Cranberry Cream Cheese Muffins

When I saw this recipe, I knew I had to try it. I love anything with cranberries (I previously made these amazing Lemon Cranberry Muffins from the same blog), and the addition of the cream cheese just sounded amazing.

I've made these twice this week.  The flavor is really amazing.  It reminds me of this Almond Tart a bit - probably because of the almond extract and the cranberries.  Those flavors just go together so well.  The soft, slightly sweetened cream cheese is just a bonus.

If you want, you can take a knife (or your finger) and spread that soft cream cheese all over your muffin. Yum!

Cranberry Cream Cheese Muffins
adapted from The Pajama Chef

Ingredients:

• 4 oz. cream cheese, softened
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar, divided 
• 6 oz. fresh cranberries (or frozen)
•  2 eggs
•  1/4 cup brown sugar
•  1/4 cup oil
• 3/4 tsp. vanilla
• 1/4 tsp. almond extract
• 1-1/2 cup flour, part whole wheat (or use all white whole wheat)
• 1 T ground flax seed (optional)
• 2 tsp. baking powder
• 1/2 tsp. salt

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350°.  Line muffin tin with paper liners or grease well.
2. Mix cream cheese with 2 T sugar; set aside
3. In small saucepan, combine another 2 T sugar with the cranberries.  Heat on medium, stirring occasionally, until cranberries pop.  Mash slightly with a wooden spoon and set aside.
4. In mixing bowl, beat eggs then stir in the rest of the granulated sugar and the brown sugar.  Mix in oil, vanilla, and almond extract.
5. Stir flour, flax seed (if using), baking powder, and salt together; mix into wet ingredients.  Then gently fold in cranberries, being careful not to over-mix or your batter will turn pink.
6. Pour batter into prepared pan, filling muffin cups about 2/3 full.  Use a spoon to scoop cream cheese mixture into the center of each muffin, pressing down gently.
7. Bake 20-25 minutes, until golden brown.  Cool 5 minutes in muffin tin then remove to wire rack to cool.

Makes 12 muffins

I like my muffins dense and not too sweet, so I used the white wheat flour and flax seed and cut the sugar down just a touch.  They were still plenty sweet, but if you like your muffins sweet and light, use 1 cup of sugar in the batter, with an additional 2 T sugar for both the cream cheese and the cranberries.  And use white flour instead of the whole wheat, though white wheat isn't as heavy as regular whole wheat would be.  I would also recommend using cupcake liners because, even with the wheat flour, these muffins wanted to stick to my muffin pan just a little.

The reason I made these twice in one week wasn't just because I love the flavor - which I do - it was because the recipe, as first posted, called for about 1/2 the flour it should have.  (Sarah weighed all her ingredients, so she got it right, but then she used an online conversion calculator when she wrote the recipe post)  I did not even bother to check, just followed the recipe - and they still turned out really good!  Just very delicate.  And hard to stop eating.  Very hard to stop eating.

I will definitely be making these again!

Tex-Mex Stuffed Sweet Potatoes

It's time again for  Secret Recipe Club (Secret Recipe Club) reveal!  This month I got to choose a recipe from Beth's blog It's Good To Be The Cook.  Beth lives outside Philadelphia, loves her family, her wonderful (and cute) boyfriend Dave, and her dog Stella.  Her posts are so much fun to read.  They're not just about the food - though the food is definitely front and center with recipes and loads of mouth-watering pictures.

So I started looking at the recipes - Oh, Beth!  So many great recipes.  How am I supposed to choose?  I love all the spicy stuff and that there's spinach in practically everything.  OK, maybe not everything, but a lot.  It looks like she's almost as obsessed with fresh spinach as I am.  I love it in practically everything!  Also, she has all her clipped and saved recipes organized in a binder - something I've thought about/wanted to do for ages, and never got around to it.  Yep, I still have boxes of magazine and newspaper clippings, recipes I wanted to try but may never find again.  I'm kinda jealous of her organizational skills.

Anyway, I started looking through the recipes, and I wanted to try the Buffalo Chicken Soup, the Black & White Bean Quesadillas w/ Avocado Ranch Dip, the Buffalo Chicken Stuffed Baked Potato, the Chicken and Bean Burritos, and several more, but I finally decided on these Tex-Mex Stuffed Sweet Potatoes. And it was a very good decision.  These things are yummy!!!

