Strawberry and Cream Muffins

Before I go into the recipe for these delightful muffins, I have wonderful news to share.

I now own a mixer! A friend of mine told her mother all about my interest in baking and she offered me up her mixer that she never uses for a very nice reduced price. I paid for it with all the money I made from the bake sale earlier this month which really makes me feel like the bake sale was a true success. Now you may notice that this is not my dream mixer, Fred, but I think Aurora (yeah that's it's name) will work just fine :)

Yesterday I was somehow lucky enough to have off from both jobs so the boyfriend and I took full advantage outdoors of this beautiful day, we have the the painful tan lines to prove it! We hit up the farmers market and I bought some beautiful strawberries. Their appearance was so perfect I almost didn't want to eat them.  But then I realized if I didn't eat them they would just go bad and that would be a terrible waste, don't you think? Maybe they should be put into a fantastic summer treat....like these muffins from Jane's Sweets & Baking Journal. I am very glad to have found this woman's blog, the recipes all seem so yummy and even her pictures make me jealous. I have a feeling I will be sighting this blog as inspiration again in the near future. 

Strawberries & Cream Muffins

Makes about 12 to 14 regular size muffins, or about 6 jumbo muffins.
Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

1 cup whole milk (or, you can use something like 2/3 cup of 2 percent milk and 1/3 cup half-and-half, mixed together)
1/2 cup unsalted butter
1 and 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
1/8 tsp. almond extract
2 large eggs
2 cups All Purpose flour
3/4 cup granulated sugar
2 and 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1 cup fresh ripe strawberries chopped into very small pieces (the redder and sweeter, the better!)

4 oz. full-fat cream cheese, very soft
1 and 1/2 Tbsp. of liquid from one whole egg that's been beaten lightly
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1/4 tsp. vanilla extract


Put paper liners in the cups of your muffin pan, or use nonstick baking spray very liberally.

Cut up your berries and set them aside.

 

In a small bowl, mix together with a spoon the cream cheese, 1/3 cup sugar, the 1 and 1/2 Tbsp. beaten egg, and 1/4 tsp. vanilla extract. Mix until almost all the lumps are gone. Set this aside, but don't chill it.

Melt the butter slowly in a sauce pan on low heat. Add the vanilla extract, almond extract, and the milk into the butter, stirring to combine. Cool until the mixture is just warm, then whisk in the eggs.

Thoroughly combine with a whisk, in a large mixing bowl, the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt.

Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients. Pour all of the butter, milk, and egg mixture into the dry ingredients, blending just until combined. Don't overmix. It's okay if a few little flour streaks are still evident.

Using a portion scoop or spoon, fill each muffin cup barely half full. Scatter a few pieces of strawberry on top of each one.

Using a small spoon, dab a generous teaspoonful or so of the cream cheese mixture on top of the berries.

On top of that, add on another tablespoon or two of the muffin batter.

On top of that, add a few more pieces of strawberry. Push them in just slightly. 

Sprinkle the tops of the unbaked muffins very generously with coarse sugar for a nice sparkle.

Bake the muffins for about 15 to 18 minutes, until they're light golden on top and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out mostly clean. The middle of the cupcake should be kind of firm when lightly pressed with a finger.

Step 1 (L), Step 2 (C), Step 3(R)

Tell me how I have completely lost all of my metal muffin tins? I bought the toss away ones and boy are they a pain. They get so easily bent out of shape, some of the muffins don't even lay flat against the rack in the stove. Next bake sale profits are going straight to buying me new bakeware.

I also don't have regular coarse sugar so I used the red kind. Red muffins liners + strawberries + red sugar. Love it!

Finished product. So so tasty.

I really suggest you give this a try. You won't be disappointed.