Preheat your oven to 375°F and grease a 12-cup muffin tin with butter or cooking spray, making sure to coat the bottom and sides of each cup evenly. This prevents sticking and ensures even browning on the bottoms of your muffins.

While the oven preheats, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl. Mix thoroughly to evenly distribute the leavening agent throughout the flour—this ensures your muffins will rise evenly and have a tender crumb.

In a large bowl, beat the melted and cooled butter with the sugar for about 2 minutes until the mixture is light and pale. This creaming process incorporates air into the batter, which helps create a tender crumb texture. I find that starting with cooled melted butter (rather than cold butter) makes this step faster and easier.

Add the vanilla extract and almond extract to the creamed butter mixture and stir to combine. Then add the room-temperature eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition to fully incorporate. Room temperature eggs blend more smoothly into the batter and create a more uniform texture than cold eggs.

Add half of the dry ingredient mixture from Step 2 to the butter mixture and stir gently until barely combined. Pour in the milk and stir, then add the remaining dry mixture and fold everything together until just combined—do not overmix, as this can make the muffins tough. I like to stop mixing while there are still a few flour streaks visible; the residual stirring from folding in the fruit will finish the job.

Gently fold the frozen strawberries into the batter—no need to thaw them, as frozen strawberries hold their shape better during mixing and baking. Divide the batter evenly among the prepared muffin cups, filling each about two-thirds full. Sprinkle a pinch of sugar on top of each muffin for a light, sparkly crust.

Bake at 375°F for 27–30 minutes until a toothpick inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean or with just a few moist crumbs. The muffins should be golden brown on top. Remove from the oven and let cool in the pan for 10 minutes before turning them out onto a wire rack to cool completely.