Raspberries & Cream Cheese...what's not to love?

I grew up on raspberries! The fresh from the garden kind of raspberries. So I'm kind of a sucker for all things raspberry. These muffins would definitely fall into that category. I mean you throw in cream cheese and what's not to love??

Is it a breakfast treat...or dessert? I can't decide.


RASPBERRY CREAM CHEESE MUFFINS
(Recipe adapted from All Recipes)

2/3 cup (5 ounces) cream cheese, softened
1/3 cup butter, softened
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 large egg whites
1 large egg
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup low-fat buttermilk
2 cups fresh or frozen raspberries

1. Preheat oven to 350°.
2. Combine cream cheese and butter in a large bowl. Beat with a mixer at high speed until well blended.
3. Add sugar; beat until fluffy. Add vanilla, egg whites, and egg; beat well.
4. In a separate bowl combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
5. With mixer on low speed, add the flour mixture and buttermilk to cream cheese mixture, beginning and ending with flour mixture.
6. Gently fold in raspberries.
7. Place 24 muffin cup liners in muffin tins. Spoon batter evenly into liners.
8. Bake at 350° 25 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Remove from pans; cool on a wire rack.

Need breakfast in a hurry?

I'm probably crazy, but every time I'm asked to bring food to a party, dinner, activity etc...Instead of choosing to make something I'm familiar with, you know a tried and true recipe...I choose to experiment, to try something new. This inevitably stresses me out, and under the pressure it doesn't' always go the way I plan. I mean as good of a cook as I think I am...I'm still human and I still bomb in the kitchen more times than I care to admit. Well, actually I really don't mind admitting it, after all the path to success is riddled with failure.

That being said...there are those occasional brilliant moments when my experimentation's, even under pressure, actually work and a new favorite recipe is born. This is one of those recipes.

I was asked to bring muffins to our church activity last Saturday and I had an idea to create a savory/sweet breakfast muffin to satisfy any variety of morning cravings. On my first try the Maple Sausage Cheddar Breakfast Muffin's were born. I hope you like them as much as we did. They're great for brunch, or on the go breakfasts. I even made a batch to freeze, so on those crazy mornings when my husband is running late for work, he can grab a couple, nuke them and eat on the road.

Several people commented that they tasted a lot like a McDonald's McGriddle sandwich! Give them a try and let me know what your family thinks.

MAPLE SAUSAGE CHEDDAR BREAKFAST MUFFINS
(Mindi Original)

2 cups all-purpose flour
3 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
¼ C. sugar
¼ C. maple syrup
1 egg; beaten
1 cup milk
1/4 cup vegetable oil
2 C. shredded sharp cheddar cheese; divided
1/2 lb. ground pork sausage; cooked*

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F
2. In a large mixing bowl combine the flour, baking powder, salt and sugar.
3. In a smaller bowl combine the maple syrup, beaten egg, milk and oil. Mix well.
4. Add the wet ingredients to the flour mixture stirring lightly until moistened, but do not over mix. The batter should be lumpy.
5. Fold in 1 cup of the cheese and the sausage.
6. Pour the batter into paper lined muffin tins, filling about ¾ full.
7. Top each muffin with additional cheese.
8. Bake for 8-20 minutes.
9. Makes 18-24 muffins.

*The sausage in this recipe could also be substituted with bacon if you prefer.

Go ahead...have a muffin for breakfast...

We've all had a bran muffin at some point in our lives, right?? Most of them are dry and tasteless, but we eat them anyway...because it's good for us?? Thankfully my friend and neighbor, Emily, shared this amazing recipe with me. It's full of all things healthy and good, but it's not dry and certainly not tasteless. In fact it's moist, fruity, sweet and almost makes you think you're eating something you shouldn't be...

Suddenly I don't feel bad about having a muffin for breakfast!

FYI...little "r", as well as Emily's two little ones, eat these like candy! Who doesn't love a healthy recipe that kids will gobble up.

