Strawberries 'n Cream Muffins

Hello all,

I wasn't going to post again until Valentine's Day but I whipped these up this past Friday and they came out so wonderfully that I couldn't not share it with you all (please ignore the English major using double negatives).

I pinned a recipe for Strawberry Mug Cake awhile back and I had the urge to test it out, and my roommate offered to pick the strawberries up for me while she stopped at Costco. Why I didn't realize that this would be entirely too many strawberries is beyond me, but now I was stuck with them.

So what do I do with the extra strawberries? Turn them into muffins of course!

Did that really surprise anyone? Other than the fact that the post has the word muffin in the name, probably not. I believe we've established I have a bit of muffin mania. It's quite alright, genius is often mistaken for madness.

I am also proud to say that these are entirely my own creation, which makes me even more excited to share it with you. The use of heavy cream gives the muffins a nice touch of sweetness along with a crumbly texture that is melt in your mouth yummy. The addition of white chocolate chips sure didn't hurt either.

These are great just as an any-day indulgence but with Valentine's Day swiftly approaching, I thought this would be great to share as a quick fix for a sweet gift for someone special.

In case your more in the Whoopie Pie mood for the holiday, check back Tuesday for Pink Velvet Whoopie Pies!

Happy Baking!

Strawberries 'n Cream Muffins Via Yours Truly

2 cups flour

1/2 cup sugar

1/4 cup vegetable oil

1 heaping cup chopped strawberries

1 egg

1 1/4 cup heavy cream

1 tbsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

3/4 cup white chocolate chips

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line/grease one 12-cup muffin pan.

2. Sift together flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl. 

3. In a separate bowl, whisk together oil, egg and cream.

4. Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients and stir until just combined. Fold in strawberries and white chocolate chips.

5. Fill each cavity of the pan 3/4 of the way full with batter and bake at 350 for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Lemon Blueberry Cheesecake Cookies

Friends,

I almost thought I wasn't going to be able to share these with you today.

I saw a dreaded red battery symbol on my camera after taking photos of the Lemon Streusel Muffins. Now normally one would say "Jess that is silly just go and charge your battery."

About that...see in order to charge a battery, one needs a charger. Naturally I went to go and look for mine and wouldn't you know it, I left it in Florida. Cue disappointing music.

So what was I to do? Well, apparently if you leave your camera alone for a few days it will retain just enough juice to take some photos of these killer cheesecake cookies.

Phew! Crisis Averted. For a minute there I thought I would have to take photos with my phone.

On a more serious note, this whole stuffed cookie idea is wonderful; why didn't anyone think of this earlier?

As I ask that I can think of one semi-legitimate reason: they are sort-of a pain in the butt. Whether you plan on trying out these or even the Nutella Stuffed Sugar Cookies, do yourself a favor and make sure you don't have to rush. These cookies are delicious and a bit on the decadent side, and as such need the tender loving care of a patient baker.

I am not a patient baker.

But, even with my frantic running around in my tiny kitchen, I managed to pull these off. I do not however, understand how HotPolkaDot managed to not burst any of the blueberries. Seriously. It's impossible.

Bursted berries or no, these will be sure to please. Fresh blueberries and lemon zest with a pillowy cream cheese center, what's not to love?

 

As always, I hope you try these out for yourself and share with friends; nothing brings a smile to someone's face better than a fresh, sweet cookie. That is, unless it's a dozen of said cookie. :)

Next week will be full of my other favorite cookies: Whoopie Pies! So be sure to hop back on over to Sugar Mountain!

