As a kid, it didn’t take much to make me happy. For instance, I remember begging my mom for the special treat of chocolate chips in a bowl, microwaved until they collapsed under my spoon into a simple chocolate-fudgey experience. One time, after giving in to my pleas for melted chocolate chips, my mom became perturbed when the microwave began making strange noises as it heated the dessert. With delight I cried, “the microwave’s burping!” This added a whole new level of heavenly joy to the melted chocolate chip dessert.

These muffins remind me a little of that childhood indulgence, but at the same time they’re much more sophisticated. Chewy muffin with dried strawberries surrounds a hot oasis of chocolatey goodness, melting into the strawberries around it in a sort of reverse chocolate-covered strawberry – more like a strawberry-covered chocolate! Whatever you choose to call it, these muffins are a good, fun experiment. The only thing about them I might change is to somehow make the batter more cake-y and less chewy, and that’s a matter of personal taste. Enjoy!

Inside Out Chocolate Covered Strawberry Muffins

based on recipe from Taste of Home

makes 12 regular-sized muffins

Ingredients:

• 1 cup all purpose flour
• 1 packet strawberries and cream oatmeal
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp baking soda
• 1 egg
• 1 container vanilla Greek nonfat yogurt
• 1 cup plain almond milk
• 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
• a few generous handfuls of freeze dried strawberry slices
• 12 Hershey’s Special Dark Chocolate Kisses, unwrapped

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 Fahrenheit. Line a regular-sized muffin tin with 12 foil liners.

In a large bowl, mix together the flour, oatmeal, salt, baking powder, and baking soda. Beat in the egg. Add the vanilla, yogurt, and almond milk. Mix well.

Add dried strawberry slices. Stir.

Spoon batter into prepared muffin tin.

Bake at 350 Fahrenheit for 15 minutes, stopping after about 8 minutes to drop the chocolate kisses, upside down, into the center of each muffin. Remove from oven when a cake tester comes out clean.

Serve warm, with the chocolate kisses nice and melty…