Starting off the week with some Strawberry Cheesecake Muffins. Except that I didn’t have any actual strawberries, just strawberry jam. What to do? I made some cheesecake filling (cream cheese, egg yolk and sugar), chilled it and then added some of the jam. Result: muffin-y outside, creamy strawberry cheesecake filling. Delicious! And a new trick when berries aren’t at hand!
Ingredients
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/3 cup butter, melted and cooled slightly
1 egg, lightly beaten
2/3 cup milk
for the filling
1/2 cup cream cheese, at room temperature
1 egg yolk
4 tablespoons sugar
1/2 cup strawberry jam (store-bought is fine; homemade is better)
For the streusel topping
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup butter, cubed
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
Directions
Firstly, make the cheesecake filling, as ideally you will have time to chill this or even freeze for a few hours. In a small work bowl, combine cream cheese, egg yolk and sugar and stir until well combined. If possible (if you have a spare one, divide the filling to a 12-slot ice cube tray and chill (in fridge or freezer) for 2 to 4 hours. Alternatively, just chill in the bowl, but don’t freeze it.
Heat oven to 400F. Grease muffin cups or line with muffin liners.
To make streusel topping: Mix together sugar, flour, butter, and cinnamon. Mix in the butter with fork until it looks like coarse sand. Set aside in the fridge.
Combine flour, sugar, salt and baking powder in one bowl. In another small bowl, combine melted butter, milk and egg. Mix this with flour mixture.
Fill muffin liners approximately 1/2 full. Place in 1-2 tablespoons cream cheese mixture and then the same amount of strawberry jam. Fill with batter to nearly the top. Sprinkle over muffins before baking.
Bake for 25-30 minutes in the preheated oven, or until a toothpick inserted around the cream cheese center come out clean and they are a golden brown. The cream cheese center will stay “cheesecake soft” and the strawberry jam may push to just under the streusel topping.
