Our “top chef” agreed to come back to the kitchen to make the Hide and Seek Muffins from Mollie Katzen’s Pretend Soup cookbook.

My strawberry plants are still young, so they are producing sweet berries, just not that many.

So, we used a mix of strawberries from our garden and other local strawberries.  Cracking eggs may be his self-proclaimed specialty, but her also enjoyed rolling the strawberries in sugar before burying them in the muffin batter.

We made these as a breakfast treat for Lauren and her visiting friends. But that doesn’t mean the Top Chef doesn’t get to enjoy his own creation…

Hide and Seek Muffins

from Mollie Katzen’s Pretend Soup 

1 1/2 cups flour

2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 cup sugar

2 eggs (from Farmer Kim)

1 cup milk

1/2 tsp vanilla

4 Tbsp butter, melted

12 medium-sized strawberries (from the garden and/or local)

2 to 3 Tbsp sugar for rolling strawberries

Directions

Preheat the oven to 375F and place reusable or paper liners in the muffin pan.

In a medium bowl, combine the dry ingredients.

In another bowl, crack the eggs. Add the milk, vanilla, melted butter.  Whisk about 20 times.

Pour the wet mixture into the dry mixture.  Mix with a spoon until the flour is “all gone”.

Use a 1/4 cup measure with a handle to fill the muffin cups halfway.

Roll each strawberry in sugar.  Put one in the center of each muffin, pushing it down with your finger.

Bake 15 – 20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted all the way down comes out clean.  Remove from pan to cool.

Cool for at least 10 minutes before eating.

Makes 1 dozen muffins.