strawberries & cream muffins {recipe}

This is the first time in the while I've been in the kitchen baking something.. well, doing anything really.. since we've moved back to the states.  The grocery store here had a huge sale on strawberries last week.. $1.88 for 2 lbs of strawberries!  Needless to say, I bought some.. my parents bought some.. we have strawberries galore.  We've made fruit salad.. strawberry shortcakes.. I've mashed them up and put them over my vanilla bean ice cream (my favorite).. and then I came across this strawberries and cream muffin recipe.  I thought it would be worth a try, and they turned out pretty good!  My husband said they're even better the next day.  When I make muffins I usually do the blueberry kind, so I thought this was a good change-up.  ;)

strawberries & cream muffins
adapted from Jane's Sweets

• 1 cup evaporated milk
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter
• 1 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1/8 tsp. almond extract
• 2 large eggs
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 2 1/2 tsp. baking powder
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1 cup fresh, ripe strawberries chopped into small pieces (the sweeter, the better)

•  4 oz. fat-free cream cheese, softened
• 1 1/2 tbsp. of liquid from one whole egg, lightly beaten
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 1/4 tsp. vanilla extract 

Preheat oven to 400 F.

Put paper liners in the cups of your muffin pan, or use nonstick baking spray liberally.

Cut up your berries and set them aside.

In a small bowl, mix together with a spoon the cream cheese, 1/3 cup sugar, 1 and 1/2 Tbsp. beaten egg, and 1/4 tsp. vanilla extract. Mix until almost all the lumps are gone. Set this aside, but don't chill it.

Melt the butter slowly in a sauce pan on low heat. Add the vanilla extract, almond extract, and the milk into the butter, stirring to combine. Cool until the mixture is just warm, then whisk in the eggs.

Thoroughly combine with a whisk, in a large mixing bowl, the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt.

Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients. Pour all of the butter and milk mixture into the dry ingredients, blending just until combined. Don't overmix. It's okay if a few little flour streaks are still evident.

Using a portion scoop, fill each muffin cup barely half full.

Scatter a few pieces of strawberry on top of each one.

Using a small spoon, dab a generous teaspoonful or so of the cream cheese mixture on top of the berries.

On top of that, add on another tablespoon or two of the muffin batter.

On top of that, add a few more pieces of strawberry. Push them in just slightly. If they're well visible at this point, they'll still be visible after the muffins have baked (that makes them pretty!).

Bake the muffins for about 15 to 18 minutes, until they're light golden on top and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out mostly clean. The middle of the cupcake should be kind of firm when lightly pressed with a finger. Check on the muffins early, and if they're browning too fast, lightly cover the pan with a sheet of foil.

Let the muffins cool in the pan, on a rack, for a couple of minutes, then carefully remove them from the pan to cool on the rack.

Makes 12-14 muffins. 

ENJOY!  :)