For Summer strawberry mint muffins
Makes 12 medium muffins
1 cup hulled and chopped strawberries
3 tablespoons chopped fresh mint

For Cranberry orange bread
Makes 1 medium 8x4x2-inch/20x10x5-cm loaf pan
1 cup/125 g cranberries
grated zest of 1 orange

For Cranberry orange bread
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F/175 degrees C. Butter the loaf pan and sprinkle with flour, discarding excess.
Sift flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt into a large bowl and make a well in center. In a small bowl, whisk together eggs, milk, and oil. Add egg mixture to well and stir with a whisk until just mixed. Note: Do not beat batter or bread will be heavy. Stir in cranberries and orange zest.
Spoon mixture into pan, filling it two-thirds full. Bake on lower rack of oven until done, 1-1 1/4 hours. Let cool slightly, then turn out on a rack to cool. Serve warm or at room temperature.

For Summer strawberry mint muffins
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F/200 degrees C. Butter and flour 12 medium muffin cups. Prepare batter as for bread above, substituting hulled and chopped strawberries for cranberries and 3 tablespoons chopped fresh mint for orange zest. Pour into cups and bake until done, 20-25 minutes.

Quick Fix
If muffins are heavy or stale, make rum balls; for every 6 oz/175 g of muffins, finely chop 1 cup/125 g walnut halves with muffins in the food processor. Sift together 1 cup/125 g confectioner's sugar and 2 tablespoons cocoa. Stir in 1/4 cup/60 ml rum and 1 tablespoon light corn syrup or honey. Stir in crumb mixture - it should be moist enough to shape. Roll mixture between palms into walnut-sized balls. Set on a tray of confectioner's sugar and roll with two forks until coated. Makes about 40 balls.

Recipe(s) from Cook it Right, Achieve Perfection with Every Dish You Cook