Monday, October 6, 2008

Raspberry Cream Cheese Muffins



My latest thing before buying new recipe books that look good on Amazon, is to borrow them from my library. Luckily I have a fantastic local library, so I'm able to do this for almost any cookbook. I recently borrowed "More from Magnolia" Recipes from the World-Famous Bakery. I'm sort of disappointed with the book because there are hardly any pictures in it!! I have to have pictures!! More often than not that is what inspires me to make the dish or the cake or cookies. I think that's why I love Ina so much, she has photos of 99% of her recipes. I thought most of the the stuff was sort of ordinary, and without pictures to inspire me I didn't think I was going to make anything, until the Raspberry Cream Cheese Breakfast Buns caught my eye.

I thought they turned out well. The original recipe is for 9 large muffins, but I just made them in the size of regular muffins, because I know no one would eat a whole large muffin. The recipe made 2 dozen regular muffins.

1 3/4 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
8oz package cream cheese, softened
1 stick unsalted butter
1 cup sugar
2 large eggs
1/4 cup milk
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Topping

1/2 cup raspberry preserves

Confectioner's sugar (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Grease and lightly flour 9 large muffin cups or 24 regular muffins. In a small bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Set aside.

In a large bowl, on the medium speed of an electric mixer, beat together the cream cheese, butter and sugar until smooth, about 3 minutes. Add the eggs and beat well. Add the dry ingredients in two parts, alternating with the milk and vanilla. Spoon the batter into the muffin cups, filling them about two-thirds full. Drop 3 small dollops (about a teaspoonful each) of raspberry preserves onto the top of each bun and, using the tip of a sharp knife, swirl the preserves into the batter, forming a decorative pattern.

Bake for 25-30 minutes (regular muffins - 22 mins), or until a cake tester inserted in the center of the bun comes out clean.

Allow the buns to cool for about 30 minutes before sprinkling with confectioners sugar and serving.

I also think these would probably be delicious with a slight touch of lemon, and I'm going to add some next time I make them, to see how it turns out.

8 comments:

Sylvie said...

I was flicking through a Magnolia Bakery cookbook at Urban outfitters the other day and resisted buying it, but seeing these makes me wanna go back and buy it, so I can get baking fabulous muffins too.

mimi said...

i am not a fan of magnolia bakery itself, but i have heard very good things about their book. these look wonderful and moist!

grace said...

i'm a sucker for pink--these look terrific. :)

Elle said...

oooh, so pretty! I like pics, too, which I suppose is why I'm addicted to blogs, lol. I wish our library had a good cookbook section, but the small area they have is terribly outdated.

Kristine said...

I have to admit, once I tasted the batter we nearly didn't have muffins. Sooo good. My batter was a bit thick but I'm hoping the preserves will thin it out while it bakes (in the oven now). Thanks in advance for the great recipe.

Meg said...

These look absolutely delightful!

Unknown said...

Those looks so delicious!

David R said...

i used to live around the corner from Magnolia and these muffins were my favorite! Incredibly, they don't make them anymore ... even though the recipe book says they've been a favorite. Whatever, now I can make them myself! Thanks!