Lemon Blueberry Cheesecake Cookies Slightly Adapted from HotPolkaDot

3 cups flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 cup butter, at room temp
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
3 tbsp lemon juice
zest from 1 lemon
1 cup blueberries
4 oz cream cheese, cut into 1 tsp pieces

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line cookie sheets with parchment paper.
2. Sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
3. In a separate bowl, cream together butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs and lemon zest, being sure to scrape any zest off of the mixer. Beat in lemon juice until well incorporated.
4. Add flour mixture and stir until dough comes together. Gently fold in blueberries. Place dough in fridge to set up (about 20 minutes).
5. Roll tablespoonfuls of dough into balls. Then, make imprint in center and place 1 tsp of cream cheese in center. Roll dough over cream cheese and back into the shape of a ball.
6. Place on prepared cookie sheet and bake at 350 for 10-14 minutes or until edges are slightly browned.
7. Cool on wire rack and then eat up!

Lemon Streusel Coffee Cake Muffins

Hello all!

So I learned something while preparing for this post:

working with lemons in baking is tricky.

Case and point: this recipe I am sharing with you is the third attempt at lemon muffins in the past three days. Dedicated? Yes. Obsessed? Maybe just a little. But I just couldn't get it right until today.

For starters, however, when a recipe tells you to take 2 whole lemons, slice them in quarters, place in the blender, and then use that mixture in the muffins just stop and say no. This is a muffin PSA from me to you: don't do it. There's no way this will work out well, and do not succumb (like I did) and think that since it's a recipe on a decent-looking food blog, they will turn out great. In reality, it will be like chewing on a giant piece of lemon with bits of muffin on it.

But, after all the lemony labors of love, I have these little sweeties to show for it:

Lemony sweet and fun to eat! The coffee cake has just the slightest hint of lemon that gets amplified by the lemon glaze that catches to every inch of the crumbly struesel topping.

So, seeing as how I now have breakfast for the week, I can say it was all worth it. Not to mention during all of this the kitchen smelled lemony fresh! I hope you enjoy baking these up for yourself, knowing that it is both tested and approved by your truly.

 
Lemon Baking continues with the next post OnSugarMountain for Lemon Blueberry Cheesecake Cookies!

Happy Baking!

Lemon Streusel Coffee Cake Muffins Via SimplyScratch

2 cups flour
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda   
1/2 cup butter at room temp.
1 cup sugar
1 tbsp lemon zest
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup buttermilk (or 1 tbsp white vinegar + enough milk to make 1 cup)

For the Topping:
1 3/4 cup  flour
3/4 cup brown sugar
3/4 cup butter, cubed
1 tsp salt

Lemon Glaze
1 cup powdered sugar
3 tbsp lemon juice


**Preheat oven to 350 and grease one 12-cup muffin pan OR one 6-cup jumbo muffin pan**


1. To make the topping: mix together the flour, brown sugar, and salt. Cut butter into flour mixture with pastry cutter (or two knives) until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Keep in fridge while whipping up everything else.
2. For the muffins: Whisk together the flour, salt, baking powder, and baking soda in a medium bowl. In a large bowl, beat sugar and butter together until creamy. Add lemon zest and beat in each egg, one at a time, until fully incorporated. Mix in the vanilla.
3. Alternately fold in the flour mixture and the buttermilk, starting and ending with the flour.
4. Fill each muffin cup in pan 3/4 full. Sprinkle topping over muffin batter. 
5. Bake at 350 for 20-25 minutes for standard sized muffins or 40-45 minutes for jumbo muffins. Let cool completely before removing from pan.

Liebster Blog Award

Friends,

I have exciting news...

I won an award!

It's called the Liebster Blog Award, and it's given to bloggers with less than 200 followers and means "dearest" or "favorite" in German. How awesome is that? It means so much that, even with my 22 followers (whom I love and appreciate each and every moment I see you all on my Dashboard), I am still making my way into the food blogopshere and can be considered for such an award.

I want to thank BakerBecky at thebakerbecky.blogspot.com for giving me this and nominating me as one of her 5 favorite blogs. It really means alot Becky, and I hope you all go check out her site as well with all it's delicious recipes.

