Recipes for Mom's Morning Out

Yield: 24-32 muffins

Pumpkin Cream Cheese Muffins

Ingredients:

Muffins:

• 3 cups (15 ounces) all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1 tablespoon pumpkin pie spice (see note)
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 4 large eggs
• 1 cup vegetable oil (I often sub half applesauce/half oil)
• 2 cups (15 ounces) granulated sugar
• 2 cups canned pumpkin puree (15-ounce can)

Filling:

• 8 ounces cream cheese, softened
• 1 cup (4 ounces) powdered sugar

Streusel Topping:

• 1/2 cup (3.75 ounces) granulated sugar
• 1/4 cup (1.25 ounces) all-purpose flour
• 4 tablespoons cold butter, cubed
• 1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon

Directions:

1. For the cream cheese filling, combine the cream cheese and powdered sugar and mix with a handheld electric mixer (or in the bowl of a stand mixer) until smooth. On a piece of parchment paper or greased foil, form the soft mixture into a log making sure that the diameter is small enough to fit into the well of a muffin pan once cut into pieces. Wrap the log up tightly and freeze until slightly hardened, 1-2 hours. ALTERNATE METHOD: sometimes I use my small cookie scoop (about a tablespoon in size) and portion out 24 cream cheese dollops on a parchment-lined plate or tray and freeze that way.
2. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line two standard 12-cup muffin pans with paper liners (can bake in batches if you only have one pan) – see the note below for tips on muffin tins and how many to use.
3. For the muffins, in a medium bowl, combine the flour, spices, salt and baking soda. Whisk to combine; set aside. In a large bowl whisk together the eggs, vegetable oil (and applesauce if using), sugar and pumpkin puree until well combined. Add the dry ingredients and mix until just combined (don’t overmix; a few lumps are ok!).
4. For the streusel topping, in a small bowl, combine all the ingredients. Mix together with a handheld electric mixer, pastry blender or two forks until crumbly.
5. Fill each muffin cup 1/3 of the way with batter. Remove the cream cheese log from the freezer and slice into 24 equal slices (no need to slice if you portioned the cream cheese mixture into individual dollops and froze). Place a slice or dollop of cream cheese on top of the batter in each muffin well and press lightly into the batter (no need to aggressively shove to the bottom, just a light press).
6. Divide the remaining muffin batter evenly among the muffin cups on top of the cream cheese (filling the muffin tins about 2/3 to 3/4 full, depending on how deep the muffin cups are). Sprinkle the streusel topping over the top of each muffin. Bake the muffins for 18-20 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the top of the muffin (about 1/3 of the way down) comes out with moist crumbs. Let cool completely on a wire rack before serving.  Recipe and Photo Credit Mels Kitchen Cafe 

Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins

Ingredients

For the Muffins:

• 2/3 cup sugar
• Grated zest and juice of 1 lemon
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 cup sour cream or plain Greek yogurt
• 2 large eggs
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter melted and cooled
• 2 tablespoons poppy seeds

For the Icing:

• 1 cup confectioners’ sugar sifted
• 2-3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

Instructions

1. To Make the Muffins: Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Butter or spray the 12 molds in a regular-size muffin pan or fit the molds with paper muffin cups.
2. In a large bowl, rub the sugar and the lemon zest together with your fingertips until the sugar is moist and the fragrance of the lemon is strong. Whisk in the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. In a small bowl, whisk the sour cream or Greek yogurt, eggs, vanilla, lemon juice and melted butter together until well blended.
3. Pour the liquid ingredients over the dry ingredients and gently stir to blend. Don't overmix. Stir in the poppy seeds. Divide the batter evenly among the muffin cups.
4. Bake for 18 to 20 minutes, or until the tops are golden and a thin knife inserted into the center of the muffins comes out clean. Transfer the pan to a rack and cool for 5 minutes before carefully removing each muffin from its mold. Cool the muffins completely on the rack before icing them.
5. To Make the Icing: Put the confectioners’ sugar in a small bowl and add about 1 1/2 tablespoons of the lemon juice. Stir with a spoon to moisten the sugar, then add enough additional lemon juice, a dribble at a time, to get an icing that is thin enough to drizzle from the tip of the spoon. Drizzle glaze over the muffins. Serve.
   
   

   Blueberry Cream Muffins

   4 Eggs
   2 1/4 Cup sugar
   1 Cup vegetable oil
   1 tsp vanilla
   4 Cups flour
   1 tsp salt
   1 tsp baking soda
   2 Cups Sour Cream
   2 Cups Blueberries
   1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Grease 24 muffin cups or line with paper muffin liners.
   2. In large bowl beat eggs, gradually add sugar while beating. Continue beating while slowly pouring in oil. Stir in vanilla. In a separate bowl, stir together flour, salt and baking soda.
   3. Stir dry ingredients into egg mixture alternately with sour cream. Gently fold in blueberries. Scoop batter into prepared muffin cups.
   Top with Crumb topping: (I usually double the topping for this many muffins)
   2/3 Cup packed brown sugar
   2 TBS flour
   1/4 tsp cinnamon
   2 TBS butter
   
   4. Bake in preheated oven for 20 minutes.