What You Need:
- 6 tablespoons butter
- ¾ cup sugar
- 2 eggs
- ½ cup milk
- 14 strawberries, fresh or defrosted frozen
- Food coloring, optional
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- Hershey's Kisses, Hugs or strawberry jam
How to Make It:
- Preheat the oven to 350° F. In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugar with a wooden spoon, a potato masher or a handheld electric mixer. Mix in the eggs, one at a time, and add the milk.
- Rinse the strawberries and cut off the greens with a plastic knife (a fun job for 3- to 5-year-olds who are accustomed to cutting play dough). Mash the berries with a potato masher or puree in a blender. Then stir the berries into the butter and milk mixture. Tip: For muffins with a more pronounced pink color, add a few drops of red liquid food coloring or dabs of paste coloring.
- In a separate bowl, sift the flour, salt and baking powder. Stir well.
- Add the flour mixture to the berry mixture. Use a wooden spoon to stir until all the white disappears.
- Line the muffin tin with paper liners. Drop the batter from a tablespoon to fill the cups halfway. Add a surprise: an unwrapped Kiss, Hug or ½ teaspoon of jam. Then spoon more batter to fill almost to the top. Bake until the muffins begin to brown and a toothpick inserted near the center (but not in the Kiss) comes out clean, about 20 to 25 minutes.
- Remove the muffins from the tin and cool. Serve them warm in a basket lined with a red napkin or on plates with doilies.