A MUFFIN BY ANY OTHER NAME

"A muffin so delicious it may as well be a cupcake." That was the original tagline for this post, which I wrote several hours before tackling my first baking project for the blog. I clearly had some real pie-in-the-sky hopes for this venture. The older, wiser me looks back at young, naive Lindsey and thinks, "Aw... that's cute. You can remove those rose colored glasses now." No one mentions how laborious it is to start and stop a recipe for photo ops--whisk in one hand, camera in the other, cat mistaking the camera strap as a toy...

In the end these muffins turned out to be pretty tasty, though definitely not the cupcake in disguise I was expecting. I probably just need to bake some dang cupcakes. 

Ingredients for blueberry lemon cream cheese not dessert but breakfast muffins (BLCCNDBBM for short):

2 1/2 cups wheat flour
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup honey
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp cinnamon
3/4 cup milk 
2 eggs
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup ricotta cheese
1 lemon for zest and juice
1 cup fresh blueberries + 1 handful for sprinkling on top and snacking
1/4 cup old fashioned oats for sprinkling

Ingredients for slap-your-mother cream cheese goodness:

8 oz cream cheese at room temperature (don't you dare touch that cream cheese until it is legitimately room temp)
3/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar 

Let's do the damn thing: 

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees // Grab a medium bowl and toss in the dry ingredients (flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, spices) // Grab a large bowl and whisk the wet ingredients together (honey, milk, eggs, oil, vanilla, ricotta cheese, lemon zest + juice) // Slowly mix the dry ingredients into the bowl of wet ingredients (try not to over-mix otherwise you will ruin everything) // Add in those blueberries! // Use an electric mixer to cream the slap-your-mother cream cheese goodness // Gently fold about half of the mixture into the muffin mix // taste test that stuff, but don't get salmonella poisoning (optional) // Fill each muffin liner about 2/3 full, leaving room for more of the cream cheese mixture // Dollop the remaining cream cheese mixture on top of each muffin and gently press down // Sprinkle oats and a few extra blueberries on top for good measure // Bake for approximately 25 - 30 minutes, muffins are done when a toothpick can be inserted and pulled out cleanly // Let muffins cool in the pan for a few minutes, then transfer to wire rack // Eat at least one while it's hot enough to burn your mouth because you don't have enough patience to wait

Tips + Things I learned: 

I have a mild, but healthy addiction to lemony treats. If made again, I would definitely use more lemon zest and juice.
The types of flour and sugar used can be mixed up. I was running low on granulated sugar, so I substituted portions with honey and brown sugar.
Once the liners are full of batter, tap the bottom of the tin on a flat surface to get some of the air bubbles out. My mom taught me this trick ages ago and I swear by it.

Coming soon...cupcakes! 

Full disclosure: this recipe was heavily adapted from Frugal Foodie Mama