A cheeky sugared strawberry peeks out from the center of each lightly sweetened vanilla-flavoured muffin. Kids will love to help make these easy Peek-a-Boo Muffins. Enjoy them warm for breakfast or as a snack any time of day. (Try them with different fruits, too.)
Peek-a-Boo muffins are a fun project to bake with kids. 4-year-old Caleb did a super job. (He's the best sous-chef around!) From measuring out the flour and sugar to cracking eggs and dumping and stirring batter, there are a lot of enticing tasks for a young kitchen helper. The fun of rolling the strawberries in a bit of sugar and popping them into each muffin is the icing on the cake.
Or just whip up a batch for the grown-up kid inside of you and enjoy the fresh warm muffins with a cup of tea and your favourite magazine on a cozy day indoors.
Eating a Peek-a-Boo muffin as soon as it's cool enough to handle is the delightful reward for all your kitchen work!
Peek-a-Boo Muffin Tips
- Choose medium-sized strawberries. If you only have large ones, cut a slice off the thickest end of the berry to make the whole berry a bit smaller.
- Try using other fruits instead of strawberries. Chunks of banana work well, as do pieces of peaches or plums. Try a large whole seedless grape in each muffin or a few plump blueberries or a couple of raspberries.
- Rolling the fruit in coconut sugar (or regular granulated sugar) helps make it a bit jammy inside the muffin and crunchy on top. It doesn't add much extra sugar to each muffin, but really adds deliciousness.
- Using coconut sugar (an unrefined sugar) helps make these muffins a little less sweet and a little bit healthier.
- Use this gluten-free flour blend if you need to make the muffins gluten-free. They turn out reall well.
- Don't overmix the batter - just stir it until all the flour is mixed in. This makes for more tender muffins. Muffin batter is supposed to be a little bit lumpy.
- Spray paper muffin cups with cooking oil spray to make them easier to pull off the muffin (we forgot to do that for the batch in these photos . . . oops.)
- Make sure to cool the muffins for 10 minutes before eating them as the fruit will be very hot when the muffins first come out of the oven.
How to Make Easy Peek-a-Boo Muffins
First you need to stir together the dry ingredients in a large bowl.
Then crack the eggs into another bowl. Add the milk, some melted butter, and vanilla. (If you have a moo-cow pitcher to pour the milk from, it's a whole lot more fun!)
Pour the liquid ingredients into the dry ingredients, and stir them together with a big spoon, just until all the flour is mixed in. Don't worry if the batter is a bit lumpy.
Use an ice-cream scoop or ¼-cup handled measuring cup to scoop the batter into 12 lined muffin tins.
Then pick out 12 nice medium-sized strawberries and roll them in a bit of sugar. You can leave the calyxes (green end caps) on or pinch them out first (they are edible). Push each dipped strawberry down partway into a muffin - this will be the peek-a-boo part. 😀
Now pop the muffin tin into the oven and let the peek-a-boo muffins bake until they are golden and delicious looking.
Make sure to let them cool for a while before eating them, as the strawberries will be very hot when the muffins first come out of the oven.
Kids (and grown-ups) of all ages enjoy these muffins.
Check out some of our other amazingly tasty 'Cooking with Kids' recipes and have fun in the kitchen with your favourite young chef!
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Guten Appetit!
Peek-a-Boo Muffins
Equipment
- a 12-hole muffin tin
- 12 paper or silicone muffin liners
- an ice cream scoop or ¼ cup measuring cup (for filling the muffin liners)
Ingredients
- 1½ cups (210gms) gluten-free flour blend (or regular flour for non-gluten-free)
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¼ cup (50gms) coconut sugar (or brown sugar)
- 2 large eggs
- 1 cup (240ml) milk (or non-dairy milk)
- ¼ cup (60ml) melted butter (or oil)
- ½ teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 12 medium-sized strawberries
- 2 to 3 tablespoons coconut sugar to roll the strawberries in (or granulated sugar)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 375℉ (190℃). Place paper or silicone liners into a 12-hole muffin tin.
- In a large mixing bowl, stir together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and sugar.
- Crack the eggs into another bowl and add the milk, melted butter and vanilla. Whisk until the eggs are well combined into the other ingredients.
- Pour the liquid mixture into the dry mixture, and stir with a wooden spoon until it is just combined and you don't see any flour anymore. Don't overmix it.
- Use an ice cream scoop or ¼-cup measuring cup to fill the muffin liners. They will be about half full.
- Put the 2 or 3 tablespoons of sugar into a small bowl and roll each strawberry in it until it's coated. Put one sugar-coated strawberry into the middle of each muffin, pushing it down until only the top of it is showing.
- Bake for 18 to 20 minutes, until lightly browned and the muffin springs back when touched beside the strawberry.
- Allow to cool for 10 minutes before eating as the strawberries will be very hot at first.
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