Strawberry Squash Muffin Bowls with Chocolate-Dipped Muffin Pops

Makes approximately 18 muffin bowls and approximately 25 muffin pops.

Ingredients:

2¾ cup organic unbleached white flour

½ cup organic brown sugar, packed down

2 teaspoons baking powder, slightly rounded

1 teaspoon baking soda

¼ teaspoon finely ground sea salt

½ teaspoon cinnamon

4 large cage-free organic eggs whites

½ cup strawberry seltzer water

1 cup steam-baked butternut squash

¼ cup organic sunflower oil

¼ cup organic naturally sweetened applesauce

½ teaspoon organic orange flavor

½ cup organic whole milk

⅔ cup organic Strawberry Sauce

⅓ cup organic strawberry yogurt

Instructions:

Prepare the Strawberry Sauce in advance (see recipe below), as well as the butternut squash.
To prepare the butternut squash, slice the squash length-wise, place half face down in ½ cup of water in a baking pan, and cover the pan.
Bake at 350F for 1½ hours or until squash is tender. Remove seeds and pulp. Scoop out the squash, mash it and set it aside.
Keep the oven at 350F for the muffins.
Line muffin pans with paper liners.
In a large mixing bowl, sift the dry ingredients together: white flour, brown sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon. Set aside.
In a medium mixing bowl, whisk the egg whites until they’re frothy.
Add the seltzer water to the egg whites and whisk until frothy and bubbly.
Add the squash, oil, applesauce, vanilla, milk, Strawberry Sauce and yogurt (one at a time) to the egg whites and whisk until well blended and frothy.
Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients and slowly add the liquid ingredients, blending slowly. Don’t over stir the batter.
Fill the muffin liners ¾ full of batter.
Bake for 20 minutes (or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean).
Cool the muffins partially so that they are firm enough to core.
With a small paring knife, remove the center of the muffin using a circular motion. Set the “muffin bowls” aside while preparing the Chocolate-Dipped Muffin Pops (see recipe below).
When the Chocolate-Dipped Muffin Pops are finished, and you’re ready to serve them with the Strawberry Squash Muffin Bowls, fill the bowls with any filling you want, like strawberry yogurt, chopped fresh strawberries or strawberry sorbet.
Serve immediately with a spoon.

Shortcut: use jarred baby food instead of homemade puréed squash.

Strawberry Sauce

Ingredients:

2½ pints organic strawberries

Juice and zest from ½ a lemon

1 cup naturally sweetened organic berry juice

1 cup organic cane sugar

½ teaspoon organic orange flavor

¼ teaspoon cinnamon

¼ cup quick-cooking tapioca

¼ cup of cool or room temperature water

Shortcut – use strawberry jam from the store instead of making Strawberry Sauce.

Instructions:

Rinse strawberries.
Remove the stem, the core and any bruises from the strawberries before chopping them into small pieces and putting them in a medium bowl.
Sprinkle lemon juice and zest over the chopped strawberries and set aside.
In a large pot, dissolve the sugar in the juice over medium heat.
When the sugar has dissolved, add the chopped strawberries. Turn the heat up to medium-high until the strawberries begin to boil, then reduce the heat to medium-low, simmering them for about 10-15 minutes until strawberries are mushy, stirring occasionally.
Meanwhile, mix the tapioca into the water in a small bowl and set aside to “bloom,” stirring occasionally so the tapioca doesn’t coagulate. This will take about 5 minutes.
Add orange flavor and cinnamon to the simmering strawberries.
When the strawberries are ready, add the tapioca, stirring constantly. After a couple of minutes, slowly turn the heat up until the strawberries come to a full boil. Turn off the heat and set aside.
In a food processor, purée the Strawberry Sauce.
Push the purée through a sieve with the back of a wooden spoon to remove seeds and pulp.
Put in Ball jars and refrigerate until ready to use.

Chocolate-Dipped Muffin Pops

Ingredients:

25 6-inch cookie sticks

1 bag of dark chocolate Candy Melts (12-ounce)

18 Strawberry Squash Muffin centers

¾ cup of Strawberry Sauce

1 container of Mascarpone cheese (8-ounce)

Sprinkles

Instructions:

Put muffin centers in a food processor until crumbly. Set aside in a medium-mixing bowl.
Pour Strawberry Sauce over muffin crumbs and mix with a spoon until combined.
Add the Mascarpone and blend until combined.
Cover a baking pan with wax paper.
Using clean hands, form small balls with the muffin mixture, insert a cookie stick into each ball and place them on the wax paper.
Put the baking pan into the freezer until the balls are firm, about 20 minutes.
When the muffin pops are firm, melt the chocolates in a microwave-save dish until they are smooth and melted.
Line the baking pan with a fresh piece of wax paper.
Dip each muffin pop into the melted chocolate, sprinkle with Jimmies and place onto the wax paper.
Put the muffin pops back into the freezer until ready to eat.
Note: for a drier “cakier” muffin pop, use less Strawberry Sauce and Mascarpone cheese.