Mini baked strawberry donut muffins are a delicious treat. They also make an easy Valentine’s day dessert.
With Valentine’s Day right around the corner and strawberries on sale, I wanted to create an easy Valentine’s Day dessert. Mini donut muffins are something I like to whip up whenever I’m in the need for something quick and easy. My friends seem to love them as much as I do.
I’ve made baked strawberry donuts before, but I wanted to try making a strawberry muffin donut version. These donut muffins have a mild strawberry flavor and are topped with strawberry pieces.
I experimented with different ways to add the strawberries. I wanted the tops to have a strawberry heart but placing the strawberry piece on top caused an uneven lumpy surface during baking. Plus, the pretty hearts! However, once coated in sugar, I quite like how they turned out.
I also made a version with chopped strawberries mixed into the batter. These came out with much more even tops but they are a little plain in appearance.
To enhance the strawberry color, I added just a touch of food coloring to counteract the browning that occurs as the muffins bake. I love the blushing pink color of the muffins.
Fluffy and light, they taste like old fashioned donuts baked into mini muffin form.
Strawberry Donut Muffins
Ingredients
- 3/4 cup white granulated sugar
- 1 large egg
- 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
- 1/4 tsp cinnamon
- 1/4 cup vegetable oil
- 1/2 cup fat free milk
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/4 cup fresh strawberry puree
- 2-3 drops of pink food coloring
- 30 cut-out strawberry heart slices or 4 tbsp of finely chopped fresh strawberries
- granulated sugar for coating
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease two mini muffin pans.
- To make the strawberry puree, add about 1 cup of washed and hulled strawberries into a food processor. Add 1-2 tbsp of water and blend on high speed until strawberries are completely pureed. You will have more than a 1/4 cup of puree. You can use the rest for another recipe or for a smoothie.
- In a large bowl, add sugar and egg. Whisk until smooth. Add in flour, baking powder, salt, nutmeg, cinnamon, vegetable oil, milk, vanilla, 1/4 cup strawberry puree. Whisk until batter is almost completely smooth. Very small lumps are okay. Add in the food coloring and whisk until completely combined into batter and batter becomes an even shade of light pink. If you are making these muffins without strawberry pieces on top, stir in 4 tbsp of finely chopped strawberries. If you are decorating the muffins with strawberries on top, you do not need to add the finely chopped strawberries.
- Spoon batter into greased muffin pan, filling them about 2/3 full. If you are decorating with strawberry pieces, gently place one on top of each muffin.
- Bake for about 14-15 minutes or until muffins are cooked. Allow muffins to cool a few minutes. Using a small and thin spatula, loosen the edges of the muffins to remove them from pan.
- If desired, coat tops of muffins in sugar.
Notes
- This recipe works best with fresh strawberries. Frozen strawberries retain too much water which will affect the batter.
- The muffins are sweet enough without the sugar coating, but the coating does give them a nicer appearance.
- Nutrition estimate does not include the sugar coating.
Nutrition
The nutrition information provided are only estimates based on an online nutritional calculator. I am not a certified nutritionist. Please consult a professional nutritionist or doctor for accurate information and any dietary restrictions and concerns you may have.
This looks yummy!!
I hope you enjoy!
How much erythritol do I use in place of 3/4 cup regular sugar?
Sorry, but without testing it we can’t say what the right amount should be.
could I add chopped strawberries and a strawberry slice ? I wasn’t sure how that might effect the batter.
Thanks!
You can do a little of both, but keep in mind that the strawberries add a lot of moisture, so I don’t recommend adding too much chopped strawberries.