Light Strawberry Cream Cheese Muffins

Another tasty light option today! Strawberry Cream Cheese Muffins. The perfect way to utilize any frozen berries still lurking in the depths of your freezer. The muffins are sweet and tender with berries bursting through in every bite. The lovely thing about this recipe is that it is so very versatile. The original recipe calls for raspberries but really any kind of berry or fruit would be delicious (okay maybe not ANY kind, but most kinds!) The muffins stay healthy thanks to non-fat cream cheese and the use of egg whites. I used even less sugar than called for in the recipe, and some of the reviewers said they halved the butter and added an eighth cup of applesauce. Oh the healthy possibilities!

Strawberry Cream Cheese Muffins

Adapted from Cooking Light

2/3 cup (5 ounces) fat-free cream cheese, softened

1/3 cup butter, softened

1 1/4 cup 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 strawberries, chopped

Preheat oven to 350°. Combine cream cheese and butter in a large bowl.

Beat with a mixer at high speed until well blended. Add sugar; beat until fluffy. Add vanilla, egg whites, and egg; beat well. Lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.

With mixer on low speed, add the flour mixture and buttermilk to cream cheese mixture, beginning and ending with flour mixture.

Gently fold in strawberries. Grease 24 muffin cups or line with foil cup liners in muffin cups.

Spoon batter evenly into liners. Bake at 350° 25 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean.

Remove from pans; cool on a wire rack.

The Cooking Light website says that each muffin has 142 calories. If you make the adjustments I made (less sugar, non-fat cream cheese, omit nuts) they are even less than that! So eat two!

Enjoy your weekend!

Linking up to Weekend Wrap Up at Tater Tots and Jello , Motivate Me Monday and Sunday Showcase at By Stephanie Lynn

Banana Nut Muffins

Need an easy weekend breakfast? How about banana nut muffins? With a streusel topping? No problem! These are simple, no fuss muffins that require few ingredients, barely any effort and little time. The recipe comes from a 1968 Better Homes and Gardens New Cook Book. It started out as a Banana Coffee Bread Recipe. I made some changes, and out came these moist, satisfying muffins! The simplicity of the recipe allows the bananas to really steal the show while the streusel topping adds a nice crunch. Hope you enjoy!

Banana Nut Muffins

From Better Homes and Gardens New Cook Book, 1968 Edition

Makes 12 Muffins

See! OLD recipe!

1/2 cup butter, softened

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup white granulated sugar

3/4 cup mashed ripe bananas, about 3 medium bananas

2 eggs

1 1/4 cups flour

3/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

Preheat oven t0 350 degrees. Grease a twelve cup muffin pan, or use paper liners.

Cream butter and sugar until fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each.

Stir in bananas, stir in dry ingredients. Mix well. Fill muffin tins about 3/4 full (mine were a little fuller).

Sprinkle with streusel topping (recipe below).

Bake for 25-30 minutes, or until a cake tester comes out clean.

Streusel Topping

1/2 cup flour

1/4 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup white granulated sugar

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/4 cup chilled butter

1/4 cup finely chopped nuts

Mix flour, sugars, and cinnamon; cut in butter till crumbly.

Add nuts. Sprinkle on top of muffin batter.

I had some extra, which I put in a Ziploc and threw in the freezer. All ready for the next time I'm craving a batch of muffins or coffee cake.

Have a lovely weekend!

Linking up to Tatertots and Jello Weekend Wrap up, Tasty Tuesdays, Tempt my tummy tuesdays, Rook No. 17, and Sunday Showcase at By Stephanie Lynn.

Cranberry Upside Down Muffins!

I love cranberries! This particular recipe is one of my absolute favorites thanks to the delightful pairing of tart, juicy cranberries with comfortingly sweet pound cakey muffins. You could make this as a cake, but I prefer the muffins as a form of portion control (not to mention they are quite pretty)! They make a great breakfast or top with some whipped cream for a light, festive dessert. I gave this batch away to the local meal program, wrapped in individual baggies for easy transport. I hope you all enjoy this recipe as much as I do!

Cranberry Upside Down Muffins:

From Joy of Baking

Cranberry Sauce Ingredients

1 1/2 cups fresh or frozen cranberries

3/4 cup white sugar

1 tablespoon lemon juice or water

Muffin Batter Ingredients

2 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 cup white sugar

2 1/4 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup milk

1 large egg, lightly beaten

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

4 tablespoons butter, melted and cooled

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Place rack in the middle of the oven. Butter well or spray, with a non stick vegetable spray, 12 muffin tins.

In a medium sized saucepan place the cranberries, sugar, and lemon juice (or water). Cook over medium heat, stirring frequently, until the sugar dissolves and the cranberries start to pop open, about 10 minutes.

Remove from heat and set aside to cool slightly while you make the batter.

