Sweet Potato Muffins with Cream Cheese Hearts

I was recently sent a copy of 300 Best Potato Recipes to review and while reading it over I decided to try a muffin recipe out of the yes…300 recipes. It was hard to choose! The book publisher, Robert Rose, is always a winner for their cookbooks. They are laid out well and are easy to use. The recipes feature everything from savory to sweet (even marzipan and fudge!) and feature all kinds of ‘taters. The book even has a dictionary of potatoes at the start. Who knew there were so many varieties? A very fun cookbook!

The only difference I made to the muffins was I used a flax-seed meal slurry instead of eggs (but I note it below). Otherwise I kept to the recipe. It could be made vegan though if one used vegan cream cheese but as I have noted before, I prefer to not use the fake version! On the cream cheese center – I am half way on whether it was needed. The muffins were moist and tasty, but the cream cheese had the sourness of the cheese. I thought to myself that if I had beaten it up with a little sugar first and then used a 1 Tbsp disher to make balls to drop in it would have been perfect. But the key I found eating them the way I made them is bite through the cheese with the muffin in a big all in one bite. Then delicious! A winner recipe.

Sweet Potato Spice Muffins with Cream Cheese Hearts (Page 404)

Ingredients:

• 1½ cups all-purpose flour
• ½ cup packed brown sugar
• 1½ tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp baking soda
• ½ tsp ground cinnamon
• ½ tsp ground ginger
• ¼ tsp ground nutmeg
• Pinch of ground allspice (or cloves) (Pinch Dash Smidgen Measuring Spoons)
• ½ tsp salt
• 2 Tbsp flax-seed meal + 6 Tbsp cool water (or 2 chicken eggs)
• 1 cup dry-mashed sweet potatoes (or cheat like me and use Organic Sweet Potato Puree)
• 2/3 cup canola or sunflower oil
• 4 ounces low-fat cream cheese (half a brick, you can use full fat but don’t use non-fat)
• ½ cup walnuts, diced small (called for toasted, I used raw as I prefer the taste)

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350° and line a 12 count muffin tin with paper liners.

In a large mixing bowl whisk the flour, brown sugar, baking powder, baking soda, spices and slat together.

In a medium mixing bowl whisk the flax-seed slurry (or eggs), mashed sweet potatoes and oil together.

Stir into the flour mixture until just combined.

Cut the cream cheese into 4 strips, then each strip into 3 chunks (a dinner plate and sharp knife works well).

Divide the batter between the cups evenly (a disher helps) and then top each muffin with a section of cream cheese, gently pressing into the batter. Sprinkle the muffins evenly with the walnuts.

Bake for 18 to 25 minutes (mine took 25) until a toothpick comes out clean (go into the side, under the cream cheese, not through it, when testing).

Take out and let cool for 5 minutes and then take out of the pan to cool on a wire rack.

Serve warm if you can!

Makes 12 muffins.

~Sarah

FTC Disclaimer: We received a copy of this book for potential review.