These Tahini Rye Muffins with Strawberry Jam get a punch of flavor from creamy tahini, soft rye flour, strong black tea, and sweet strawberry jam—the perfect treat.

I say this every year, but I am STOKED for spring to start and all the seasonal fruit to get here. Legit, I am so bored of eating apples—I know there are 300+ varieties and all that, but at the end of the day they still be apples and I am ready for something else.

That said, things are still locked down in Europe and it’s hard not to feel *jealous* of other places reopening while we’re confined to yet another Airbnb with only a quarter our stuff in a city we barely know. I know I have to find joy in the simple and small things around us, but I also know that it’s okay to feel a little sad about it all too.

Speaking of spring, since leaving San Francisco last October, one of the biggest changes I experienced is seasons. It’s so naive! But SF/California barely has seasons, so I had never understood their appeal and how they connect you to something bigger than yourself—nature. There’s a certain type of accomplishment you feel from making it through a blustery fall and a slushy winter, and your reward is a brand new season full of light and hope. As European spring kicks off, I’m excited for the sun to stretch beyond its usual hours and for my face to stop matching my concealer as my skin darkens. New beginnings are coming.

My muffin tins arrived in our air shipment and I jumped to make these tahini rye muffins with strawberry jam for some early spring vibes. Fruit isn’t at its peak yet, so I used strawberry preserves to usher in that sweetness. There are a ton of Turkish and Israeli bakeries in our neighborhood, and I’ve been spying all the wonderful things they make that are packed with ingredients I don’t often use, like tahini. And while I usually bake with buckwheat flour, rye flour is much easier to get here for some reason—it’s a soft, slightly nutty flour that tastes great in baked goods. 

The weird but useful ingredient in this recipe is black tea. While you can’t actually taste the black tea in the finished product, I find that it brings out the flavors of everything else, similar to when you make chai and the final cup melds with the milk and sugar just right. Only brown people will understand this, but trust me—make the tea for this recipe. 

While my previous recipes bake muffins at a higher temperature, I baked these at a lower temperature to let the rye flour gain proper structure. The finished product is soft (rye), nutty (tahini), sturdy (tea), sweet (jam), and crunchy (sesame seeds). Enjoy!

Recipe notes:

• Make sure your melted butter and brewed tea have cooled down to almost room temperature before you mix them in, or you’ll curdle your batter.
• Refrigerate your batter for at least 1 hour before using. This will prevent the jam from sinking to the bottom of your muffins. They’ll still taste fine, but the muffins could end up sticking to the tin.
• If you don’t want to bake all the muffins at once, store the batter in the fridge for up to a week.