Mini Muffins with Strawberry Cream

I love seeing the strawberry cream cheese ooze from this mini muffin! I was inspired by the Podleski sisters’ who are on the show Eat, Shrink and be Merry by their recipe Little Miss Muffin Top. First, I wanted to see if they could come up with a muffin recipe that used whole wheat the I actually liked. Second, I loved the idea of cream cheese filling for muffins. The problem? I do not have a muffin top pan. But I do have a mini muffin pan which got my brain thinking, hmm, is there a way to do a mini version of their recipe? Apparently, there is!

OK, I will admit it, I also changed the recipe a little. I know most people like lemon but with strawberries I prefer lime and because these were mini muffins I could not add all that fruit, it would take up too much space.

I put a little batter on the bottom, a tiny dab of low fat strawberry cream cheese and little more batter on the top.

The original recipe says to bake the muffin tops at 375F for 12 minutes so I baked my mini muffins for just 10 minutes and kept my fingers crossed.

They came out perfectly! The only problem? I also wanted to add some strawberry rhubarb jam to the center and forgot, doh!

I am not a huge fan of any recipe that uses whole wheat flour and I also do not like muffins very much. These were nice and crispy on the outside with a lovely texture on the inside. The cream cheese gave a beautiful hint of strawberry and then melted in your mouth. I bet they will be even better when I make these with jam in the middle, which I will. I enjoyed these so much I will be making them again next weekend.

Regular muffins are so overwhelming for me, too big and bulky. A real food commitment. Mini muffins on the other hand are little treats. I have been indulging in them all this long weekend with sweet tea and getting extra fiber without sacrificing flavour or texture! Thank you Janet and Greta!

Who says you can not experiment while baking? I changed the structure of these muffins as well as the flavour so they were tailored to my personal palette and style of eating. Oh the power of food knowledge, is it ever tasty and liberating.