Cream Cheese Carrot Cake Muffins

So, I'm sure by now you've been acquainted with Pinterest. It's my new favorite time-suck and one of the reasons is because of all the mouthwatering recipes I find on there. I thought that this one was well worth sharing and it comes from kingarthurflour.com. Click on the title of this post to get re-directed there but, I've added the recipe below. Can't wait to try these!!!! Happy Baking!!!

Filling

• one 8-ounce package cream cheese or Neufchâtel cheese
• 1/4 cup granulated sugar
• a few drops of Fiori di Sicilia flavor, optional but very tasty

Muffins

• 2 1/4 cups King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• ¼ cup light brown sugar, firmly packed
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• ¼ teaspoon baking soda
• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 3/4 teaspoon ground ginger
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 large eggs
• 3/4 cup water
• 1/3 cup vegetable oil
• 1 cup grated carrots, lightly packed; about 2 medium-large carrots

Directions

see this recipe's blog »

1) Preheat the oven to 400°F. Lightly grease a standard 12-well muffin pan. Or line the pan with paper muffin cups, and grease the cups.

2) To make the filling: Place the cream cheese in a microwave-safe bowl, and heat on low power for 40 seconds. Stir in the sugar and flavor. Set aside.

3) To make the muffin batter: In a medium-sized bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients.

4) In a small bowl, whisk together the eggs, water, and oil.

5) Stir the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients.

6) Fold in the grated carrots, stirring to combine.

7) Drop about 2 tablespoons of the batter (a tablespoon cookie scoop works well here) into each muffin cup, spreading it to cover the bottom.

8) Dollop on a heaping tablespoon of filling; a level tablespoon cookie scoop works well here.

9) Cover with enough batter to fill the muffin cups quite full. The batter will come to within about 1/4" to 3/8" of the top of each muffin cup. But don't try to use all the batter; unless you have particularly deep cups, you'll have abut 1/3 cup batter left over. Bake it in a separate custard cup, if desired.

10) Bake the muffins until a toothpick inserted into the cake part of one (not into the cream cheese filling) comes out clean, about 20 minutes. The tops of the muffins will feel firm to the touch.

11) Remove the muffins from the oven, and as soon as you're able to handle them, transfer them to a rack. If you serve the muffins warm, the filling will be molten. If you wait for them to cool, it'll firm up.

Yield: 12 filled muffins plus 1 unfilled muffin.

'Tis the Season For Baking....

So, it's the holidaze and I've been baking up a storm! My three favorite crowd-pleasers for this season are fudge, Neiman Marcus' cookies (I'll tell you a funny story about that later) and an apple pie recipe that I got from Real Simple that wowed my family at Thanksgiving. If you're like me and want to save some money this holiday season, baking your neighbors, co-workers, and friends some treats, (as a potluck addition, X-mas presents or as a thank-you-for-having-me-over) is a nice, inexpensive and delcious way to say that you appreciate them. Without further ado, here are the recipes all in one place to make it easy for you!

Fudge: Makes 48 servings or 3 lbs. Total time: 2 1/2 hours, includes cooling

1 7oz. jar of marshmallow creme
1 1/2 cups of sugar (you can cut this down a little if you like your fudge less sweet, my FI complained it was a little too sweet for his taste and he LOVES chocolate)
2/3 cup evaporated milk
1/4 cup of BUTTER (don't sub margarine in for butter, it has much more water and will affect the fudge)
1/4 tsp. of salt
2 cups milk chocolate chips (one 12oz bag)
1 cup of semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 tsp. of vanilla extract

1) Line a 8x8 pan with aluminum foil, so that the foil goes over the side. (I put mine in a 9x9 because I didn't have a 8x8 and it turned out well and if you double the recipe- put it in a 13x9 pan.)
2) In a large saucepan, heat on low to start: marshmallow creme, sugar, evaporated milk, butter and salt. Make sure that you have your ingredients measured out before putting them in the saucepan to keep from burning- start it on low and slowly increase to boil to cook for 5-7mins, constantly stirring. Keep an eye to make sure it doesn't burn.
3) Remove from heat and pour in the chocolate chips, stir until melted and the mixture is smooth.
4) Stir in vanilla.
5) Pour into pan and chill the fridge for 2 hours or until firm.

Neiman Marcus' Cookies: Makes 120 cookies Total time: 1 hour, includes bake time

OK, before I give you the recipe, I owe you a story. I'm not sure if this is true or some sort of publicity stunt, I tend to think it's true. A woman, some friend of a friend of my mom's, was shopping at Neiman Marcus and had stopped by their bakery/cafe to have a shopping snack. She had decided to try their cookies and thought that they were to die for, the best things she's EVER tasted. So, she asked the salesman if he had the recipe and if she could have it. He said, "Sure it's 250." So, she (I guess having forgot she was at NM) said, "OK, put it on my bill", thinking he meant $2.50. She got her NM bill and lo and behold, $250 for this recipe. She was so upset that she decided to post the recipe everywhere so that NM wouldn't make another penny on it. I thought I'd try it out before pimping out the recipe and I have to say, they're pretty damn good. So, here you are- for free. Happy Holidaze!
2 cups butter
24oz chocolate chips
4 cups flour
2 cups brown sugar
2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
2 cups sugar
1 8oz. Hershey chocolate bar, grated
5 cups blended oatmeal
4 eggs
2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp vanilla
3 cups chopped nuts

1) Preheat oven to 375.
2) Measure the oatmeal and blend in blender until it's a fine powder.
3) Cream the butter, brown sugar and granulated sugar.
3) Add: eggs and vanilla.
4) Mix with flour, oatmeal, salt, baking powder, baking soda. Add: chocolate chips, grated Hershey bar, and nuts.
5) Roll into balls and place 2 inches apart on a cookie sheet.
6) Bake at 375 for 10 minutes (though I've cooked these at 25 minutes and they turned out perfectly)

Gingery Apple Crumb Pie (via Real Simple's November '09 Issue): Serves: 8 Total time: 3 hours, includes cooling
1 piecrust, store-bought or homemade, fitted into a 9-inch pie plate
1/2 cup (1 stick) cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
3/4 cup plus 1 tbsp. all-purpose flour. spooned and leveled
3/4 cup granulated sugar
2 1/2 pounds of apples (about 4 apples like Granny Smith, Braeburn, or Empire), peeled and thinly sliced- when I did this for Thanksgiving I had extra slices, so you'd probably be safe with 3 apples instead of 4.
1 tbsp. grated fresh ginger
1/4 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp. kosher salt (I've substituted regular salt for this and it's fine, if you don't have any kosher in your kitchen)

1) Set an oven rack in the lowest position and heat oven to 375F.
2) In a food processor/blender, pulse the butter, 3/4 cup of the flour, and 1/4 cup of sugar until large clumps form. Transfer to a bowl and refrigerate until ready to use.
3) In a large bowl, toss the apples, ginger, cinnamon, salt, and remaining 1/2 cup of sugar and tbsp of flour.
4) Transfer the apple mixture to the crust, sprinkle with the crumb topping, and bake until the top is golden and the apples are tender, 55 to 60 minutes. Serve warm at room temperature. (Vanilla ice cream optional but, HIGHLY recommended ;p)

I hope these recipes bring you, your family and your loved ones much joy this holiday season. Enjoy!
Happy Holidays- Team Bride.

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