Oh muffins, how you satisfy me with your carby, not-quite-cake versatility. You are a delicious breakfast indeed.
Okay! So this muffin recipe combines berries and ricotta cheese. The combo is great. Due to the ricotta, the muffins stay moist and slightly tangy inside while developing a nice chewy crust around the edges. Bursts of bright berry flavor pop in your mouth from the raspberries, blueberries, AND strawberries (talk about berry-licious-ness). My mom absolutely loved the three different berries…so in honor of the three kinds of berries, we ate three muffins while catching up about the day haha. My dad broke his diet when he walked into the house, smelled some fresh baked goodness, and couldn’t resist taking a bite!
The batter is thick, so don’t worry when it looks more like wet bread dough than muffin batter. Mixing and slightly mashing the fruit gives the muffins a neat purple berry color. You’ll definitely want to make this recipe for your next weekend brunch!
1 cup strawberries (quartered)
½ cup raspberries (thawed frozen or fresh work)
½ cup blueberries
2 cups flour
½ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
1 cup sugar
1 stick of butter
1 cup ricotta cheese
1 egg
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon honey
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Lay the strawberries (cut into quarters) on a metal cooling rack. Place this rack on a baking sheet and place in the oven for 30 minutes. This is just to dry the strawberries out a bit so the muffins aren’t too moist. After 30 minutes in the oven, take the strawberries out and lower the heat to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
Mix the sugar and butter in a large bowl until whipped/light. Add the egg, vanilla, and ricotta cheese. Mix until thoroughly combined.
In a separate bowl, mix the dry ingredients together until thoroughly combined. Add in the raspberries, blueberries, and slightly dried strawberries. Slowly add the dry mix to the wet, folding the batter to combine everything. Mix until everything is incorporated.
Using an ice cream scoop, take one scoop of the batter and plop it into a prepared muffin tin (either greased or with muffin paper cups in each slot). This will make 12 muffins. Sprinkle the top of each batter scoop with a pinch of extra sugar.
Insert muffin pan into the oven and bake for 30 minutes, or until the tops are lightly golden.
Cool slightly before removing muffins from the pan and wrappers. Enjoy!
