Recipe - Strawberry-Almond Muffins

1 cup Fresh Strawberries; cut or sliced up
1/3 cup Granulated Sugar
One fourth teaspoon Cinnamon
One fourth teaspoon Nutmeg
3 cup Allpurpose Flour
1 One half cup Granulated Sugar
5 teaspoon Baking Powder
1 teaspoon Salt
3 Eggs
2 cup Milk
One half cup Butter or Margarine; melted
One fourth cup Almonds; chopped

The Cook and Kitchen Staff are off to the berry patch to offer you some of
the best recipes featuring strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, and
more. We consider this collection to be 'Berry Necessary' to your
summertime cooking, so get ready for some tasty fruitfilled days to come.

Today's recipe features the delectable strawberry that's coming into its
natural season in the northern hemisphere, right now. What do you look for
when buying strawberries? The best strawberries are the ones you pick
yourself or buy from your local strawberry fields and farmer's markets.
Farmfresh strawberries are just hours old with little or no handling or
traveling.

If your prefer a trip to the grocer over a trek through the strawberry
patch, look for berries that are plump, bright red, and fully ripe. Caps
should be attached, green, and freshlooking, not wilted. The size of the
strawberry is not important! All strawberries, large and small, are equally
sweet and juicy by nature.

Preheat oven to 400F degrees. Prepare muffin tins by lightly greasing,
spraying with nonstick vegetable oil, or lining with paper.

Thoroughly rinse the fruit and remove the stems. Slice the strawberries and
place them in a measuring cup until you have about 1 cup of prepared fruit.

In a small bowl, combine strawberry slices, 1/3 cup sugar, cinnamon, and
nutmeg until blended. Set aside.

In a large mixing bowl sift together the flour, 1 One half sugar, baking powder,
and salt. Set aside.

In a small mixing bowl lightly whisk eggs. Add milk and melted butter and
thoroughly combine with the whisk. Then, with as few strokes as possible,
blend the milk, butter, and egg mixture with the flour, sugar, baking
powder, and salt in the large mixing bowl.

Lightly fold in the strawberries and almonds and spoon batter into each
muffin well, until each is about twothirds full.

Bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until browned and a toothpick or knife comes
cleanly out of the center of a test muffin. Remove muffins from the pan
immediately and cool on a wire rack. Repeat the process with remaining
batter. Store in an airtight container or wrap to freeze for up to 30 days.
Posted to dailyrecipe@recipeaday.com by RecipeaDay
recipeaday@bignetwork.com on Jun 6, 1998