Late Harvest Strawberry and Fresh Ginger Muffins
Somehow I’ve managed to make it through nearly 27 years of living without realizing that late (second) harvest strawberries exist. Perhaps I knew once and forgot? Or just never gave it much thought to begin with? At any rate, on a weekend home a few weeks back, my Mom presented me with a quart of super flavorful late harvest berries, and let me have at it! After tasting a few on their own, I decided to find a recipe that would do them justice.
That same day, my Aunt was flying in from across the country, and the following morning, she and my Mom were headed on a road trip adventure up to Vermont, so I figured something tasty and portable would be the perfect choice. We’re all big fans of ginger in my family, and we had some fresh local ginger in the house, so it seemed like a natural pairing.
I came up with a pretty solid base muffin recipe, using coconut oil as a healthier fat, and whole wheat pastry flour along with the all-purpose for some added healthy fiber. Fresh grated ginger got folded into the batter, along with a generous amount of buttermilk, which I found lent a wonderful flavor, and made the muffins extra moist.
The tops got a generous sprinkling of turbinado sugar before heading into the oven, which lent a subtle crunch to the finished product. These muffins come out with a perfect little domed top, which I just love. Nothing says MUFFIN quite like a sugar-crusted, puffy-topped confection, especially ones studded with fruit. These muffins were a huge hit and disappeared almost immediately. The best part is, I think you could use this base for tons of different flavors — swap in a different fruit, add nuts, perhaps a streusel garnish. I think next I want to try them with cranberries! I saw my first container of cranberries in the store last week — can you believe it?! (And yes, I bought them. 🙂
I promise to be back with more true fall recipes soon. My blog queue is full of posts, so I just have to find the time to share them with you! Hope you’re enjoying this lovely fall weather lately — I have a feeling it’ll be gone before we know it!
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 1/2 cups whole wheat pastry flour
- 1 cup brown sugar, packed
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 1 cup buttermilk
- 1 egg
- ½ coconut oil (can substitute vegetable or canola oil)
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 2 tablespoons grated fresh ginger
- 2 cups fresh strawberries, hulled and diced
- Turbinado sugar for finishing, optional
Directions
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Prepare a standard 12-cavity muffin tin either with grease or paper liners, and set aside.
- In a large bowl, combine the flours, brown sugar, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt.
- In a separate medium bowl, whisk together the buttermilk, egg, coconut oil and vanilla.
- Stir the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients until just combined. The batter will be thick, but this is okay. Fold in the strawberries and freshly ground ginger.
- Divide the batter evenly between the prepared muffin cups. Bake for about 20 minutes until the topping turns golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean.
- Let cool for about five minutes, then remove muffins from the tins and place on a wire rack until cool enough to eat.