Now, this is an award that is a pay-it-forward type, which is the best type if you ask me; it really highlights the community aspect of blogging that I have come to love so much. So, in order to accept the award (which I totally do!) you have to do the following:

  1. Thank the person who awarded you on your blog

  2. Share the link to to the person who awarded you

  3. Select your 5 Top Picks for the Liebster Award
  4. Let them know by leaving a comment on their blog

  5. Post the Award on your blog (this seems a given - who wouldn't want to post about an award?)

So, without further ado, here are my 5 Blog Choices for the Liebster Award:

1. Cucina49

2. Vanilla Clouds & Lemon Drops

3. BakerBettie

4. PinkApronBaker

5. TheLitteHousewife

Congrats my fellow up and coming bloggers!

Thanks again Becky and I hope to see you all back OnSugarMountain on Monday for a peek at some delicious lemon muffins.

Happy Baking!

Nutella Stuffed Sugar Cookies

....Are you ready?

For what you might ask?

For the amazing idea that is...Nutella Stuffed Sugar Cookies (major applause)

Yes, apparently you can now stuff your sugar cookies with wonderful fillings, such as Nutella. Mind blowing right? It was for me anyway.

After the overwhleming success with the Nutella Brownies earlier in the week, I just knew these would be a smash hit.

Now you might be saying "wouldn't stuffing a sugar cookie with ooey, gooey, yummy Nutella be difficult?"

Not at all! Well, maybe, but you need to push through it because your tummy (and any nearby friends) will be thanking you for the rest of your life.

So first semi-tedious process: scooping out teaspoonfuls of Nutella onto a baking sheet. This ensures that the filling is a good size in ratio with the amount of cookie dough, but man is Nutella stubborn. It took me quite awhile (and many expletives later) to get all 20 little dollops onto the sheet, but I did it, and into the freezer they went.

So now we move from tedious to just plain frantic. Well, if you're me it was frantic; maybe if you are more coordinated than I am this will be a breeze. You need to split the cookie dough ball in half, flatten one side, and quickly place the dollop of frozen Nutella in the center and cover with the remaining half of dough before the Nutella melts. Hint: do NOT touch the Nutella with your fingers whatsoever: a spatula and a spoon will save you the issue I soon encountered with the Nutella melting by the mere poke of an index finger.

But, after all this, if you choose to continue, you wind up with these:

Worth. Every. Second.

I also had the thought that if this works with Nutella, why stop there? I mean, I don't care for peanut butter but I am sure that a chocolate cookie stuffed with peanut butter (maybe even jelly too!) would go over quite well with oh, say, everyone?

Everyone that likes peanut butter anyway. But regardless, this is a whole new way to look at (and enjoy) cookies, and I hope you decide to try it out for yourself.

Next time On Sugar Mountain will be Lemon Muffins. Simple yet satisfying.

As always, Happy Baking!

Nutella Stuffed Sugar Cookies Via CookinCanuck

2 1/2 cups flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 3/4 sticks butter
1 1/2 cups sugar + 1/3 cup sugar, divided
2 tsp vanilla
2 eggs
1/2 cup Nutella

1. Preheat oven to 350 and line 3 cookie sheets with parchment paper
2. Scoop out 1 teaspoon-sized dollops of Nutella onto one of the cookie sheets (you need about 20-24). Place cookie sheet in freezer for 15 minutes.
3. In a medium bowl whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt.
4. In a separate larger bowl, beat together butter and 1 1/2 cups sugar until light and fluffy; then beat in each egg followed by the vanilla extract.
5. Add the flour mixture to the egg mixture and stir/mix until well combined.
6. Roll 2 tbsp of cookie dough into a ball. (I suggest rolling all your cookie dough before pulling the Nutella out of the freezer).
7. Split dough in half and place (using a spatula) a dollop of Nutella in the center. Cover with other half of dough and roll back into a ball, pinching the seams closed. Roll in 1/3 cup remaining sugar and place on baking sheet. Repeat with all.
8. Bake at 350 for 10-13 minutes or until edges are just beginning to brown. Rotate pan halfway through baking to ensure even heating. Cookies will still look puffy in the center because of the filling.
9. Let cool on sheet for 10 minutes before transferring to cooling rack.

Makes 20-24 cookies