Bakin'! **Recipe Alert**

There are generally two types of people in the kitchen: cooks and bakers. I tend to fall into the cook category. In many ways it can be less time consuming, but the fun of cooking is that it also allows for improvisation: Suuuure, let's throw a little more garlic in there. Baking, on the other hand, is an exact science. You have to measure out everything perfectly or else your product is sure to be a failure.

That being said, I enjoy baking now and again, and I've noticed over the past few weeks the baking bug had hit me hard. At first I craved the idea of making zucchini bread from my CSA box but then the zukes stopped coming and my eye began to wander for something new to do. Also, being committed to making the most out of the bounty I had at my fingers, as I mentioned two posts ago, a new idea took hold in my mind.

I have had this recipe for strawberry orange muffins for a few years that I absolutely love. Moist, sweet and delicious, with an almond streusel topping that had a grainy brown sugar crunch, just the thought of having one made me eager to make them again. However, the great thing about this recipe is that it offers a slightly more savory variation in a strawberry basil form.  Considering I had a ton of basil just waiting to be picked, I thought it would be an excellent time to try it. Blueberries had come in the last CSA box (hooray!) and I was tempted to use those, but strawberry season is ending soon so I wanted to take advatage of the remaining available market berries before they disappeared. And in fact, the final strawberries left were a wild variety, smaller and slightly misshapen, a little more tart, but delicious nonetheless. And their small size saved me a few minutes of chopping. Hey, it's the little things that make me happy. And look how little they are!

The nice thing about this recipe, for those of you who, like me, are not necessarily bakers, is that it is fool-proof and doesn't take very long. I even had most ingredients in my cabinets already so I didn't have to shell out much at the store, keeping in line with the goal of spending less on my groceries.

I enjoyed this both at room temperature as well as warmed with a little market butter.  If basil in your muffin doesn't sound like your cup of tea, I still highly recommend going for the strawberry orange version, which is refreshing with the combo of sweet and citrus. It's fantastico!

Recipe below my beautiful artistic photos:

Strawberry Orange/ Strawberry Basil Muffins
** yields 12

Ingredients

rt

• 3 tablespoon(s) almonds
• 2 tablespoon(s) all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cup(s) all-purpose flour
• 2 tablespoon(s) brown sugar
• 1/2 cup(s) brown sugar
• 3 teaspoon(s) freshly grated orange zest, divided (see Variation)
• 1/2 teaspoon(s) salt, divided
• 2 tablespoon(s) canola oil
• 1/4 cup(s) canola oil
• 1 cup(s) white whole-wheat flour or whole-wheat pastry flour 
• 2 teaspoon(s) baking powder
• 1 teaspoon(s) baking soda
• 3/4 cup(s) nonfat or low-fat buttermilk
• 1/4 cup(s) orange juice
• 1 large egg
• 1 teaspoon(s) vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 cup(s) (about 8 ounces) chopped fresh or frozen (not thawed) strawberries

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Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400°F. Coat a 12-cup muffin pan with cooking spray
2. Process almonds, 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour, 2 tablespoons brown sugar, 1 teaspoon orange zest, and 1/4 teaspoon salt in a food processor until finely ground. Transfer to a small bowl, drizzle with 2 tablespoons oil, and stir to combine.
3. Whisk the remaining 3/4 cup all-purpose flour, whole-wheat flour, baking powder, baking soda, and the remaining 1/4 teaspoon salt in a large bowl. Whisk the remaining 1/2 cup brown sugar, 2 teaspoons orange zest, and 1/4 cup oil in a medium bowl with buttermilk, orange juice, egg, and vanilla extract until well combined. Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients and pour in the wet ingredients; stir until just combined. Add strawberries; stir just to combine. Divide the batter among the prepared muffin cups. Sprinkle with the almond topping, gently pressing into the batter.
4. Bake the muffins until golden brown and a wooden skewer inserted in the center comes out clean, 18 to 20 minutes. Let cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool for at least 5 minutes more before serving.
   
   Variation: For Strawberry-Basil Muffins, omit orange zest and use 1/4 cup additional buttermilk in place of orange juice. Stir in 1/4 cup chopped fresh basil with the berries in Step 3.