Fiddler's Favorite Recipes Episode 16: Violist Ayane Kozasa’s Strawberry Muffins

By Desirée Ruhstrat: Today we have Ayane Kozasa’s special Strawberry Muffins! I first met Ayane when I was a judge at the Kingsville Young Performers Competition. Ayane has since crossed over to the other side... and now is a violist in the GRAMMY-nominated Aizuri Quartet. Ayane enjoys a career that spans a broad spectrum of musical personas. Winner of the Primrose International Viola Competition, her two additional awards at the competition defines her passion for music: the best chamber music and best commissioned work performances. With the Lincoln Trio we recorded the entire works of Turina with Ayane. Her wonderful musicianship and her great sense of humor made for a most memorable experience! Here Ayane shows her wonderful creativity in this next Episode of Fiddlers Favorites. P.S.: A special treat in this very creative video is the background music, LIFT, performed by the Aizuri Quartet and written by Ayane’s boyfriend, as well as stop-motion appearances by a small character named "Eggsnail"!Paul Wiancko. From Ayane: "Finding small-batch baking recipes has been super helpful for rationing flour and having a variety of treats for our tastebuds ??. This one is now a household favorite, with its rich eggy flavor, its flexibility in flour and milk options, and ability to pack in tons of fruit in every bite. The original recipe calls for plain flour and whole milk. I found a long lost bag of almond flour in the back of my pantry, so that with the oat milk made for some tasty, nutty flavored muffins! You can also try with different berries! These muffins are inspired and adapted from Hummingbird High as well as NYC's Levain Bakery (which is also doing nationwide shipping during this time if you need your giant gooey cookie fix!)STRAWBERRY MUFFINSIngredients: Dry Ingredients:

• 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup almond flour (you can also use only all-purpose flour! That would be 1 1/4 cups)
• 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1 tsp baking powder

Wet Ingredients:

• 1/4 cup oat milk at room temperature (you can use any other milk!)
• 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Plus:

• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 4 tablespoons unsalted butter at room temperature
• 1 large egg at room temperature
• 1 1/4 cups of of strawberries
• Sugar for sprinkling (optional)

Instructions:

1. Combine and mix dry ingredients in one bowl, and the wet ingredients in another. Set aside.
2. Beat together 1/2 cup sugar and butter until light and fluffy (3 minutes). It's key that everything is at room temp. This will give you very tall, domed muffins!
3. Add egg and keep beating til mixture is creamy.
4. Combine dry/wet ingredients into the sugar/butter/egg mixture by alternating each 2-3 times. Carefully mix until just blended.
5. Add chopped up strawberries. Cover mixture and let it rest at room temp for one hour.
6. Heat oven to 400 F. Spray four muffin cavities in muffin tin with non-stick spray. Or, I used paper muffin cups for pizzaz!
7. Once batter is rested, scoop out and evenly distribute into the four cavities. Sprinkle the tops with sugar if you'd like (I like it without, since I like things less sweet). Pour a little bit of water in the other cavities for steaming.
8. Bake! 22-24 min.
9. They're done when a toothpick comes out basically clean. Let them cool and enjoy!

You might also like:

• Fiddler's Favorite Recipes Episode 14: Miriam Fried’s Salmon With Herb Lemon Marinade
• Fiddler's Favorite Recipes Episode 11: Chee-Yun's Arugula Salad with Rice and Salmon Roe/Caviar
• Fiddler's Favorite Recipes Episode 8: Rachel Barton Pine's Peanut Butter Delight