Mixed Berry, Cream Cheese Muffins

About a week ago I had some cream cheese that was about to expire and I was in a baking mood so I decided to go online and find a recipe I could use with my cream cheese. 

I originally wanted to do something chocolate - brownies, cupcakes, etc.  But then I started thinking about what if I could find a recipe I could use and modify so that it would taste good to me but also be okay for Aries to have a small portion too as a treat.

I found this: http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Blueberry-Cream-Muffins-2/Detail.aspx  recipe and modified it a bit because of the ingredients I had readily available to me.

So here is my ingredient list:

Ingredients

• 4 cups wheat or cake flour (making it a little more dog friendly but still delicious)
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 6 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 egg (I used one egg because I only had 2 eggs total but I would suggest using TWO eggs here)
• 2 cups milk (non-fat)
• 1/2 cup butter or margarine, melted
•  2 cups mixed berries - fresh or frozen (do not thaw if frozen, just add them right in. I used strawberry pieces, raspberries, blueberries, blackberries - use whatever you like!)
• FILLING:
• 1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
• 1 egg
• 1/3 cup sugar
• Dash salt

This recipe made about 24 muffins for me - so cutting in half would probably be a good idea if you're just baking for yourself.

Okay first step:

In large bowl combine the flour, sugars, baking powder, and salt.

Then, combine and beat together the eggs, milk, and butter. (As mentioned, I only used one egg, but I would suggest using two because my batter and finished product did turn out a little dry)

Then stir your liquid batter into your dry batter until moist. Don't forget to scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl so you get all the dry ingredients mixed thoroughly. 

Then, as mentioned previously, I used mixed berries because it's what I had in my freezer.  Fold in your berries - do not over mix these.

Aries is a very good helper in the kitchen - always cleaning up any spills on the floor.

Then spoon about 2 Tablespoons of batter into greased or lined muffin tins

It's now time to make your filling - In a small bowl mix together all of your filling ingredients until you get a nice creamy texture.

 

Then put about a tablespoon into each muffin cup on top of the batter you all ready put into the cups.





Finally, add about another tablespoon on top of the cream cheese filling. These will be full, tall muffins.

Lastly, put them in the oven.  Bake at 375 for 18-20 minutes - if you like them a little more well done and brown, like I do, bake for 23 minutes. And you will soon have beautiful, delicious muffins that everyone (including your spotted/furry friend) will love.

Overall, they turned out to be good muffins.  The cream cheese filling in the middle soaked a little into the surrounding batter to incorporate itself into all of the muffin. I prefer light, airy muffins and these were not that kind.  These are a heavy, dense muffin that reminded me a bit of cobbler.  However, they were very delicious and I loved the fruit.  I liked the variety but you could obviously make it with just one type of fruit as the original recipe calls for.  Aries also really enjoyed the half muffin she got while practicing her training tricks! I meant to take a picture of the inside of the muffin but forgot before my friends and I had gobbled them all up.

Happy Baking!


Disclaimer: Do NOT ever feed your dog too many sweets etc. but since these were a dense muffin a small portion was suitable for her.  Know your own dog and what they can and cannot tolerate.