I was made aware of the Zespri KiwiFruit Lunch 2.0 contest at BlogHer when a woman handed me a flyer in the EXPO hall. She began to tell me about it and before she could even finish, I said “I know exactly what I am making.”
At that moment it hit me that I could not recall even introducing my children to Kiwi and at the same moment, I knew exactly how I would. No, not by presenting some fuzzy brown oval of a fruit and telling them to try it. Nope, I would combine this lively fruit into a favorite recipe of theirs: Strawberry muffins. So after some tinkering, we have the perfect muffins for lunch boxes, snacks or even breakfast. These will definitely be in my daughter’s lunch box this year!
These would be great to freeze and have on hand.
½ pound (8oz) fresh strawberries, hulled, rinsed and cut into small pieces
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup organic unbleached all purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 salt
1/2 cup agave nectar, light
3/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup canola oil
1/2 cup organic applesauce, no sugar added
2 eggs
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a muffin tin with baking spray. In a small saucepan, bring strawberries and kiwi to a boil over medium heat, mashing gently, while they cook for 1 minute. Pour into a bowl to cool.
2. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, cinnamon, baking powder, and salt; set aside.
3. In a separate bowl, beat nectar, sugar, oil, applesauce, eggs and vanilla until combined.
4. Add dry ingredients to wet and fold to combine. Fold in the kiwi & strawberry mixture.
5. Fill muffin pan-makes about 15 muffins or just overfill one pan to make 12 muffins.
6. Bake until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean, about 22 minutes. Cool completely.
I brought the muffins out to them while they were outside playing with a friend and said nothing except ‘snack time.’ After they consumed them I told them those were Kiwi-Strawberry muffins. My son asked ‘What Kiwi Momma?’ and I told them it is a fruit. In unison, I heard ‘Yum’.
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