When I think of a summer time, I think flip flops, t-shirts, and the beach! And when I think about summertime desserts, I think easy to make and some bright, summertime flavors. Easy to make desserts are nice year-round, of course, but in the summer I don’t want to leave the oven on for hours when I want the flat to stay cool.

So this easy Raspberry muffins fits perfectly, because it takes only 30 minutes to prepare. The result is a tender muffin that looks like it is just packed with fruit,  raspberries give the muffin gorgeous pops of color and make it look just about irresistible, and muffin butter is made with yogurt and flavored with vanilla and a hint of lemon zest, which give the muffin a little depth of flavor and makes a nice background to the raspberries, which are definitely the star here.

Yield: 12 muffins.

Ingredients

3 large eggs
1 cup plain whole-milk yogurt
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
2 teaspoons grated lemon zest (approximately 2 lemons)
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 cups raspberries, fresh or frozen, thawed and rinsed
1 cup granulated white sugar
2 cups + 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour, divided

Preparation

1. Preheat the oven to 375°F. Line a standard 12-cup muffin tin with cupcake liners and grease the papers, or use silicone liners.
2. In a medium bowl, sift together flour, baking powder and salt; set aside. In a large bowl, whisk together the yogurt, sugar, eggs, lemon zest, vanilla and oil. Slowly whisk the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients.
3. In a separate bowl, mix the raspberries with the remaining tablespoon of flour, and fold them very gently into the batter.
4. Pour the batter into the prepared muffin pan, about 3/4 full using two spoons or an ice cream scoop.
5. Bake the muffins for about 20-25 minutes, until they’re light golden brown on top, and a toothpick inserted into the middle of one of the center muffins comes out clean.
6. Remove the muffins from the oven, loosen their edges from the pan, and after about 5 minutes transfer them to a rack to cool.
* If using fresh raspberries, dust them lightly with flour; this helps prevent the raspberries from “bleeding” into the muffins. If using frozen raspberries, add them frozen to the batter; this will help prevent them from “bleeding” our their juices.