{Recipe} Strawberry Chocolate Muffins

These strawberry chocolate muffins were born on a whim one morning last week. We've had four snow days and over three feet of snow in the past week, which has come with its own set of challenges, but it's also meant some nice, out of the ordinary, leisurely weekday breakfasts with my little girls. And incidentally, how perfect do strawberry chocolate muffins sound for Valentine's Day?

They might sound super sweet but they're actually not at all. The strawberries add a pleasant slightly tart note and there's just enough chocolate to flavor the muffins without taking these farther into dessert territory than breakfast. I definitely like a biscuity muffin more than a cakey one.

Give them a try for your next weekend breakfast, for Valentine's Day, or snow day...though goodness knows I'm not hoping for too many more of those at this point. There's not much room left for the snow to get pushed and if we keep going at this rate we'll be trapped in our house!

Strawberry Chocolate Muffins - makes 12 muffins
Ingredients
1 egg
1 c. milk
1/4 c. vegetable oil
2 c. all purpose flour
1/4 c. wheat germ
1/4 c. sugar
1 tbsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
1 c. fresh strawberries, diced
1/4 c. semisweet chocolate chips, chopped

Preheat oven to 350º.

In a small bowl or large measuring cup, whisk egg, milk, and oil until combined.

In another medium sized bowl, whisk flour, wheat germ, sugar, baking powder, and salt. Fold in strawberries and chocolate, then pour wet ingredients over and fold with a rubber spatula until just combined but still lumpy.

Line a muffin tin and scoop the batter evenly among the 12 cups. Bake for 20 minutes until lightly browned on top and set in the center (a toothpick should come out with just a few moist crumbs attached).

Let cool slightly and serve.

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