Strawberry Fields Forever - Muffins and Bread

I had to use that title for this post. It's strawberries for days around here!

It's summer, so every time you go to the grocery store for one carton of strawberries, it's a 2 for 1 deal. Which is nice if you wanted two cartons of strawberries. If not, and you need ideas for what to do with all those strawberries, I've got two recipes right here for you.  Strawberry White Chocolate Muffins and a Strawberry Cream Cheese Bread.

My sister once said that muffins are just an excuse to eat cake for breakfast. Same goes for making a cake in a loaf pan and calling it bread.

I like the first recipe because they're the softest muffins I've ever had.  The sour cream and milk ensure the muffins aren't dry.   

Strawberry White Chocolate Muffins adapted from Will Cook for Smiles

(Makes 24 muffins)
1½ sticks of butter (12 tablespoons), room temperature
¾ cup of brown sugar
⅓ cup of white sugar
3 eggs, room temperature
½ cup of milk
1½ tsp vanilla extract
1 cup sour cream
2½ cups of flour
2 tsp baking powder
½ tsp baking soda
¼ tsp salt
1 cup chopped strawberries

1 cup white chocolate chips

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
Line two 12 cup muffin pan with cupcake liners.
In the large mixing bowl cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
Add the eggs and vanilla and beat on a low speed
In a separate bowl stir the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
Add the dry mixture milk, and sour cream to the butter mixture gradually. End with the last of the dry mixture, beating on low speed until just mixed.
Fold in the strawberries and white chocolate chips
Scoop the batter into the prepared muffin pan, filling each cup until almost full.
Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, until the muffins are lightly browned on top and a toothpick, inserted in the center, comes out clean.

Strawberry Cream Cheese Bread - Adapted from Living Beyond Measure 

The original recipe says this amount of batter will overflow in a regular loaf pan, so I used the excess batter to make a small cake in another glass container.

Ingredients:
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 cup sugar
4 ounces cream cheese, softened
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon  salt
1/2 cup buttermilk
1 1/2 cups strawberries, rinse, dried and chopped

Directions:
Grease and flour a 9×5 inch loaf pan and a smaller pan ( I used a small glass Pyrex)
With electric mixer cream butter, sugar and cream cheese until fluffy. Add eggs one at a time. Mix in vanilla.

In separate bowl, mix flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Blend flour mixture with butter mixture just until blended. Add buttermilk and only stir until just combined; do not over mix.

Carefully fold in strawberries. Dough mixture will be thick.

Place most of mixture in a loaf pan and a portion in the second pan 

Bake in a 350°F oven for 45-60 minutes.

Let it cool for at least 15 minutes before removing from pan.