Strawberry Cupcakes From Scratch…Almost

For the strawberry reduction

Add a cup of cut up strawberries, a tablespoon of lemon juice and a tablespoon of sugar together in a small pot.

Smash the berries a bit and simmer for a while to reduce.

Strain the mixture and cool before using. Set aside.

For the batter

Preheat oven to 350F. I actually turn on the oven a bit later; either I am really slow or our oven warms fast.

Add cupcake papers to your muffin tin.

Wash, dry, hull and chop the strawberries into small pieces.

Combine the sugar, flour, baking powder, and baking soda into a large bowl then whisk to combine and set aside.

In another smaller bowl, whisk together the milk, egg whites, yogurt, butter, strawberry reduction, vanilla, and lemon zest.

Combine wet and dry mixtures. Whisk until just combined. If the batter is a bit lumpy, it’s okay!

Fold in fresh strawberry chunks then transfer batter to cupcake papers, filling each about 3/4 the way up.

Bake for about 30 minutes or a toothpick comes out clean. (I baked on convection setting, which took about 20 minutes)