Strawberry Muffins

I've made a lot of muffins but never strawberry, and I couldn't find a good recipe online. I called my mom very late last Wednesday in a slight panic because "our girl" wanted strawberry muffins for her school on Friday morning.


My mom said "I'll call you right back" and she did with my Aunt Charlene's sister-in-law's ancient strawberry bread recipe. Apparently this lady was sort of famous for it, but the recipe hadn't been touched in like 35 years. I thanked my mom for saving me -- again -- but before she hung up she warned, "Do not alter this recipe to make it healthier, Jenny. You don't have time for a mess up. Just follow it exactly."


And so I did.


3 cups flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
3 tsp. cinnamon
2 cups sugar
3 eggs
2 10 oz. pkgs. of frozen strawberries / defrosted
1 1/4 cup oil
1 1/4 cup nuts / optional


Mix all the dry ingredients in a big bowl and make a well in the middle. Then mix in all the wet ingredients and pour into 2 loaf pans... or in my case 28 muffin tins. Bake at 350 for 20-30 minutes. When making bread it's closer to an hour, so I just kept checking the muffins with a clean toothpick after 20 minutes.


Also, I figured out why nobody makes strawberry muffins. They are too moist to hold their shape. An hour after cooling {Thursday night} they looked pretty fab. Twelve hours after cooling {Friday afternoon} they started to cave under the pressure. But they still TASTED amazing, and that's what counts no?