Thursday, May 26, 2011

Nothin' Says Lovin' Like Muffins from the Oven!

Ah, muffins. Can we just all agree that muffins are basically the breakfast version of cupcakes? The excuse to eat a sweet treat no matter what time of day it is? And how about their versatility? What can't you put in a muffin?


Sure, you could buy some muffins from the bakery section of your supermarket, but then you would be depriving yourself of what I like to think is a bonus feature of homemade, freshly baked muffins: air freshener! You can't package a smell that delicious!

Today's post is going to be short and sweet, but I promise I have good things coming soon.

I'm in full experimentation mode, and I'll be more than happy to share the results with you all soon enough. Be on the look out next week for a meatless Monday recipe. In the meantime, I have a favor.

My friend's mom has the greenest thumb of anyone I've ever known, and she has graciously bestowed upon me a generous helping of veggies from her gorgeous, gigantic garden. Among her gifts: white squash. Whaaa?

While I have some ideas on what I would like to do with them, I was wondering if any of you have experience with these Scrubbing Bubble-looking cuties. Any suggestions or recipes you would be willing to share?

Now, back to business. Delicious business. These little bites taste like berry muffins and cheesecake made sweet, sweet love and gave us this. Better yet, I managed to eliminate oil entirely from these muffins and still produce a moist, fluffy final product! Delectable and healthy? Come to mama! Also, these muffins are a great way to show off in season berries at their finest.

Berry Cheesecake Muffins

Ingredients:

1 cup granulated sugar
1-8 ounce package 1/3 fat cream cheese, at room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla, divided
1/2 cup brown sugar blend Splenda (or 1 cup brown sugar)
2 eggs
1/2 cup no sugar added applesauce
1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup sliced strawberries
1 cup blueberries

Instructions

1. In a small bowl, combine the room temperature cream cheese, granulated sugar, and 1/2 teaspoon vanilla. Refrigerate for 1 hour.

2. Preheat the oven to 350˚F. Grease a 12-muffin baking pan with cooking spray.

3. In a large mixing bowl, combine the applesauce, eggs, and vanilla.


4. In a separate bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.

5. Use a fork to crumble and mash the chilled cream cheese mixture.

6. Add the cream cheese mixture crumbles, strawberries, and blueberries to the flour mixture and combine until all of the add ins are coated. Doing this will help keep the berries from sinking to the bottom of the muffins.


7. Add the flour mixture to the egg and applesauce mixture in batches, stirring until just combined.


8. Fill each muffin pan slot 3/4 full with batter.


9. Bake at 350˚F for 20-25 minutes, or until the tops are golden brown.

4 comments:

  1. Mmmm...so true...nothing like the smell of delicious baked goods wafting around the house... ;)

    White Squash Casserole is always a classic. I'd try this recipe: http://www.cookinglouisiana.com/Cooking/Recipes/Vegetables/White_Squash-Casserole.htm

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  2. Great muffin recipe, love all that fruit. Can't wait to get my air freshener going :)

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  3. Please post more often. You have a great style, very instructional. Hope to see you back again

    Dave

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  4. Yum!Delicious muffins!I found you from the foodie blog roll and I'd love to guide Foodista readers to your site. I hope you could add this Cheesecake muffins widget at the end of this post so we could add you in our list of food bloggers who blogged about making cheesecake muffins,thanks!

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