Strawberry-Lemonade Muffins from Foxfield Inn, Charlottesville VA

• 12.5 ounces all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• Zest from 2 lemons

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 380F. Generously coat muffin tins with cooking spray or line with paper liners.
• In a large bowl combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and lemon zest.  Stir well.  Set aside.
• In a small bowl combine sugar, vegetable oil, egg, yogurt, and lemon extract.  Stir well.
  *Tip: Batter can be made the day before, to this point. Simply refrigerate your wet ingredient mixture and keep your dry ingredients covered on the counter. Proceed in the morning when you are ready to bake.
• Add liquid ingredients to dry ingredients and mix.  Stir only until just combined – do not over mix.  Gently fold in strawberries.

• Fill muffin tins until they are three-fourths full.  Bake for 10 minutes (6 minutes for mini-muffins).  Then rotate pan and bake for an additional 5 minutes (4 minutes).  Remove from oven and let cool for 5 minutes.  Remove from pan and let sit on a clean kitchen towel.

Optional: Fill each muffin with a bit of lemon curd for an extra decadent touch. We do this by spooning lemon curd into a ziploc bag fitted with a small piping tip. Then we simply force the tip into the center of the top of the muffin and squeeze a dollop inside.