Strawberry Muffins

Have anyone of you been to Quattro Stagiono Deli at Liang Court, Basement one, River Valley Road? If you do, please do feedback to me how you find the food there. Well, there was this food review from the Oct 2008 issue of Food & Travel Magazine featuring this Italian Deli of one-year old (it should be two years old by now).

Specially raved for are their sandwiches, with their "amazing crunch". Being a sandwich lover, why did I ever miss this visiting this place?

Two recipes of their best sellers were featured - Baked Pasta in basil pesto sauce and Muffins Alla Fragola (strawberry muffins). I had been bookmarking the strawberry muffin recipe and finally gave it a try a couple of months back. These muffins were moist with a perfect blend of strawberry and chocolate flavours in one bite. The recipe called for using a mixture of buttermilk and yoghurt and I suppose there must be a reason for doing this. However, I did not want to buy extra ingredients and had used all yoghurt. With chunks of strawberries in every mouthful, this is indeed a luscious treat for a simple muffin. The only downside was the strawberries were rather wet. Should I pat it dry before mixing into the batter?

Muffins Alla Fragola (Strawberry Muffins)

Ingredients:

75g butter

230g all-purpose flour

100g sugar

2 tsp baking powder

1tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1 egg

125ml plain yoghurt

125ml buttermilk

1 cup raspberries

300g strawberries, quartered

topping ingredients:

40g chocolate chips

50g brown sugar, preferably unrefined

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 200°C and grease a set of muffin tins or prepare muffin paper liners.
2. Melt butter and set aside to cool.
3. In a small bowl, combine chocolate chips and brown sugar and set aside.
4. In a medium mixing bowl, combine dry ingredients (flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt).
5. In another medium bowl, whisk together wet ingredients (egg, yoghurt, buttermilk, and melted butter).
6. Male a well in the centre of dry ingredients and pour in wet ingredients. Fold with a spatula until misture is lumpy, do not over-mix.
7. Then fold in the berries.
8. Spoon batter into prepared tins and sprinkle chocolate chips and brown sugar mixture on top. Bake for 18 to 20 minutes or until golden brown.
9. Turn out on a cooling rack to rest, and wait for 10 to 15 minutes before removing from the tin.

Recipe Source: Food & Travel - Oct 2008 Issue (Pg 25)