Strawberry Orange Cream Cheese muffins

You may be wondering why on the first day of fall I am posting a strawberry muffin. Well, for two simple reasons. 1~ They are different than your average muffin and delicious, and 2~ I have mentioned before I have this weird rule within myself to not bake with pumpkin until Oct. 1st. I don't know why, that's just how it is… my kids know no pumpkin deliciousness until October and then it's ON! So, I had some strawberries left over from last week that needed to be used up so we could move on to the fresh batch for this week! I decided to make these muffins for our weekly muffin and everyone loved them. My suggestion, don't be shy when putting the cream cheese mixture in, put a nice dollop. That is what makes them so moist and yummy. Serve these the next day, if you can resist! Allowing them to set makes all the difference. Enjoy!

Strawberry Orange Cream Cheese Muffins
adapted from lick the bowl good

Cream Cheese Mixture: 

• 4 oz. cream cheese, room temperature
• 1/3 cup granulated sugar
• 1 Tablespoon vanilla extract

Muffins:

• 2 cup all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup milk
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted and slightly cooled
• 1 Tablespoon orange zest
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 large eggs
• 1 cup fresh strawberries, diced into small pieces

Preheat oven to 350 Degrees F. Line muffin tin with paper liners and set aside. 

For The Cream Cheese Mixture: In a small bowl, mix together the cream cheese, sugar and vanilla until smooth. Set aside.

For The Muffins: In a large bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. Stir and set aside.

In a medium bowl, whisk together milk, melted butter, orange zest, vanilla and eggs until incorporated.

Using a spatula, stir the milk mixture into the flour mixture. Stir until just combined but do not overmix.

Spoon  the batter into the prepared tins, filling them no more than 1/2 full.

Scatter a few pieces of strawberry on top of each one.

Top the strawberries with a teaspoon of cream cheese mixture, a tablespoon more of muffin batter, and finally a few more pieces of strawberry.

Bake the muffins for about 20 ~ 25 minutes, until they’re light golden on top and a toothpick inserted in the center comes clean.

little hands can help with the strawberries :)