Wash the strawberries and destem them. Chop them into small bite-size pieces and measure 2 cups and keep them in a bowl.

Cube the cold butter and keep it ready.

Prepare standard muffin tin by layering it with muffin liners. If not using muffin liners, spray the muffin tins with cooking spray.

Preheat the oven to 375 F.

In a wide bowl, sift 2 cups of flour, 3 teaspoons of baking powder, and half a teaspoon of salt.

Add ½ cup of sugar to the flour mixture.

Now add the cubed butter and cut it into the flour using a pastry cutter or fork or hands. Do it quickly and don't let the butter melt. The flour mixture will look like a coarse crumb now.

Now add the chopped strawberry to the flour mixture and mix it to evenly distribute. Reserve a few pieces to place on top of the muffin.

Add the cream and milk mixture along with almond extract and using a spatula combine the muffin batter. The batter will be a little thicker than the usual muffin batter.

Using an ice cream scoop or muffin scoop, scoop the batter evenly between the 12 muffin tin holes.

Place a few strawberry pieces on top and sprinkle coarse sugar (optional).

Bake in the preheated oven for 20 to 22 minutes. The muffin will be a little lighter in color.

Let the muffins cool in the tin for few minutes (a little longer than usual) and then remove it on a cooling rack to cool entirely.