BRAN FLAX MUFFINS
(Recipe from Emily Nuttall)

1 ½ C. unbleached white flour
¾ C. flaxseed meal
¾ C. oat bran
1 C. brown sugar
2 t. baking soda
1 t. baking powder
½ t. salt
2 t. cinnamon
1 ½ c. carrots; shredded
2 apples; peeled & shredded
½ C. raisins (optional)
1 C. nuts; chopped (optional)
¾ C. milk
2 eggs; beaten
1 t. vanilla

1. In a large mixing bowl, combine all the dry ingredients; mix well.
2. Stir in carrots, apples, raisins, and nuts.
3. In a separate bowl combine the milk, beaten eggs and vanilla.
4. Pour the liquid ingredients into the dry ingredients and stir until moistened. Do not over mix.
5. Fill muffin cups ¾ full and bake at 350 degrees for 15-20 minutes.
6. Makes 2 dozen.

Melt in your mouth...

These will definitely do just that!

I was food blog surfing last week and came across this recipe. I printed it out and put it on my list to try. Unfortunately I didn't write down the blog that I found it on. I tried to find it again, so I could give proper credit for this amazing recipe but was unable to find it. So if anyone reads this and knows what blog this originated from, please leave me a comment with the answer.

Bottom line, these muffins somehow really do taste like a donut. Hot out of the oven, they melt in your mouth!


CINNAMON SUGAR DONUT MUFFINS

2 C. flour
1 T. baking powder
½ t. baking soda
½ t. salt
1 t. cinnamon
2 large eggs
1 C. plain yogurt
2/3 C. packed brown sugar
6 T. oil
1 t. vanilla
¼ C. butter
½ C. sugar
1 t. cinnamon

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line muffin pans with paper cups (24).
2. Whisk flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon in a large bowl.
3. In a separate bowl, whisk together eggs, yogurt, sugar, oil, and vanilla.
4. Add flour mixture and mix with light strokes until the dry ingredients are just moistened. Do not over mix; batter should not be smooth.
5. Divide batter among the muffin cups and bake 15-18 minutes.
6. While muffins are baking, melt ¼ cup butter and place in a bowl.
7. Combine ½ cup sugar and cinnamon in a small bowl as well.
8. As soon as the muffins are done, dip them one at a time in the melted butter and then in the sugar mixture. Set on a rack to cool.

BLUEBERRY SOUR CREAM MUFFINS OR COFFEE CAKE

I'm a little bit blue this weekend. My hubby is out of town on business and won't be home until Monday. A whole weekend without my best friend!

Little munchkin and I have been trying to keep busy, so we made blueberry muffins this morning. This is another of my original recipes, dating back to high school foods class. This recipe can be made into muffins or coffee cake.


BLUEBERRY SOUR CREAM MUFFINS OR COFFEE CAKE
(Mindi Original)

1 ½ C. fresh or frozen blueberries
¼ C. butter
1 C. sugar
2 eggs
1 t. vanilla
1 t. lemon peel
2 C. flour
1 t. baking powder
½ t. baking soda
1 C. sour cream

1. With an electric mixer on medium speed, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs, vanilla, and lemon peel.
2. On low speed beat in sour cream, flour, baking soda, and baking powder.
3. Gently stir in blueberries.
4. Line cupcake pans with paper liners or spray with non stick spray.
5. Spoon batter into pans (makes 24 regular size muffins).
6. Sprinkle with crumb topping. (recipe below)
7. Bake at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes.

To bake as a coffee cake; spoon batter into greased 10 inch microwave safe dish. Sprinkle on topping. Cook on high for 10 minutes, rotating dish one quarter turn every 2 minutes.

TOPPING
1/3 C. brown sugar
1/3 C. flour
1 t. cinnamon
2 T. butter
½ C. finely chopped nuts

In a small bowl combine brown sugar, flour, and cinnamon; mix well. With a fork or pastry blender, cut in better until mixture resembles course crumbs; stir in nuts and set aside.