Fourth recipe in the eat me, delicious tribute week!
I was immediately drawn to this recipe. Cheesecake? Always. Citrus? Intravenously, please. Seeds? Welcome anytime. Delicious baked goods? Definitely. Suffice to say, these are really good muffins. They're not health food by any stretch of the imagination and I think they taste rather cakey (but my brother didn't think so), but still so delicious. I assumed they would taste more like cake and less like muffins because of the really time-consuming and labor intensive mixing (secret to excellent soft cakes and cheesecake, by the way) and that the directions stipulated you needed to add the ingredients little by little (other secret of really delicious sweet good baking). Generally, muffins are less mixed which makes them more crumbly.
I didn't think the cream cheese flavor was that prominent, but Ashley did, so you should try them for yourself and tell me what you think.
That being said, I really enjoyed these muffins. The pepita crunch was a welcome texture, and I especially liked sprinkling the leftovers on slices of the muffins (yum!)
My only frustration with the recipe was trying to scrape the pepita crunch off of the baking sheet. I didn't grease the pan at all, so this should be completely unsurprising (are you nonplussed?), but I also thought that there was a lot of leftover egg white which concerned me when I opened up the oven and it looked like I was making seedy scrambled eggs. Maybe one egg white to 1/4 cup of pepitas is not the right ratio? I don't know, but the seeds ended up tasting really good and not so eggy and after some enthusiastic scrubbing my cookie sheet is clean too.
Oh, and there was that part where I clumsily hit the muffin tin against the middle baking rack and two of my muffins toppled face-down onto the oven door. I just about cried, but luckily my mom was there to help me pick up the two I lost and encourage me to continue (thanks mom!).
Definitely try this one out if you're in a dessert muffin mood.
Makes 12 muffins
Found on eat me, delicious
Orange Cream Cheese Muffins (with Pepita Crunch)
Great Coffee Cakes, Sticky Buns, Muffins & More
Pepita Crunch
1 large egg white (reserve yolk)
2 tbsp plus 1 tsp granulated sugar
1/2 cup pepitas (pumpkin seeds)
Muffins
1/2 small navel orange, cut into 6 to 8 pieces (zest, pith and flesh)
4 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature, broken into 3 to 4 pieces
2 cups all purpose flour, spooned in and leveled
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, slightly firm
1 cup superfine sugar
2 large eggs
1 large egg yolk (reserved from pepita crunch)
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
1. Position the racks in the upper and lower thirds of the oven. Heat the oven to 350F. Spray a rimmed cookie sheet with nonstick cooking spray.
Make the pepita crunch:
2. In a small bowl, whisk together the egg white and 1 tablespoon of the granulated sugar. Add the pumpkin seeds, tossing to coat well with the egg/sugar mixture. Pour into the prepared cookie sheet and spread evenly in a single layer. Sprinkle 1 more tablespoon of the sugar over the pepitas. Bake for 7 to 8 minutes, stir the pepitas with a fork, and bake for another 7 minutes. Remove from the oven, stir the pepitas, sprinkle with the remaining 1 teaspoon of sugar, and bake for another 3 minutes. Remove from the oven and allow to cool. Break up any clusters with your fingertips and set aside. (Ashley note: I found this baking time too long.)
Make the batter:
3. Increase the oven temperature to 375F. Line fourteen muffin cups with paper or foil cupcake liners.
4. Fit a food processor with the steel blade. With the machine on, drop the orange pieces through the feeder tube. Process until finely chopped, then measure 1/4 cup pulp and return it to the processor bowl. (Discard any remaining orange.) Add the cream cheese and process in three 10-second intervals, scraping down the side of the bowl after each process. The mixture should retain some orange texture.
5. In a large bowl, thoroughly whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt and baking soda. Set aside.
6. Cut the butter into 1-inch pieces and place in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Mix on medium speed until smooth and lightened in color, about 1 minute. Stop the machine and add the cream cheese/orange mixture, then mix on medium speed for 1 minute. Add the superfine sugar in a steady stream, then blend in the eggs, the reserved yolk, and the vanilla.
7. Reduce the mixer speed to low and add the flour mixture in three additions, mixing just until blended after each addition.
Bake the muffins:
8. Portion level scoops of the batter into the prepared pans using a no. 16 ice cream scoop (1/4 cup capacity). Sprinkle the top of each muffin with 1 tablespoon of the pepita crunch. Be sure to use any sugar the remains in the pan.
9. Bake for 22 to 25 minutes, or until the muffins are golden brown and the tops are springy to the touch. To ensure even baking, toward the end of baking time, rotate the pans top to bottom and front to back. Remove from the oven and place on a rack to cool.
