A Recipe and a Read: Strawberry Sour Cream Muffins and a Romantic Suspense compliments of Author Vonnie Hughes...

It’s mypleasure to share a muffin recipe that will become a breakfast favorite withyour family. Use room temperature ingredients for best results as they blendinto the batter easily and produce amazing muffins and makes your life easier!

If youprefer not to use butter, then an equal amount of vegetable oil or applesauceworks. You can also swap out sour cream for plain unsweetened Greek yogurt. Freshstrawberries are perfect in this recipe, but frozen berries can also be used.Thaw and drain the strawberries before adding them to the muffin mix. If yourfrozen strawberries are whole, dice them first.

StrawberrySour Cream Muffins

2 cups flour2 tsp. bakingpowder½ tsp. bakingsoda½ tsp. salt2 ¼ cups freshstrawberries1 cup sugar1 stick unsaltedbutter2 lg. eggs1 tbsp. vanillaextract¾ cup sourcream

Preheatoven to 375° F. 

Washberries and remove stems. Dice the strawberries into bitesize pieces. 

Insertpaper liners into a muffin pan or mist the pan with baking spray. 

Combine flourthrough salt in a medium size bowl. Fold in strawberries and set it aside.

In adifferent bowl, cream butter and sugar together using a hand or stand mixer.Once the mixture is light and fluffy, beat in eggs, vanilla, and sour cream. 

Thoroughlyfold in the flour mixture to create a batter. 

Spoon thebatter into the muffin cups to the top. 

Bakemuffins 20 – 25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of a muffincomes out clean. 

Cool for5 minutes in the baking pan. Then remove them to a wire rack to finish coolingcompletely.

Storeyour strawberry muffins in an airtight container. They will stay fresh at roomtemperature for 3 days and can also be stored in the refrigerator for up to 1week.

Here is a little from my romantic suspense set in New Zealand where a young woman who witnesses the aftermath of a crime is sent to a supposedly safe house.

Inching along the wall, Céliereached the window. She held on to the door jamb, a little island of securityin a sea of fear. Then she stretched across and peered out. A featureless facestared back at her.

She screamed and jumped back,bashing her elbow on the laundry tub. 

Peaches lumbered to his feet, shakyand confused. 

The face was still there. No eyes.No mouth. No nose. 

Peaches staggered over to the doorand snuffled. 

Mesmerized, Célie kept staring atthat distorted face as she backed into a corner. 

Then the face moved, and a handspread across the glass. The forefinger and thumb rubbed together. 

Flashes of memory seared her mind. 

She gasped, remembering thatfearful morning when she’d discovered poor Occy’s disemboweled body. Stunned,struggling not to vomit, she’d been hovering over what was left of Occy whenshe sensed she was being watched. For a few precious seconds she had staredback at the creepy figure silhouetted in the early morning gloom watchingher—just watching her. 

Then he’d rubbed his thumb and forefingertogether covetously, as if he were contemplating the best way to eat her alive. 

And she’d bolted. 

And done her best to bury thosememories. 

Vonnie Hughes is a multi-published author in both Regency books and contemporary suspense. She loves the intricacies of the social rules of the Regency period and the far-ranging consequences of the Napoleonic Code. And with suspense she has free rein to explore forensic matters and the strong convolutions of the human mind. Like many writers, some days she hates the whole process, but somehow she just cannot let it go.

Vonnie was born in New Zealand, but she and her husband now live happily in Australia. If you visit Hamilton Gardens in New Zealand be sure to stroll through the Japanese Garden. These is a bronze plaque engraved with a haiku describing the peacefulness of that environment. The poem was written by Vonnie.

All of Vonnie’s books are available at The Wild Rose Press and Amazon .

Learn more about Vonnie Hughes on her website and blog . Stay connected on Facebook and Goodreads .