Mixed Berry Muffins

Things are kind of serious around here lately--Aaron is finishing up his hardest semester, I am frantically studying organic chemistry and researching medical school (and working two jobs), the kids are moving from one activity to another, and the addition of a new family member (a kitten, currently named Sassy) has stirred up the dogs.

We need a moment to take a step back, relax, and bake muffins.  So we did.  And I learned two things:

Lesson #1:  We need to bake with strawberries more.  I threw together these muffins with not much regard to what I was putting in them--I just knew I wanted to use up the odd assortment of berries in the fridge before they turned rotten.  I threw in a few blackberries, a few raspberries and the rest of the blueberries.  The batter still just needed more so I threw in some strawberries too.

The combination was perfect....buttery muffin, sweet berries, and the baked strawberries made them taste of strawberry jam.

Lesson #2:  When feeling stressed, tired, overworked, over-scheduled, getting in the kitchen with the kids seems to make everything a little better.  Baking muffins together took about 45 minutes (including bake time and clean up) and was exactly what my family needed to be centered again.

I hope you can use these valuable lessons in your everyday life......

Mixed Berry Muffins with a Hint of Grapefruit

Recipe Loosely Adapted from Dorie Greenspan's, Baking

Ingredients

• ½ cup sugar
• 2 cups all purpose flour
• 2 and ½ teaspoon baking powder
• ¼ teaspoon baking soda
• ½ cup fresh grapefruit juice
• ½ cup milk
• 1 stick of butter (melted and cooled)
• 2 large eggs
• ¾-1 cup of assorted mixed berries (raspberries, blackberries, strawberries!)

Step-by-Step:

1) Preheat over to 375 degrees and spray regular sized muffin pan with cooking spray.

2) In a large bowl, rub the grapefruit zest and sugar together until the sugar is moist.  Add the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.

3) In a seperate bowl, add the wet ingredients (juice, water, eggs, butter).

4) Add the wet ingredients to the dry and mix with a wooden spoon or spatula until combined.

5) Finally, add the berries and fold them in gently.  You don't want them to squish and change the color of the batter.

6) Bake for about 20 minutes.