Blueberry Cream Cheese Muffins

 

Blueberry Cream Cheese Muffins… hmmm.. the house smells wonderful… oh and the taste of them?... simply divine!

Are you a cream cheese addict?  I am.. have been since childhood…. love… love … love … just about anything with cream cheese.  

So I set out to find myself a muffin recipe with cream cheese.... and I  wanted blueberries… and I wanted them to have the subtle taste of cream cheese… no lumps of cream cheese (that’s reserved for yet another recipe)… they had to rise nicely… like Elaine Benes…. Yes… the one from Seinfeld… (I had to look up the spelling of the name)…. I love a good muffin top… and the stumps have to be light and moist….oh and did I mention I wanted a crunchy sweet outside on the top? … tall order….

I looked and looked and just wasn’t pleased with what I found…. so I combined my favorite muffin recipe and made adjustments.. and tweaked and tweaked…

The result?... a fabulous muffin… so good.. they’re addictive… truly… I wouldn’t lie to you.

Here are some tips you might find helpful…

TIPS

Make sure … before you start… preheat the oven so it’s ready to pop them in as soon as they’re ready to go in the oven….. and that you have the ingredients ready to mix (it’s easier and quicker too)…

Why you might ask is it important to have everything ready to mix?.... because … did you know … baking powder begins to work as soon as liquid or moisture hits it?   Why is it called double acting?.. so when it goes in the oven and gets the heat.. it bubbles again.  Keeping the time short between mixing and going in the oven helps your baked good rise.

Measure out your flour and baking powder, baking soda and salt in a separate bowl.. then using a wire whisk.. mix it together completely… using the wire whisk will help evenly distribute the baking powder and baking soda.

This batter is thick… to get perfectly uniform muffins.. use a ice cream scoop (that measures ¼ cup) and scoop the batter out with it and drop it into your muffin cups.

 

To measure your ice cream scoop.. take a ¼ cup dry measuring cup and fill it with water.. then pour it into your scoop.  Most are a ¼ cup size.. mine is exactly a ¼ cup.

I used a pint of fresh blueberries for these… which is 2 cups.  2 ½ cups makes them really filled with blueberries… so if you like lots of blueberries in your muffins… and the extra ½ cup.

You can use frozen blueberries…. But don’t thaw them…. otherwise they tend to get mushy when mixed in the batter.

Using frozen blueberries may up the baking time by about 2 minutes.. use the toothpick test to check on them…. If it comes out clean.. they’re done!

I sprinkle my tops with Demerara Sugar.. my brand happens to be Florida Crystals…. I got mine at Walmart…. It usually is pretty readily available… they look like brown sugar crystals… they add a little sweetness and crunch to the tops.  Sprinkle it on before baking.

The Demerara sugar tends to clump up in the plastic jar it comes in.. it’s still perfectly fine.. just use a spoon to scrape some.. it easily unclumps.

My recipe makes about 16 muffins.

Enjoy these delicious muffins!

Recipe:  Blueberry Cream Cheese Muffins

All you need:

2 cups flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

¼ teaspoon baking soda

½ teaspoon salt

4 oz. Philadelphia Cream Cheese, softened

¼ cup sour cream

½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature

1 cup sugar

2 large eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla

½ cup whole milk

1 pint (about 2 cups) blueberries *See TIPS

Demerara sugar

All you have to do:

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.

Lightly grease or line a standard muffin tin with paper liners (standard size is for 12 muffins) you will need another tin for the additional 4 muffins (sorry about that or do it in 2 batches)

In a medium bowl mix the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.  Mix with a wire whisk to evenly mix *See TIPS.  Set aside.

In a medium bowl beat the cream cheese and sour cream until fairly well mixed… I would recommend using a hand mixer or the standing mixer (with a separate bowl for this).  Little lumps are okay, they will disappear when you beat it into the rest of the batter.  Set aside.

In the bowl of a standing mixer, beat the butter and sugar until well combined.  Add the eggs one at a time beating after each addition and scraping the bowl.

Add the cream cheese and sour cream mixture and vanilla, beat until fairly smooth.

Add the flour mixture and milk in small batches, alternating between the flour and milk, beating gently (slow speed).  I add about a 1/3 of the flour in each “batch” letting the mixer beat slowly as it combines the ingredients.

Add the blueberries and mix them in using a spatula.

Scoop the batter by heaping ¼ cupfuls into the prepared muffin pan.  Sprinkle the tops of each with a little Demerara sugar.

Bake for 25-30 minutes at 375 degrees F. until they’re light brown and a toothpick inserted into the center of one comes out clean.

Remove from the oven and cool in the pan for 5 minutes.. then remove them from the pan and cool on a rack.