto a wire rack. Pick the plumpest muffin, split it open, smear with Irish butter, and sprinkle with your streusel.

 

Enjoy!

 

*Quick Service Retail

 

** I use the organic frozen strawberries, or you could freeze your own. The strawberries must be frozen to give them the toughness to withstand chopping and mixing with the batter. Fresh strawberries would bruise and bleed everywhere.

 

*** The original recipe has the streusel baked into the muffin, but I prefer mine as a topping over the butter. So good….

 

**** Streusel is a shelf-stable item. I store mine in old Whole Foods plastic containers, but any tupperware/plastic storage container would do.