Strawberry cream cheese muffins

The lovely strawberry flavour of these muffins reminds you of a summer day, even in mid-summer, even in mid-winter. This is a good way to use frozen strawberries, or to make a few ripe fresh berries go a long way. Use berries with a strong flavour.

2 cups self-raising flour

¾ cup sugar

¼ tsp salt

½ cup cream cheese

1 cup milk

1 egg

1 tsp finely grated orange rind

1 cup frozen or fresh strawberries chopped

Measure the dry ingredients into a large bowl. Whisk to mix. Measure the cream cheese into a bowl and then beat until smooth, warming it if necessary. Add the milk, egg and orange rind and combine with a whisk or beater.

Hop the frozen berries into more or less 5 mm cubes, without thawing them. Chop fresh berries into pieces the same size. Combine the three mixtures, stirring as little as possible. Divide mixture between 12 medium muffin pans, sprayed with non-stick spray, putting about ¼ cup of mixture in each. Bake at 200°C for about 12 minutes for fresh berry muffins, and for about 15 minutes for frozen berry muffins, until centre spring back when pressed. Dust with icing sugar or halve and serve with orange cream cheese spread and ore berries, or halve and serve with ice-cream.