Fresh Strawberry Muffins w/ Cinnamon Sugar

Aaron and I rarely have family visit us since we live on the East Coast and our large family is spread all across the country and some outside the country, as well. So, it is a special time for us right now to have Aaron’s mom and his sister visit us for two whole weeks! I am having a blast cooking for them, and they get to see the madness that goes on behind the scenes to cook, photograph, and post each recipe. 🙂

This morning, I made some strawberry muffins. Now, most of you are thinking, “What’s the big deal? They’re just muffins.” Let me tell you, I always forget to not overmix the batter and usually end up making the muffins quite tough. This time, however, with a recipe so simple and so yummy, I didn’t want to forget, and I DID NOT FORGET!!! They were beautiful, fluffy, tasty, delicious muffins. Okay, I will stop talking about it and just give you the recipe.
But, not before you see some more scrumptious pictures of these muffins! 

INGREDIENTS

1/2 cup butter, softened
3/4 cup sugar
1 egg
2 cups flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup milk
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 cup chopped strawberries
3 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon

DIRECTIONS

Cream butter and sugar. Add egg and mix well. (I did this in my Kitchenaid on medium speed)

Sift flour, baking powder and salt in a small bowl.

Add flour mixture and milk alternately to butter mixture. Add vanilla. (I turned the speed on my mixer down to the lowest setting, so I would not overmix the batter)

Gently STIR in strawberries (At this point, I stopped the mixer, and stirred in the strawberries by hand. About ten turns of the spatula.)

Spoon batter into muffin pan. Combine sugar and cinnamon and sprinkle over the muffins.

Bake at 400 degrees for 20 minutes.