Old Fashioned Raspberry Muffins

You know the saying “when life hands you lemons”? Well, life didn’t so much as hand me lemons as it pie’d me in the face. Then, as I was wiping the whipped cream from my eyes, life said, “here, catch!” and beaned me with those damned lemons.

There are times when life gets in the way of everything else: your work, your hobbies, your physical health, and absolutely your mental health. And there is nothing you can do but get through it.

So you do something, anything, for yourself; you watch a TV show you love, read a book, or bake. I needed to bake.

Muffins are a happy food. They take little to put together, but the little is soothing. Scoop, level, sift, repeat. Scoop, level, sift, repeat.

Okay. I may have scooped, leveled, sifted, and repeated one too many times. But can you really have too many muffins?

I admit that when I am sad, I bake in excess. But I promise that the 4 dozen muffins I made did not go to waste. In fact, they are already gone.

Sometimes you just need a little bit of happy. Just a little bit in the middle of the terrible to keep you going; to help you to keep going through it until you come out the other end. I hope this recipe for raspberry muffins provides that for you. It did for me.

Adapted from Genius Kitchen

Yields 1 dozen muffins

Old Fashioned raspberry muffins

  • 1 cup milk
  • 1/2 cup unsalted butter
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons lemon zest
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • 2 large eggs
  • 2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 3/4 cup sugar
  • 2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 3/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1 1/2 cups fresh or frozen raspberries

old fashioned raspberry muffins

  • Preheat oven to 400F; line twelve muffin cups with paper liners.
  • Combine milk, butter, lemon zest, and vanilla extract in a small saucepan; stir over medium heat until butter melts. Cool until mixture is warm to touch; beat in eggs.
  • Sift flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt into a large bowl; add milk mixture and stir until just blended. Gently fold in raspberries.
  • Divide batter equally among prepared muffin cups. Bake until golden and tester comes out clean, about 15-20 minutes.
  • Store in airtight container. I recommend refrigerating them so they will keep longer.