As soon as it gets remotely close to strawberry season, I get overly excited. Since I'm in California I luckily get fresh sweet berries before other states. However, seeing that it's only March, it's been a hit and miss. Fortunately, the last batch I purchased happened to be extra sweet strawberries. So, naturally, I went back to the store and bought several boxes. Other than eating them raw, the first thing on my list was to bake some strawberry dark chocolate muffins. These muffins combine my two favorites together, strawberries and dark chocolate, to make some beautiful muffins. It really doesn't get any better than this.
Strawberry Dark Chocolate Muffins
Ingredients
- 1 ½ cups whole wheat flour (195 grams)
- ⅔ cup granulated sugar (135 grams)
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 1 tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp baking soda
- ¼ tsp salt
- ½ cup buttermilk (125 ml)
- ⅓ cup vegetable oil (75 ml)
- 1 large egg
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 ½ cups fresh or frozen strawberries, cut into large chunks (220 grams)
- ¾ cup dark chocolate chunks (100 grams)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Line a muffin tin with liners.
- Combine the dry ingredients in a large bowl including the whole wheat flour, sugar, cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
- In a separate bowl, whisk together the buttermilk, vegetable oil, egg, and vanilla. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients, stirring just until combined. Gently fold in the chopped strawberries and dark chocolate chunks.
- Fill the muffin pan with the batter. Bake for 18-20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Remove from the oven and cool the muffins completely on a wire rack.
**Helpful tips and common mistakes
The thing I love about muffins is how easy they are to make. These strawberry dark chocolate muffins are no different. Plus, it's like a dessert and breakfast in one, and who doesn't want that!
The sweeter your strawberries are the better these muffins will be. If your strawberries are bland, they'll get overpowered by the dark chocolate. I personally prefer fresh but you can also use frozen.
Chop the strawberries into fairly big chunks. Don't cut them too small or they will get lost in the muffins.
I used whole wheat flour but you can also use all-purpose or white whole wheat flour. I also opted for oil instead of butter for deliciously moist muffins.
I know most muffin recipes say to fill the cups ¾ full but I filled them to the top to get that nice muffin dome.
As for the dark chocolate, use good quality chocolate. Dark chocolate bars are always best but if you must, you can use semisweet chocolate chips. If you want those chocolate puddles on the top, save a couple of chunks and place them on top of the muffins.
Bake the strawberry dark chocolate muffins until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean and let them cool completely on a wire rack.
I could not have been more excited about these muffins. One bite and I was in love. I had to give away most of the muffins so I wouldn't devour all of them but now...I'm sad that I did...
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