Nothing says spring quite like a strawberry. Our family has a serious love affair with these red pearls of juicy sweet perfection. We reminisce about them all fall and impatiently anticipate them all winter. When the sign announcing their arrival start appearing along the country roads, we have to fight serious temptation to stop at every one.

Because strawberries are so good in their fresh-picked whole state, I hesitated a bit when my eye caught a recipe for “strawberry mini-muffins”. Did I want to risk depleting our supply of strawberries for something that might detract from their already perfect flavor? But curiosity got the better of me and I decided to make them anyway…and I’ve just fallen in love all over again. These itty bitty muffins are mouth watering bites of heaven: light and sweet and full of succulent strawberry flavor.

So you want to make them ? I thought so.

This is taken from one of my favorite cookbooks: Pillsbury’s Healthy Baking. Every recipe I have made from this cookbook has turned out well and it is now my trustworthy resource for all baked goods. I used whole wheat all purpose flour.

2 cups all purpose flour
½ cup sugar
1 Tablespoon baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
1/3 cup oil
1 egg
1 cup chopped fresh strawberries
2 Tablespoons sugar

Heat oven to 375 F. Spray 36 miniature muffin cups with non-stick cooking spray. In large bowl, combine flour, ½ cup sugar, baking powder, and salt; mix well. In small bowl, combine milk, oil and egg; blend well. Add to dry ingredients; stir just until dry ingredients are moistened. Gently stir in strawberries. Spoon rounded tablespoons sugar evenly over batter in muffin cups.

Bake at 375 F for 12 to 16 minutes or until edges are very light brown and toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 3 minutes; remove from pan. Serve warm.