Mother's Day Muffin Madness!

 Today is a day devoted to Mothers. 

           Here is a little picture of my day. We all woke up early and decided to work on making muffins. We chose to different kinds to try. The first was an amazing Triple Chocolate Chunk muffin that is just like Whole Foods, just less expensive, which is always good;) I will do a post on these muffins soon and share with you all.
          The other muffin was a Strawberry and Cream Muffin. These were delicious. The children all got to put their little hands to work. Some cut the fresh berries up, and others maybe just stirred ingredients together, but all got to help make Mama her breakfast. The Recipe for these muffins are below. I will say about my muffins, we may have overfilled the muffin pans, as little ones tend to do, but despite their size the were still fantastic.
           After breakfast and a quick call to my Mama, we headed off to church. When church was over, Ethan needed a haircut, and yes even on Mother's Day, Mama has work to do in the upkeep of her children. Of course, since the haircut place is across the parking lot from the $ Store, a visit in there was justified. My kiddos love that store! Home again with a nice pan of Lasagna waiting from my husband who knows this is one of my favorite dinners, complete with fresh bread from store bought dough. He's a keeper. We watched an American Girl movie and after some stories read by Mama, we headed off to bed.
            I hope all you other mothers out there had a wonderful day with your families! 

                                                      Strawberries and Cream Muffins

Makes about 12 to 14 regular size muffins, or about 6 jumbo muffins.
Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

1 cup whole milk
1/2 cup butter
1  1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
1/8 tsp. almond extract
2 large eggs
2 cups flour
3/4 cup sugar
2 and 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1 cup fresh ripe strawberries chopped into very small pieces

4 oz. cream cheese, very soft
1 and 1/2 Tbsp. of liquid from one whole egg that's been beaten lightly
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1/4 tsp. vanilla extract


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

Cut up the berries and put aside.

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

Melt the butter 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, milk, and egg 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 or spoon, 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 (and they won't melt away and disappear)!

Sprinkle the tops of the unbaked muffins very generously with coarse sugar for a nice sparkle.
  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 the rest of the way on the rack.

ENJOY!!!