Cream Cheese Muffins

Sometimes I get into this crazy baking mood, where I want to spend several days in the kitchen whipping up stuff.  The week before Christmas was such a week for several reasons:

• I wanted to bless our church family with pre-fellowship treats at Christmas Day service
• I wanted to bake some things for Christmas Day with my family
• I simply felt like it!

I had wanted to make a few recipes which called for cream cheese, so while at Costco I bought a bulk box of (what I thought was) three packages.  After I got home, I realized it was three pounds.  Wow.  What to do with all that cheese?  Well, I was in a baking mood after all!

I love muffin recipes, and have tried to keep them to a minimum handful of basic recipes so they don't overflow out of my recipe binder.  However, I didn't have a recipe with cream cheese in it.  Time to search the internet.  I found several recipes that called for a cheesecake-like filling, but I didn't think my guys would go for that (except my dearie, of course).  I searched for one that would have me mixing the cream cheese up with the eggs and butter, or something similar.  And I found one.  I modified it to accommodate fresh whole wheat flour, and since it was a plain recipe, I decided to add some berries.  I doubled the batch, and made half into blueberry muffins, and half into blackberry muffins.  The blackberry ones were my favorite.  I made some more with raspberries--total yum.  Below is my modified recipe.  Mmm...

Blueberry cream cheese muffins

Cream Cheese Muffins
makes 12 regular muffins

8 oz. cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup butter, softened
1 egg, beaten
1/2 cup milk
1 3/4 cups fresh whole wheat flour (original recipe called for 1 1/2 cups)
1/2 cup sugar (I used cane juice crystals)
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon vanilla (optional--I used it)
1/4 teaspoon lemon flavor (optional--I substituted 1 teaspoon freshly squeezed lemon juice)
1 to 1 1/2 cups berries

Beat cream cheese and butter together; add egg and beat again.  Add milk, vanilla and lemon (if using) and mix well.  Combine the dry ingredients; if using berries, mix them in with the combined dry ingredients (this helps them from clumping together, especially if you're using frozen berries).  Fold the dry ingredients into the wet just until moistened.  Fill greased or lined muffin tins about 3/4 full.  Sprinkle tops with turbinado sugar ("sugar in the raw") or cinnamon sugar.  Bake at 400 degrees for 20-25 minutes or until golden on top.

Raspberry cream cheese muffins

Back to life,
Christine

Visit my photography blog
Visit my photography website