Easy Strawberry Muffins with Strawberry Swirl

These strawberry muffins are a little different from the average recipe. Instead of simply folding chopped strawberries into the batter, they are made with a strawberry sauce that’s gently swirled throughout, creating little pockets of strawberry in every bite. The result is a tender, buttery muffin with a lovely strawberry swirl that’s perfect for a quick breakfast, weekend brunch, or enjoyed with an afternoon cup of tea. They’re a simple way to enjoy the fresh flavour of strawberries long after berry season arrives.

The One Thing Every Cozy Kitchen Should Have

If there’s one thing I think every kitchen should have, it’s a cake plate with a glass dome sitting on the counter. Mine is rarely empty for long, and I love the little bit of cottage charm it adds to the kitchen. More than that, though, it always seems to nudge me into baking something to fill it. Whether it’s a batch of strawberry swirl muffins, a simple loaf cake, or a plate of cookies, there’s something so welcoming about having a homemade treat ready for anyone to help themselves. I think it says, “Come in, put the kettle on, and stay awhile.”

Ingredient Notes

• Strawberry Sauce – for a fresh strawberry flavour, use my homemade strawberry sauce, however a good quality strawberry jam would work just fine
• Butter – melted, salted or unsalted is fine
• Egg – large eggs work best for this recipe
• Milk – whole or 2% milk works best for baking, but I have often used 1% myself, however I recommend that you don’t use skim milk for this recipe
• Sugar – regular granulated sugar
• Baking Powder – to help give the muffins a nice rise
• Flour – unbleached all purpose flour that is spooned into the measuring cups or weighed for accuracy to help avoid dense muffins – you can get my baking measurement conversion chart as a bonus when subscribing to my newsletter – you’ll find a subscription request at the bottom of this post

Let’s Bake Strawberry Muffins

• whisk together dry ingredients
• whisk together egg, milk and cooled melted butter; add to dry ingredients
• stir just until moist

• fill muffin tins about to about 1/3 full with batter, top with a tablespoon of strawberry sauce
• top with remaining muffin batter (about 2/3 full)
• top with another tablespoon of strawberry sauce and swirl with skewer or paring knife
• Bake at 400 degrees Fahrenheit for 20 minutes, cool in pans for 10 minutes

My Tips for the Best Muffins

• use room temperature ingredients
• do not over mix the batter, mix only until no streaks of flour remain
• let batter rest for about 10 minutes before baking to better hydrate the flour resulting in a nice tall muffin top
• test with a skewer or toothpick at about 18 minutes to avoid over baking
• melt and cool butter before adding
• avoid the three things that contribute to a dense batter – overtaxing, stale baking powder and not measuring the flour correctly

Make Them Your Own

While these muffins are perfectly delicious just as they are, sometimes you just want to change things up a bit. Here are a few of my favourite ways to make them your own:

• add lemon zest for a bright strawberry lemon flavour
• sprinkle with course sugar before baking
• add chunks of white chocolate to the batter
• make them strawberry crumble muffins

Make a Crumble Topping (To Make Strawberry Crumble Muffins)

Mix together 1/3 cup brown sugar and a 1/2 cup flour. Add 1/3 cup cold butter and blend ingredients together with clean hands. Sprinkle onto of muffins before baking.

These strawberry muffins are the perfect way to enjoy one of summer’s sweetest fruits. While they are especially delicious during strawberry season, making a batch of homemade sauce and tucking it into the freezer will allow you to bake them any time of year. Of course, in a pinch a good quality strawberry jam will do just fine.