In a large mixing bowl, combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. In a separate bowl, mix together the milk, egg, vanilla extract, and melted and cooled butter. Add the milk and egg mixture to the flour mixture.

Stir just until combined. Do not over mix the batter or the muffins will be tough when baked.

Evenly divide the cranberry mixture among the 12 well greased muffins cups.

Evenly spoon the batter over the cranberry sauce.

Place in the oven and bake for about 15 to 20 minutes, or until very lightly browned and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Place on a wire rack to cool for about 5 minutes, then invert onto a cooling rack so the the cranberry topping is face up.

Makes 12 regular-sized muffins.

Happy Holidays!

P.S. Check out my guest post later today on bigbearswife.com!

Vegan Acorn Squash Muffins

This weekend, I tried a vegan recipe! I have been considering going vegan lately, but I am still having trouble completely giving up meat so I haven't fully converted. BUT I think that if we all cut down on our animal intake, or at least focused on eating animals and animal products that are certified humane, the world might be a little better place for our furred and feathered friends :) Anyways, this recipe is super easy and doesn't involve any strange ingredients so don't be scared by the veganness! I found the recipe on Hell Yeah It's Vegan! The original recipe used sweet potato puree, which I am sure would be great, but I only had an acorn squash so I subbed that in, instead. I also used molasses instead of maple syrup and didn't add in any lemon juice (as the original recipe called for). The muffins are PERFECT for this time of year, cinnamon and nutmeg are great complements to the sweetness of the acorn squash. They rose up beautifully and are best served warm with a drizzle of powdered sugar glaze. Enjoy!

Acorn Squash Muffins

Adapted from Hell Yeah It's Vegan

1 c + 2 Tbsp squash puree

3/4 c soy milk

2/3 c brown sugar

1/3 c water

¼ c oil

2 Tbsp molasses

2 c flour

2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

½ tsp salt

½ tsp ground cinnamon

1/8 tsp ground nutmeg

Preheat oven to 400°F and lightly oil a muffin tin. In a large bowl, mix together puree, soy milk, brown sugar, water, oil and molasses. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, soda, salt, and spices.

Combine wet and dry mixtures until just mixed.

Spoon batter evenly into prepared pan, filling muffin cups about 3/4 full. Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean.

Let muffins rest a moment in the pan, then cool slightly on a wire rack before serving.

Before the glazing

Glaze

3/4 cup powdered sugar

1-2 tablespoons milk

Mix together, adding milk until desired consistency is achieved.

Yay for vegan muffins!

Whisked Away Wednesday: Pear Muffins

Happy Wednesday everyone! It's pear season! We had a breakfast potluck at work this week and I was in charge of bringing doughnuts. Now, I am fond of doughnuts, I even posted a quick doughnut recipe a while back. I don't, however, believe that they are the best way to start a busy day at work. I wanted to bring something that was sweet and indulgent, but not quite as unhealthy as a big ol' doughnut. I had some pears sitting in the fruit bowl, but when I googled pear bread and muffins, all the recipes I found called for shredding the pears before incorporating them into the batter. I wanted to use big hearty chunks of pear! I found this recipe for Peach Almond Bread on the Amanda's Cookin blog. I can't bring anything to work with nuts in it (allergies), so I modified the recipe and used pears instead of peaches. I also made it into muffins, not bread. The muffins turned out DELIGHTFUL! Seriously, my new favorite muffin! They are light and filled with the succulent flavor of pear mingling with vanilla, cinnamon, and ginger. You should probably just make these now... you've made it half way through the week right?? So you deserve them!

Pear Muffins

Based on a recipe for Peach Almond Bread from Amanda's Cookin

Ingredients

1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup packed brown sugar

1 egg

1/2 cup sour cream

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 1/2 cups unbleached all purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon ginger

2 cups peeled, chopped pears, (about 2 medium pears)

Preheat oven to 375 Fahrenheit.

Sorry about this ugly picture... but that's what it looked like! Batter aint always pretty... but it makes some tasty muffins!

Beat together first six ingredients (I used my hand mixer.)

Mix together remaining ingredients and add to wet ingredient mixture (don't overmix, using a good old fashioned wooden spoon helps).

Line muffin pans with liners. The recipe ended up making an odd number of muffins (15), so I had to use two muffin pans. A little tip I learned is to fill the unused muffin tins with a bit of water so that the muffins cook evenly.

Divide batter between 15 muffin tins, filling about 3/4 of the way full.

Sprinkle with streusel topping (see below for recipe).

Cook for 15-20 minutes, until golden brown and firm.

Streusel Topping

5 tablespoons butter (don't use margarine!)

1/4 cup flour

1/4 cup white sugar

1 teaspoon cinnamon

Mix together flour, sugar, and cinnamon. Cut in butter until crumbly. Sprinkle over muffins before baking.

Nobody missed having doughnuts at all!

Have a great rest of your week!

Foodie Friday