Tex-Mex Stuffed Sweet Potatoes
slightly adapted from It's Good to Be the Cook

Ingredients:

• 2 Sweet Potatoes
• 2 T Olive Oil
• 1/2 Onion, chopped
• 1 T Garlic, minced
• 1 Jalapeno, chopped (seeded for less heat)

  

  just some Spinach

• 4 or 5 mushrooms, sliced
• 1 cup frozen Corn, thawed
• 1 T Cumin
• 1 T Chili Powder
• a bunch of fresh Spinach (sorry, I didn't measure)
• Salt & Pepper to taste
• 1 can Black Beans, drained and rinsed (1-1/2 cups home-cooked)
• 1 T Cream Cheese
• 1/2 cup Plain Yogurt
• 1 cup (or less) Cheddar or Mexican Blend Shredded Cheese
• Parsley Flakes & Paprika for garnish

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350°.  Wash potatoes and pierce a few holes or slices in the top. Pat dry and place on foil or a baking sheet in the oven for 1 hour and 20 minutes, checking at the 1 hour mark. They will be cooked when they can be easily pierced with a fork.  Set aside while you prepare the filling.
2. Heat the oil in a large skillet on medium high. Add the onions and saute for 3 minutes then add the garlic, jalapeno and mushrooms and saute another 3 minutes or so. Now, add the corn and saute for another 3 minutes and then stir in the seasonings. Let that saute for a bout a minute and then add the spinach and saute until it’s just cooked and wilted. Season with the salt and pepper. Turn heat to low.
3. Add cream cheese to skillet and stir until it is melted.  Stir in the yogurt and beans.
4. Slice the potatoes in half lengthwise, scoop out most of the potato with a spoon, and add it to the skillet.  Stir to combine, and taste and add seasoning if necessary.
5. Evenly spoon the filling back into the sweet potato boats and top with shredded cheese.
6. Turn the oven to broil and slide the potatoes back in until the cheese is just lightly browned and bubbly, about 3 minutes.
7. Garnish with a shake of Paprika and Parsley and serve immediately!

I didn't actually pay attention to how long I sauteed the onions, garlic, peppers, etc.  Just added the onion to the skillet, cooked it a bit, then started adding all the other ingredients.  It's basically what looks good to you.  It does look good, doesn't it?  Oh, and I only used 1/2 of the jalapeno because I thought the whole thing would make it too spicy for my husband, but it didn't turn out spicy at all, so I'd suggest sticking with the whole thing.  Or using the pickled ones like Beth did in hers.

Onions, garlic, jalapeno, mushrooms and corn

And then I added the cream cheese - the heat from the skillet melted it very nicely - and the yogurt and beans.  Doesn't this look yummy?  For some reason, I didn't taste it, but it certainly smelled amazing.  I'm thinking this mixture right here would be perfect for something.  I'm not sure what yet - over pasta?  With some pasta mixed in?  Spread over tortilla chips, topped with shredded cheese and baked like nachos?  Yeah, there's something...  I should've tasted it, though, because I forgot to add the salt and pepper like I was supposed to.

Creamy!

My potatoes were so done that I had to be careful not to scoop all of the flesh out of them, leaving nothing but the peel behind.

Sweet potatoes scooped out

I put as much filling as I could into the scooped out potato skins, and I had some left over, so I saved that for later.  It was great warmed up and wrapped in a tortilla and also just scooped up with tortilla chips.  This is good filling!  I added some salt right before I sprinkled the cheese on - because I forgot to taste and add it earlier. 

Ready to go under the broiler

The filling is already hot, so it doesn't take long to melt the cheese under the broiler, and they're ready to eat.

Ready to eat!

These things are really filling.  We had one potato half with some salad, and that was enough!  That means we got to enjoy them for another meal.  I just put them into a Corningware dish and baked them, with the lid on, for 20 to 30 minutes at 350°.  Perfect!  My husband just ate the filling both times and threw the potato skin away.  I ate the skin, and I liked it much better after it was baked.  It kind of crisped up a bit.  I'm thinking that next time I make these I'm going to bake them until the cheese is melted and browned, instead of broiling.  Either that or scoop absolutely all of the potato out of the skins, mix the filling, and put it into some kind of baking dish to broil and melt the cheese.

So many yummy flavors.  I am definitely making these again!  And trying some of those other recipes from Beth's blog.  Be sure to check it out for yourself.

Cranberry Cream Cheese Dip

My friend Peggy posted this recipe for Cranberry Cream Cheese Dip on my facebook wall a few weeks ago.  She knows me well - anything cranberry, and I'm all over it!  I finally got a chance to make this last weekend, and it is amazing! All the flavors just combine to make your mouth happy...

