Strawberries and Cupcakes

We spent a lot of time over the last week freezing strawberries.  We bought close to 200 pounds of late berries at the fruit auction and cleaned, chopped  and then froze them.  (They just would not have fit into our freezer space without pureeing them).  We will make jam and wine with these, once we have some extra time. 

Fortunately, we also got the best strawberry cupcake recipe from a friend this week -  just in time for the 4th of July holiday - and we had all the ingredients:

Cupcakes:

• 2 1/2 cups flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/3 cup buttermilk
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 1/2 cup softened butter
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup finely chopped or pureed strawberries

Preheat oven to 350 degree F.

Mix flour, baking soda and salt, set aside.
Mix buttermilk, oil and vanilla extract, set aside.
In a large bowl beat sugar and butter at medium speed for about 3 minutes, until light and fluffy.   Add the eggs, one at a time and reduce the speed to low.  Alternately add flour mixture and buttermilk mixture, mixing until just combined.  Gently fold strawberries into batter.  Do not overmix!  Spoon mixture into 24 paper-lined muffin cups and make 22-24 minutes.  Cool on wire rack. 

Strawberry Frosting:

• 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter
• 3 1/4 cup powdered sugar
• 1/4 cup pureed strawberries
• 1 teaspoon vanilla

Beat all ingredients with mixer at low speed until combined, then increase speed to medium and beat for 3 minutes, until frosting is smooth and creamy.  Spread on cooled cupcakes and enjoy!

Alternatively, you can bake them as mini-cupcakes.  Reduce the baking time to 15-18 minutes, depending on your oven.