Muffin Wednesday: Strawberry Pecan

Strawberry Pecan was today's Muffin Wednesday experiment... YUM!
I had an early meeting this morning so I whipped these up in the CE2 kitchen between meeting and class. I haven't baked in there in a while and forgot about its charm. It's a narrow galley, and when you add to the mix a handful of students making coffee, it's very crowded. But I got it done!

These were very good and sweet. Andy said they were the best ones yet (he always says that but said he truly meant it this time!) Joan said they were "bomb". Alex and Patsy liked the streusel topping.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees
Muffin tin, paper-lined

Streusel topping:
1/4 c flour
1/4 c finely chopped pecans
1/4 c brown sugar
2 T softened butter or marg (I used butter)

Muffins:
2 c flour
1/3 c sugar
2 1/2 t baking powder
1 t lemon zest
1/4 t salt
2/3 c milk
1/4 c butter or marg, melted (I used butter)
1 egg
2 c finely chopped fresh strawberries

1. In a small bowl, combine flour, pecans, brown sugar and softened butter. Mix with your fingers until crumbly (I used a fork). Set aside.

2. In a large bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking powder, lemon zest and salt. Make a well in the center.

3. In another bowl, whisk together milk, melted butter and egg until blended. Add to flour mixture and stir just until moistened. Do not over mix. The batter will be lumpy. (My batter turned into dough right here. It balled up and got strange. I was scared.) Fold in strawberries. (It was hard to fold berries in to a lump of dough. I'm sure I ended up way over mixing. But what other option did I have?? They ended up OK in the end)

4. Spoon batter into prepared muffin tin, filling cups 2/3 full. Sprinkle with streusel topping. (I patted mine down a bit with the back of the spoon.) Bake in preheated oven for 20-25 minutes.

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If I was going to change this at all, I would probably double the streusel topping recipe. I just can't get enough brown sugar, butter and pecans! I also baked mine to 20 minutes and they were a tad gooey inside (partially because of the strawberry bits). I think I would lean toward 25 next time.

Enjoy!!!!
:)