Now that English strawberries are starting to appear in the supermarkets and grocers, it is time to make my favourite Muffins! Along with all muffin recipes, there are a couple of tricks to make them foolproof ~ It is important to measure the baking powder accurately, and even more importantly: once you mix the dry and wet ingredients together, the quicker you are at getting them muffins in the oven, the better they will turn out!

Ingredients

• 320 g Plain Flour
• 185 g Caster Sugar
• 1 tbsp Baking Powder
• 2 Free Range Eggs
• 60 g Butter, melted and cooled
• 250 ml milk
• 1 tsp Vanilla Extract/Essence
• 170 g White Chocolate Chips (I like to use those made by Hotel Chocolat)
• 120 g Chopped Fresh Strawberries

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 180ºC. Fit paper liners into a Muffin Tray (to make 12 standard muffins.)
2. Sift the flour, sugar and baking powder into a large bowl and mix well.
3. In another bowl beat the eggs, butter, milk and vanilla until blended.
4. Add the wet ingredients to the flour/sugar/baking powder mix, and combine quickly (it doesn’t matter if it is lumpy or has dry bits…)
5. Gently fold in the chocolate and strawberries.
6. Fill the prepared muffin cases about three-quarters full, and place in the oven.
7. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, or until the muffins are coloured on the top. Resist the temptation to open the oven for the first 15 minutes.
8. When cooked, transfer to a wire rack for cooling.