Strawberry Almond Muffins taste like the best parts of spring. Slightly nutty and studded with bright berries, these little beauties took me three tries to get right. When making the first batch, I accidentally turned off the oven. The second didn’t have enough flour. Despite the mistakes, every round still tasted pretty good, but in my opinion, needed some work. Surprisingly, no one in my house complained. In fact, I think they may have preferred it. Keegan is gunning for a redo. He might be up to something.

Luckily, I had a great sous-chef to help me work out any kinks. I’m not sure she’s figured out sabotage equals more muffins. Once she does, I’m hosed.

Strawberry Almond Muffins
Makes 10 Muffins

Ingredients:
1 1/4 c. flour
1/2 c. almond slivers
2 1/4 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt
1 tsp. almond extract
1 c. buttermilk
1 egg, beaten
1/2 c. sour cream
1 c. strawberries, chopped into small pieces
1/4 c. sugar
1 tbsp. raw honey

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 375 F. Toast the almonds over medium low heat in a small pan. When they start to smell faintly nutty, take them off the heat. Then, add the almonds to the bowl of a food processor. Pulse them until they are ground into a fine, flour-like texture. Add them to a sifter along with the dry ingredients and sift it all together. In a separate bowl, whisk the egg, buttermilk, almond extract and sour cream together.

In the bowl with the dry ingredients, make a small well in the center. Pour the wet ingredients into the center and mix together. Then, in another bowl, stir the strawberries, honey and sugar together.

Once combined, add them to the batter and stir.

Spray your muffin pan with nonstick spray or add muffin liners. Then, portion the batter into the tin, filling each one about two-thirds full. You’ll have a spot or two left open. (I like to leave the corners free, so that everything cooks more evenly.)

Then, bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean when inserted. To keep the liner from sticking to the muffin, let them cool all the way before serving. Otherwise, just greedily pull every last crumb off the paper like we did. There is no shame in that.