6 tablespoons butter
3/4 cup sugar
2 eggs
1/2 cup milk
14 strawberries, fresh or defrosted frozen
food coloring, optional
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon baking powder
Hershey's Kisses, Hugs or strawberry jam, optional
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugar. Mix in the eggs, one at a time,
and add the milk.
Rinse the strawberries and cut off the greens. Mash the berries with a
potato masher or puree in a blender. Then stir the berries into the butter
and milk mixture (For muffins with a more pronounced pink color, add a few
drops of red liquid food coloring or dabs of paste coloring).
In a separate bowl, sift the flour, salt and baking powder. Stir well. Add
the flour mixture to the berry mixture. Use a wooden spoon to stir until all
the white disappears.
Line the muffin tin with paper liners. Drop the batter from a tablespoon to
fill the cups halfway. If you are adding the "surprise", place an unwrapped
Kiss, Hug or 1/2 teaspoon of jam in the middle of each muffin. Then spoon
more batter to fill almost to the top. Otherwise, fill the muffins 3/4ths
full.
Bake until the muffins begin to brown and a toothpick inserted near the
center (but not in the Kiss) comes out clean, about 20 to 25 minutes.
Remove the muffins from the tin and cool. Serve them warm in a basket lined
with a red napkin or on plates with doilies.
serves twelve.
ready in: 30 to 60 minutes.