Easy Strawberry Cream Muffins (Tender & Fluffy)

These utterly tender and fluffy Strawberry Cream Muffins are bursting with sweet fresh strawberries and have that perfect tang from sour cream, making them a delightful bite any time of day. I just love how these muffins capture the bright taste of berry season, reminding me of lazy summer mornings and simple pleasures. They are surprisingly easy to whip up and bring a touch of homemade goodness to breakfast or an afternoon treat.

Why You’ll Love These Strawberry Muffins

If you’re a fan of those generously sized, soft muffins you find at a good bakery, prepare to fall head over heels for this homemade version. They are wonderfully light, incredibly tender, and loaded with juicy fresh strawberry pieces. Every bite tastes like a little bit of sunshine packaged in a muffin cup.

You could even toss in a handful of fresh blueberries to make them delightful Strawberry Blueberry Muffins if you like.

A key ingredient here is the sour cream, which works wonders for achieving a wonderfully moist and tender crumb texture in these muffins.

Beyond just adding moisture, the acidity in the sour cream reacts beautifully with the baking soda in the batter. This reaction creates tiny air pockets that expand as the muffins bake, giving them that lovely lift. The result is a fluffy, bakery-quality muffin you made right in your own kitchen, ready in under an hour.

Gathering Your Ingredients

Here’s what you’ll need to make these delicious Strawberry Cream Muffins.

• All purpose flour
• Baking powder
• Baking soda
• Kosher salt
• Granulated sugar
• Unsalted butter, softened
• Large eggs
• Pure vanilla extract
• Sour cream
• Fresh strawberries

Step-by-Step Baking Process

Let’s walk through how to make these fantastic strawberry muffins.

First, gently wash your fresh strawberries and remove the green stems. Cut the berries into bite-sized pieces.

Get your muffin pan ready by lining it with paper liners. If you prefer not using liners, you can give the pan cups a good spray with nonstick cooking spray instead.

In a medium bowl, combine the dry ingredients flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Set this bowl aside for now. In a separate large mixing bowl, use either an electric stand mixer or a hand mixer to cream together the softened butter and the sugar.

Continue mixing until the butter mixture is light and fluffy. Next, beat in the wet ingredients. Add the vanilla extract and eggs first, incorporating them one at a time. Then, mix in the sour cream until the batter is smooth and everything is well combined.

With your mixer running on a low speed setting, gradually add the dry flour mixture into the wet ingredients. Mix just until you no longer see any dry streaks of flour. Be careful not to overmix the batter at this stage. Set aside one third of a cup of the diced strawberries for later. Take the remaining strawberries and gently fold them into the muffin batter using a spatula.

Now it’s time to fill your muffin cups and get them ready for baking.

Spoon the batter evenly into the prepared muffin cups. Fill each cup nearly all the way to the top edge to help create muffins with a nice rounded crown.

Press a few of the reserved strawberry pieces onto the surface of the batter in each muffin cup. If you like, you could also sprinkle the tops with a little turbinado sugar (raw sugar) for extra crunch and sparkle before baking. Bake your muffins in a preheated oven until a toothpick inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean.

The baking time for this may vary depending on your specific oven, but typically takes anywhere from 22 to 25 minutes.

Helpful Tips for Perfect Muffins

A couple of pointers to help you get the best results every time.

Allow the muffins to cool in the baking pan for about 5 minutes after removing them from the oven. Then, gently transfer them to a wire rack to finish cooling completely.

For the best texture and easiest mixing, try to use ingredients that are at room temperature. Room temperature eggs, butter, and sour cream combine much more smoothly into the batter. This leads to a better texture in the final baked muffins and honestly just makes the whole process easier for you.

Making Substitutions

We’ve experimented a bit with this recipe and found a few substitutions that work well.

Butter This recipe calls for softened room temperature butter for a lovely soft and moist muffin texture. You can substitute an equal amount of vegetable oil or even melted coconut oil if you prefer. If you are looking for a lower fat option for healthy strawberry muffins, unsweetened applesauce also works as a substitute.

Sour cream The addition of sour cream is what gives these muffins their light, fluffy texture and helps them stay wonderfully moist for several days. If you don’t have sour cream on hand, plain unsweetened Greek yogurt makes a very similar and equally delicious result.

Strawberries Using fresh, sweet strawberries truly makes for the most perfect strawberry muffins. However, you can easily swap them out for another favorite berry you have available. Blueberries, raspberries, or a mix would be equally tasty in this recipe.

Using Frozen Strawberries

Yes, absolutely you can use frozen strawberries for these muffins if fresh ones aren’t available or in season. You’ll just need to thaw them completely and drain off any excess liquid before you add them to the muffin mix.

If you are using whole frozen strawberries, remember you’ll also need to dice them into smaller pieces before incorporating them into the batter for this homemade muffin recipe.

Can I Make These Gluten Free

While all purpose flour generally gives the best results for this recipe’s texture, you can certainly adapt it using gluten free flour too. We’ve had good luck testing these muffins using a 1 to 1 gluten free baking mix, and they turned out still delicious and satisfying.

Storing Your Strawberry Cream Muffins

To keep your baked strawberry muffins fresh, store them in an airtight container. They will maintain their freshness at room temperature for up to 3 days. For longer storage, you can keep them in the refrigerator for up to 1 week.

Adjusting for Jumbo or Mini Muffins

This recipe as written is perfect for making 12 standard-sized muffins. However, you can definitely use the batter to make different sizes.

If you want to make jumbo muffins, this recipe will yield about 6 large ones. You will need to increase the baking time slightly to somewhere between 27 to 32 minutes, as larger muffins naturally take longer to bake through.

For mini muffins, you’ll need to significantly cut down the baking time. Mini muffins usually bake in about 12 to 14 minutes. This recipe should make approximately 36 mini muffins.

More Delicious Muffin Recipes

A collection of wonderful muffin recipes is always a great thing to have on hand. There is something so comforting about the smell of freshly baked muffins in the morning or as an afternoon pick-me-up.

With so many different flavors and varieties available, you can easily find a favorite for every season.

These strawberry and cream muffins certainly make me think of warm, sunny summer mornings. Alongside these, I often bake Blueberry Muffins and Apple Streusel Muffins when fresh fruit is abundant in the summer months.

When the weather starts getting cooler, my baking shifts towards cozy breakfast treats featuring warming spices like Dairy-Free Pumpkin Muffins and classic Cinnamon Streusel Muffins.

I honestly hadn’t considered combining oatmeal and cherries in a muffin until I tried Cherry Oatmeal Muffins. My family now asks for those year-round, along with comforting Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins.

If you are on the lookout for a muffin recipe that feels a bit lighter or healthier, I wholeheartedly recommend giving Banana Oat Bran Peanut Butter Chip Muffins a try. They are wonderfully easy to make and taste absolutely delicious.

Frequently Asked Questions

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