Description
Freshly baked strawberry muffins with golden brown tops sprinkled with coarse sugar, arranged on a white plate with fresh strawberries
Ingredients
Dry Ingredients
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- ⅓ cup granulated sugar
- ¼ cup light brown sugar, packed
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
Wet Ingredients
- 1 large egg, room temperature
- ½ cup milk (whole or 2%)
- ½ cup sour cream or plain yogurt
- ¼ cup vegetable oil or melted butter
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- Zest of 1 lemon (optional, but highly recommended!)
Fruit
- 1½–2 cups fresh strawberries, hulled and diced
Optional Topping
- 2–3 tablespoons coarse sugar, cinnamon-sugar, lemon sugar, or turbinado sugar
Instructions
Preheat your oven to 400°F (200°C). Line a 12-cup muffin tin with paper liners or give it a good coating of cooking spray. The high temperature is KEY for getting those beautiful domed tops!
In your large bowl, whisk together the flour, granulated sugar, brown sugar, baking powder, and salt until everything is evenly distributed.
In a separate medium bowl, whisk together the egg, milk, sour cream (or yogurt), oil (or melted butter), vanilla extract, and lemon zest if you’re using it. Whisk until the mixture is smooth and slightly frothy.
Here’s where restraint is your friend! Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and use a rubber spatula to fold everything together gently. Stir just until you don’t see any more dry flour streaks.
Gently fold in your diced strawberries. Use a light hand and stop as soon as they’re evenly distributed throughout the batter. If your strawberries are particularly juicy, pat them dry with a paper towel first and toss them in a tablespoon of flour before adding.
Divide the batter evenly among your 12 muffin cups, filling each about ¾ full. I like using an ice cream scoop for this — it makes portioning so much easier and gives you uniform muffins.
Sprinkle that coarse sugar generously over each muffin top. This creates the most amazing sweet, crunchy crust that makes these taste like they came from a fancy bakery. Turbinado sugar is my favorite, but regular granulated sugar works too!
Pop them in the oven and bake for 17–20 minutes. You’ll know they’re done when the tops are gorgeously golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean or with just a few moist crumbs.
Let the muffins cool in the pan for about 5 minutes — this helps them set and makes them easier to remove without falling apart. Then transfer them to a wire rack to cool completely.
Notes
- Prevent berry sinking: Toss diced strawberries in 1 tablespoon of flour before folding them in. The flour coating helps them stay suspended in the batter instead of sinking to the bottom.
- No paper liners? Grease the pan really well with butter or cooking spray. I actually prefer this method sometimes because you get crispy edges!
- Check doneness carefully: Since strawberries add moisture, a toothpick might come out with a few pink streaks from the berries — that’s okay! You’re looking for the batter itself to be cooked through, not raw.
- Common mistake to avoid: Don’t overfill the cups! ¾ full is the sweet spot. Any more and they’ll overflow and create a mess. Any less and they won’t have those gorgeous domed tops.
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 20 minutes
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American