Homemade Strawberry Muffins

What You Need:

• 6 tablespoons butter
• ¾ cup sugar
• 2 eggs
• ½ cup milk
• 14 strawberries, fresh or defrosted frozen
• Food coloring, optional
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
•  strawberry jam

How to Make It:

1. Preheat the oven to 350° F. In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugar with a wooden spoon, a potato masher or a handheld electric mixer. Mix in the eggs, one at a time, and add the milk.
2. Rinse the strawberries and cut off the greens with a plastic knife (a fun job for 3- to 5-year-olds who are accustomed to cutting play dough). Mash the berries with a potato masher or puree in a blender. Then stir the berries into the butter and milk mixture. Tip: For muffins with a more pronounced pink color, add a few drops of red liquid food coloring or dabs of paste coloring.
3. In a separate bowl, sift the flour, salt and baking powder. Stir well.
4. Add the flour mixture to the berry mixture. Use a wooden spoon to stir until all the white disappears.
5. Line the muffin tin with paper liners. Drop the batter from a tablespoon to fill the cups halfway. Add a surprise: an unwrapped  ½ teaspoon of jam. Then spoon more batter to fill almost to the top. Bake until the muffins begin to brown and a toothpick inserted near the center (but not in the Kiss) comes out clean, about 20 to 25 minutes.
6. Remove the muffins from the tin and cool. Serve them warm in a basket lined with a red napkin or on plates with doilies.