Pink Lemonade Muffins

The quintessential summer activity for kids is building their own lemonade stand. You set up shop on a little table at the bottom of your driveway, squeeze lemons and mix it with sugar and water and charge a nickel a cup. I personally never had one, but they looked like so much fun! 

Lemonade is such a great drink for summer it's thirst-quenching and over lots of ice, it's super refreshing. Pink lemonade is made by adding food coloring to change the color to pink, but if you add strawberries then you're adding more flavor and natural coloring to an already delicious drink. In the US, strawberries are in abundance in the summer so they are the perfect addition to a summer beverage. 

In Israel, strawberries are in season in the winter so for this recipe I had to use frozen strawberries and they were still great. 

Pink Lemonade Muffins 

1 3/4 cups flour 

1/2 tsp salt 

2 tsp baking powder 

1/3 cup milk of your choice

1/4 cup oil 

1 egg

1/4 cup fresh lemon juice - about 2 lemons 

1 tsp lemon zest 

1/3 cup sugar + 2 Tbs for sprinkling over the tops of the muffins 

1 cup diced strawberries - about 7-10 medium strawberries*

Preheat oven to 200°/400°F

Line a standard-size muffin pan with paper liners 

In a large bowl mix together flour, salt, and baking powder until combined. In a liquid measuring cup mix together the milk, oil, egg, and lemon juice. Add the liquid ingredients to the flour mixture along with the lemon zest and sugar. Mix until just combined and then gently fold in the strawberries. 

Scoop into the prepared muffin pan and sprinkle each muffin with sugar. 

Bake for 15-18 minutes until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. 

Enjoy these muffins at your next picnic with a tall refreshing glass of lemonade. 

*if using frozen strawberries let them defrost slightly to cut them  

Yield: 12 muffins