Cream Cheese Carrot Cake Muffins

I saw these muffins on the King Arthur Flour Bakers’ Banter blog and I had to make them right away. In fact, I think I made them the day I first saw them, which is rare for me! I usually bookmark things and come back to them later, but this time I wanted to make them immediately. I love King Arthur Flour. I pour over their baker’s catalog and love the recipes the post on their blog.

We were having company over so it seemed like the perfect occasion to make a breakfast treat. These are basically inside out carrot cake, with the cream cheese inside instead of having cream cheese frosting. How could that be bad? I couldn’t decide if they were muffin-like or cupcake-like, but I guess it doesn’t really make a difference. You make the filling and then layer it with the carrot cake batter to make pockets of cream cheese. These came together surprisingly well, and didn’t require anything too exotic.

I thought I followed the instructions exactly, but I must not have used enough filling. I didn’t have a big pocket of cream cheese, but more of a ripple of cream cheese. I also had lots of filling left over, which wasn’t the case if you read the blog entry on the King Arthur site. Oh well, still good, but not quite as dramatic when you bite into them. I think that the spice flavor was stronger than the carrot flavor, but I like spice cake! These were fun to make and they were enjoyed by all!

8 ounces cream cheese
1/4 cup sugar
A few drops of Fiori Di Sicilia flavor, optional

2 1/4 cups flour
1/2 cup sugar
¼ cup brown sugar, firmly packed
1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder
¼ teaspoon baking soda
1-1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
3/4 teaspoon ground ginger
3/4 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
3/4 cup water
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 cup grated carrots, lightly packed

Preheat the oven to 400°F. Line a 12 cup muffin pan with cupcake liners and grease the cups.

To make the filling: Microwave cream cheese on low power for 40 seconds. Stir in the sugar and flavor. Set aside.

In a medium-sized bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, brown sugar, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, and salt. In a separate small bowl, whisk together the eggs, water, and oil. Stir the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and then stir in the grated carrots.

Drop about 2 tablespoons of the batter into each muffin cup, spreading it to cover the bottom. Dollop on a heaping tablespoon of filling. Cover with enough batter to fill the muffin cups. The cups will be quite full.

Bake the muffins until a toothpick inserted into the cake part of one comes out clean, about 20 minutes. (Make sure you test the muffins and not the filling.) Remove the muffins from the oven, allow to cool slightly and then remove to a rack to cool completely.

Recipe from King Arthur Flour