BLUEBERRY MUFFINS W/ STREUSEL TOPPING

ALWAYS on the hunt for a good muffin recipe and this one didn't disappoint!! My muffin criteria: must be light, moist and flavorful! These scored high in every area. A definite keeper! We have a dear lady in our church who was just recently widowed (a week ago) when her husband was killed in a very tragic work accident. It has only been a week, so it is still very fresh to her. But bless her heart, there she was this morning, at Saturday morning prayer breakfast, as usual, serving her Lord and cooking for the ones she loves. And to top it off, today is her birthday! A very hard weekend for her, I'm sure. So last night, I stopped at the church and decorated the fellowship hall with some festive birthday decorations in honor of her special day. I wanted everything in place before she got there this morning, knowing she would arrive before me. I know it's not the same, but thought it might lighten the heaviness a bit for her. Then this morning, I got up early and whipped up these little beauties as a surprise birthday treat for her. The first batch I made were in Happy Birthday muffin cups and had Happy Birthday picks stuck in the top of them. Unfortunately I didn't get a pic of those. Saturday mornings are usually a whirl of activity to get ready to go. ESPECIALLY when our precious 2 year old grandson, Gideon, spends the night on Friday! :-) I mean we HAVE to have "MooMoo" (my Grandma name from the grandbabies) and Giddy cuddle time and do cheers with our coffee cups together, before we rush into the day! :-)

BLUEBERRY MUFFINS

Yield: 24 muffins

3 cups all purpose flour
1 cup sugar
3 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. nutmeg
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup butter, melted
3/4 cup whole milk
3/4 cup sour cream
1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
1 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 to 2 cups fresh or frozen blueberries
Streusel toppping (recipe follows)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. In a small bowl, prepare Streusel topping and set aside. A pampered chef, stone muffin pan works best for these, but if you don't have one, a metal one works just fine too. Fill muffin wells with paper liners. Lightly spray liners with cooking spray and set aside.
In a large mixing bowl, stir together flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
In a small mixing bowl, melt 1 stick of butter, and add remaining wet ingredients: milk, sour cream, applesauce and vanilla. Whisk to combine. Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients, stirring just until combined. Do not overmix your batter, or your muffins will be tough. Gently fold in fresh or frozen blueberries.
Divide batter evenly among prepared muffin cups. Sprinkle evenly with streusel topping.
Bake at 400 degrees for 5 minutes. Turn oven down to 350 and bake an additional 12 - 15 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean.
Remove from pans and let cool on wire racks (if you can wait that long!) :-)

STREUSEL TOPPING

1/2 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
3 Tblsp butter, softened

In a small bowl, combine flour, sugar, cinnamon and butter. Mash with fork or pastry blender until well combined and mixture is crumbly.

MUFFIN MONDAY - CHEESECAKE STUFFED PUMPKIN MUFFINS

CHEESECAKE STUFFED PUMPKIN MUFFINS

This was actually a 2nd attempt! I made this muffin on Saturday for the group on Sunday. The original recipe called for sour cream in the batter and for a cube of plain cream cheese to be shoved down into the center of the muffin batter before it was baked. At first bite, I told myself that nobody will like these. I bit into it and immediately had this feeling, that I didn't know how I felt about that cube of cream cheese! Then one by one, as different ones tasted, they all said the same thing - it wasn't horrible, but .... that cube of cream cheese.... ugh!
So today I remade them. I couldn't handle the defeat! I was really pleased with the results!

CHEESECAKE STUFFED PUMPKIN MUFFINS


Philadelphia brand, prepared cheesecake filling mix (sold next to regular cream cheese)
2 cups flour
1/2 cup sugar
3 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup chopped pecans
2 eggs, slightly beaten
3/4 cup canned pumpkin
1/2 cup melted butter
1/4 cup applesauce

Combine flour, 1/2 cup sugar, baking powder, pumpkin pie spice and salt in bowl.

Mix eggs, pumpkin, butter and applesauce together, then add to flour mixture. Stir just until moistened.

Fill greased muffin cups 1/3 full. Place 1 Tblsp of the prepared cheesecake filling , in center of each. Add remaining batter to fill cups 2/3 full. Sprinkle with chopped pecans and then with sugar.

*NOTE* When you fill the muffin papers - be sure to spray them with Pam first. Also, after you spoon in the cheesecake filling, and add the top layer of batter - do not seal the top layer. Just spoon it on top - and let the cheesecake filling show on the sides or however it turns out. Don't smooth the top over.

Bake in 375ºF oven 15 to 18 minutes or until they spring back when lightly touched.

FOR COFFEE CAKE: Spread half of batter in a greased 9 inch square pan. Arrange cheese cake filling evenly spaced over the batter. Top with remaining batter. Sprinkle with chopped pecans, and cinnamon & sugar. Bake approximately 30 minutes.

Yields: 12 muffins