Cream Cheese Muffins with Pineapple Passion Fruit Jam

It’s been fairly warm in the Pacific Northwest the past couple of weeks, but the weather is finally cooling a little bit. I’ve had to sneak in and bake whenever we’ve had the slightest bit of cooling. I got off work the other day and I figured the house wouldn’t be too hot, so I searched and found this recipe to make. I hadn’t made muffins in a while and I liked the idea of jam-swirled muffins.

I’m pretty guilty of picking up all sorts of jams and preserves, so our cupboard is quite full. Farmer’s markets, vacations, etc. it seems like I find something interesting to buy and bring home. The original recipe for these called for raspberry preserves, but I knew that I would have something interesting to use. I looked through the cupboard and found pineapple passion fruit jam and thought that would be wonderful. 

These muffins seem plain: a basic muffin with the addition of cream cheese to the batter. The cream cheese adds a lot to the richness of the muffins. They have a very tender crumb and remain fresh a lot longer than a typical home-baked muffin. The original recipe said the yield was 12 muffins, and I made 12 mini and 12 regular-sized muffins.  I really liked the pineapple passion fruit jam topping; it was sweet and just a bit different from your traditional jam flavors. 

Cream Cheese Muffins with Pineapple Passion Fruit Jam 

1-3/4 cup flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

½ teaspoon baking soda

¼ teaspoon salt

8 ounces cream cheese, room temperature

½ cup butter, room temperature

1 cup sugar

2 eggs

¼ cup milk

½ teaspoon vanilla

½ cup jam or preserves

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease about 18 muffin cups. Or 12 muffin cups and 12 mini muffin cups.

In a small bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. In a large mixer bowl, beat the cream cheese, butter, and sugar until light. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating until incorporated. Add half of the flour mixture, then the milk and vanilla, then the remaining flour. Stir just until the flour is incorporated.

Scoop the batter into the prepared muffin cups, filling about ⅔ full. Drop about 1 teaspoon of jam on the top of each muffin. Swirl the jam and the muffin batter with a knife or toothpick.

Bake for 25 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the muffin comes out clean. Cool in the pan for 10 minutes and then remove to a wire rack to cool. If desired, sprinkle with powdered sugar before serving.

Recipe from Chez CateyLou