Strawberry Cupcakes

Disclaimer: These cupcakes are so delicious, I've made two batches in the last four days.  That's a lot of cupcakes, even for me.

Several months ago, I took an amazing cupcake class at Butter Lane in New York.  Since then, I haven't made a single cupcake, instead pining away for the magic of a stand mixer, to whose camp I became a firm convert after the class.  Thanks to a U of C audit in my favor (sounds like something out of Monopoly's Community Chest, but for real), I finally bought a beautiful refurbished KitchenAid and have been chomping at the bit to make something with it for about a week.

To celebrate the arrival of both my friend Britta, who is moving to the area for graduate school, and Shelly the Stand Mixer: Strawberry Cupcakes with Strawberry Buttercream Frosting.  This recipe is based on the Butter Lane class's recipe, but adjusted to reflect the different ingredients I had on hand and to incorporate the addition of fruit.

Strawberry-White Chocolate Muffins

Honesty, I've been told, is the best policy.  So I have to confess: I had an ulterior motive for baking these muffins.  Mainly: Bribery.

Yes, bribery.  To convince my New York roommate-to-be that I would be the best roommate ever.  And to sweeten the deal for a friend to look after Rizi Bizi.  Both of these situations, I might add, turned out quite well and while they might have done so anyway, the muffins sure didn't hurt.

So if you find yourself needing a baked good to tip the balance in your favor, I'll vouch for these extra-moist strawberry-white chocolate muffins (with a streusel topping), based on the decadent muffins at the C-Shop and this recipe.

You'll need:

3/4 cups brown sugar
2 large eggs
1 stick unsalted butter, melted
1 tsp. vanilla
2 cups flour
1/4 tsp. baking soda
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1 cup diced strawberries
3/4 cup white chocolate chips

Heat oven to 350 degrees and line 12 muffin cups with paper liners.

Combine brown sugar, butter, and vanilla in a medium bowl.  Add eggs one at a time.

Add the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt incrementally to the wet batter.  Then add diced strawberries and white chocolate chips.

Equally portion batter into the 12 muffin cups.

For the streusel topping:

2 tsp. cold butter, cut into small pieces
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup flour
1 tsp. cinnamon

Combine the ingredients together, cutting the butter into the mixture.  I used a fork for this process.  You should get a crumbly-looking mixture.

Sprinkle streusel on top of the batter in the muffin cups.

Bake muffins for 25 minutes, or until a knife stuck in the middle of the muffin comes out clean.

They ain't healthy, but they sure are tasty.

If you store them in an airtight container, they should last up to 5 or 6 days.

Word to the wise: When I was making these muffins, I was really concerned about the dryness of the batter.  But worry not!  When you add the strawberries to the mix and stir them around a bit, their moisture will make this into a surefire, true muffin batter.