Le Strawberry Blog Birthday Muffins

I cannot believe I have been blogging for ONE whole year! YAY!! HAPPY BIRTHDAY Magnolia75: The Baking Lounge! There's so, so many recipes I want to try to make and post! There is not enough time in a lifetime (I think) to be able to recreate the oh so many baking and cooking recipes that I would love to try. The few I have posted are what I like to call "the beginning". This past year I have learned a lot (I think) about baking! I know how to make a pie from scratch, a three layer cake, cobbler. I have learned about the origins of some baked goods, and ingredient substitutes. I discovered a whole new world that is baking and blogging! Places like Foodbuzz are amazing, so many blogs that I've visited and just stare (drool, really) at the food/baked goods. So much creativity and deliciousness! The baking world is amazing and everyone is so nice and approachable. I've had baking questions and yup I receive responses to them and suggestions, everybody is very helpful.  I mean there's so many fun ways to keep up with others blogs and display our master pieces or simply a cute picture of our day ( I just caved in and got an Instagram, love it, but I'm still a newbie). Definitely will keep baking, cooking and posting! I have so much to learn still!!

I have had some pretty awesome moments: like being featured on Foodbuzz recently, that was awesome, Stephanie Jaworski from Joy of Baking follows me on Twitter (I believe she is an ultimate baking goddess), I hosted my first giveaway (hopefully they'll be many more), and not to mention Christina Tosi answered a question of mine and made a suggestion about these very muffins! I still have to try her suggestion since I had already baked the muffins. But I felt so cool, wouldn't you? She's so awesome and genius!!

Happy Birthday Blog!

Le Strawberry Birthday Muffins (sugar free)

Ingredients

• 1 large egg
• 1 cup of milk*
• 1 3/4 teaspoons cream of tartar*
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil
• 1/4 cup melted unsalted butter
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 2/3 cups sugar or (I used 16 packets of Splenda instead)
• 2 1/2 cups flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 2 cups fresh and chopped strawberries (For 2 cups I used an entire regular sized strawberry box)

* I used 1 cup of milk and 1 3/4 teaspoons of cream of tartar as a substitute for 1 cup of plain yogurt. You could use the 1 cup of plain yogurt of course if you have it on hand.

Directions

Preheat oven to 375F.  Make sure to grease your muffin pan if you're not using cupcake liners. *In a small bowl place cream of tartar and add 2 tablespoons of milk, mix until well combined, now add the remaining 1 cup of milk and stir, set aside.** If you're using 1 cup of yogurt you don't need the milk and cream of tartar. In a medium bowl, combine the egg, oil, butter, vanilla and milk.
Now, in a large bowl combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, sugar and salt. Add the strawberries to the flour mixture gently coat them with the flour. Add the egg mixture to the flour mixture and stir gently with a rubber spatula. Just stir enough that there won't be any powder pockets.
I used cupcake liners and filled them to the top, so that when they are baking the tops will pop out and have that muffin look. I ran out of liners too and did the same to the regular pan.  Sprinkle the tops with sugar (I used regular sugar)before baking.  Bake for 20-23 minutes, until the tops and edges are lightly golden. Let them cool inside the pan for 10 minutes, then remove the muffins to cool completely on your baking rack.

recipe adapted from Fleur-De-Licious

Muffins were very moist due to strawberries, but their tops were nice and hard, the sweetness was just right too!

Thank you so much for reading, you guys! Keep commenting I love it and please share your blog with me I would love to see it and follow you!
Bake with love :)