Roasted Stawberry Muffins (The Hoods are Here!!!) (Sorta)

This recipe is majorly inspired by from White On Rice's recipe for Roasted Strawberry Whole Wheat muffins. I just wanted to get that out of the way. Although I am a bit obsessive about roasting vegetables it had never occurred to me to roast strawberries.

Also, they have much prettier pictures on their blog! Stunning, actually. I tend to take pictures while balancing a toddler in one arm who is reaching for the Iphone yelling "BIG TRUCK MOVIE!!!" while I try to take a photo.  I feel this may affect the quality of my photos. :) Perhaps.

The Hood Strawberries are FINALLY ripening around here. The season for these sweet little gems is very short so you have to get while the getting is good. We were lucky enough to be gifted a large bowl this week! But sadly, they weren't as sweet and perfumey as we had anticipated. Then I remembered the roasted strawberry recipe (again here, I want anyone to think I am stealing recipes!). Twenty minutes in the oven and the house smelled like jam and the berries were browned and a bit sweeter. And the flavor was just more strawberri-er. (That is a word now.)

I tossed the berries with a bit of olive oil and then folded them into a vanilla muffin batter. They are not too sweet - I think next time I would double the sugar in the muffins. I also wish vanilla bean paste was in my budget, because I think that would have taken these to the next level.

Makes about 12 muffins
Roasted Strawberry Muffins
1 pint of not so fabulous strawberries
1-2 teaspoons oil
2 eggs
2 tablespoons melted butter
3/4 cup yogurt ( I used nonfat Greek)
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 3/4 cup flour ( I did half whole wheat flour, and half all purpose flour)
1/4 cup brown sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder

Heat oven to 400 degrees
1. Rinse and hull strawberries, cut in half if large. Lay in a single layer on a baking tray. Drizzle with oil and roll with your hands to coat the berries.
2. Roast for about 15-20 minutes or until the berries look a little browned and shriveled. Cool while making the muffin batter.
3. In a small bowl combine eggs, melted butter, yogurt and vanilla. Mix with a fork until smooth.
4. In a larger bowl add flour, sugar and baking soda. Stir to combine.
5. Pour the liquid ingredients into the flour mixture. Combine using as few spoon strokes as you can.
6. Put paper liners in muffin tins. Spoon about a tablespoon of batter into a cup. Lay 3-4 berries on top of the batter. Cover with another tablespoon of batter. Top the muffin with 1-2 more roasted berries.
7. Bake 20-25 minutes or until golden brown.