I love summertime because of the fresh produce that’s so readily available. Although strawberry season is now over here in the Northeast, I still buy them for the boys. We recently bought a big box and the boys weren’t eating them fast enough, so I decided to cook with them. I’ve made granitas and smoothies with strawberries, but I typically don’t bake with them. Now that I’ve tried this recipe twice, I know what I’ll do whenever I have leftover strawberries.

This muffin is sweet and the flavor of the strawberries is very evident. The cream cheese is a nice addition also, keeping the muffin very moist. The first time I made this, I made a strawberry bread in a loaf pan. The muffins were my second try. I don’t know why, but I preferred the muffins to the bread.

Fresh Strawberry Muffins
Adapted from My Baking Addiction

1/2 cup butter, softened
1 cup sugar
4 ounces cream cheese, softened
2 eggs
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon Kosher salt
1/2 cup buttermilk
1 1/2 cups strawberries, rinsed, dried and chopped

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

With an electric mixer cream butter, sugar and cream cheese until fluffy. Add eggs one at a time. Mix in vanilla.

In separate bowl, mix flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Blend flour mixture with butter mixture just until blended. Add buttermilk and stir until just combined; do not over mix. Carefully fold in strawberries. Dough mixture will be thick.

Line 24 mini-muffin cups with liners and evenly spoon the batter into the liners. Bake for approximately 17-20 minutes. The muffins are done when the tops are golden and a toothpick inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean.

Yield:  24 mini-muffins