On Strawberry Muffins

The best ever.

Welcome to the Friday post for paid subscribers, a recipe that sits resolutely on my mental “pride and joy” shelf. On Tuesday, all subscribers will receive a personal essay on grocery stores. As ever and always, check out my website to learn more about what I do or to hire me for your very own food photography project! Thanks for being here.

Listen, I hate to exaggerate. I abhor the overuse of words like “ultimate,” and I try never to use them unless they’re completely and totally warranted. You’ll notice that I did indeed use the word “best” in the header for this recipe, and indeed, reader, this is a case that calls for that because this is truly the best bakery style strawberry muffin recipe I’ve ever had the pleasure of eating or baking. Or both.

Okay. Here’s how this came about. A few years ago, I was sorting through some of my grandma’s old recipes and I snapped a picture of one that she called raspberry coffee cake. It’s a plain vanilla coffee cake with a chocolate chip streusel and raspberries stirred into the batter, and it’s delicious (I mean, obviously). Over the years, I’ve adapted that cake batter into quite a few recipes, for a gluten-free chocolate cake and these muffins. It’s a dynamo.

A note: this recipe calls for chamomile tea. To be totally honest with you, I have next to no idea why I incorporated that flavor into these muffins when I developed this recipe. If you’re not a fan of chamomile, you’re not alone. I’m only a recent convert. But in these muffins, all it does is highlight the floral, delicate strawberry flavor so it holds up against a baking. If you really don’t trust me, you can leave it out. I reserve the right to judge you, but only a little bit.

Bakery Style Strawberry Muffins