Cranberry Cream Cheese Dip

Ingredients:

• 1 12-oz package fresh cranberries (3 cups)
• 1/4 cup green onion, chopped
• 1/4 cup cilantro, chopped
• 1 small jalapeno pepper
• 2/3 cup sugar
• 1/4 t cumin
• 2 T lemon juice (or lime)
• dash salt
• 2 8-oz packages cream cheese

Directions:

1. Coarsely chop cranberries in Ninja or food processor and place in medium bowl
2. Chop onions, cilantro, and jalapeno and add to cranberries
3. Mix in sugar, cumin, lime juice, and salt
4. Cover and refrigerate at least 4 hours or overnight
5. When you're ready to serve: soften cream cheese and spread it on a plate, serving platter, or the bottom of a 13x9" baking dish; spread cranberry mixture evenly over the top.
6. Serve with Ritz (type) crackers, Wheat Thins, or tortilla chips

  I cut the sugar down significantly from the original recipe - from 1-1/4 cups to just 2/3 cup.  I think it could be cut down a tiny bit more, but then I like the tartness of the cranberries, so it's probably a good balance.  I used lime juice, because I had a lime I needed to use and no lemons.  It all worked together really well.

We tried it with Wheat Thins, tortilla chips, and the Ritz type crackers, and it tastes good with all of them - but the Ritz type are the best.  Everyone who tasted this thought it was great - my husband who does not like cilantro, my friend Peggy who sent me the recipe and doesn't even like cranberries, my son who - well, I expected him to like it!  I never would have thought to mix these particular ingredients together, but the combination really is magic.  I will be making this again!!  I don't expect it will last long...

Baked Jalapeno Poppers

Image by fritish via FlickrSince I have all these hot peppers, I went searching for a recipe for jalapeno poppers and found this post about baked jalapeno poppers - which linked to this recipe - Baked Jalapeno Poppers. Perfect!  I didn't want anything deep fried - mostly because it makes a mess, but also because too much grease makes me feel sick.

Baked Jalapeno Poppers

Ingredients

• 12 fresh jalapeno peppers, halved lengthwise, stems, seeds and membranes removed
• 6 ounces cream cheese, softened
• 1 1/2 cups grated Monterey Jack or mozzarella cheese
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1/2 teaspoon cayenne, or less, to taste
• 2 large eggs
• 2 tablespoons milk
• 6 teaspoons Essence, recipe follows
• 1 cup breadcrumbs
• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour

Directions

1. In a bowl, cream together the cream cheese, Monterey Jack cheese, cumin, and cayenne.
2. In a small bowl, beat together the eggs, milk, and 2 teaspoons of the Essence. In a shallow dish, combine the bread crumbs with 2 teaspoons of Essence. In a third dish, combine the flour and 2 teaspoons of Essence. 
3. Spread cheese mixture into the middle of each jalapeno half. One at a time, dredge in the flour, dip into the egg mixture, then dredge in the bread crumbs, pressing to coat. If necessary, repeat the process. Place the coated peppers, cut side up, on lightly greased a baking sheet and bake at 350° F until the filling is runny and the crust is golden, about 30 minutes.
4. Remove from the oven and serve immediately with cold beer.  (or milk)

*Essence (Emeril's Creole Seasoning):

• 2 1/2 tablespoons paprika
• 2 tablespoons salt
• 2 tablespoons garlic powder
• 1 tablespoon black pepper
• 1 tablespoon onion powder
• 1 tablespoon cayenne pepper
• 1 tablespoon dried leaf oregano
• 1 tablespoon dried thyme

Combine all ingredients thoroughly and store in an airtight jar or container.

Yield: about 2/3 cup

I didn't follow the original recipe exactly - partly because I wrote it down wrong and partly because it called for 1 T of the cream cheese filling in each jalapeno half, but that seemed like too much - so I just gave up any pretense of measuring after the first half and simply filled them.  I stopped counting how many peppers I used, but it was definitely more than 12.  I had to add more bread crumbs because I ran out before I ran out of cream cheese mixture or anything else.  About the time I finished dredging all the peppers in flour, egg mixture, and bread crumbs, I decided to try egg mixture, flour, egg mixture again, bread crumbs - and that seemed to work better.  Just remember the cardinal rule - wet with one hand, dry with the other - or you'll end up with a huge mess.  It's messy enough as it is.

I did not bake all of these - just a few because I just had to try them.  I put them all on a wax paper-covered cookie sheet and placed them in the freezer.  Once they're frozen, I will place them in a sealed container, probably with wax paper between layers - all ready to take out and bake whenever I get the urge.

The few that I did bake and try?  Amazing!  Seriously.  These are so good.  Yes, they take quite a bit of time to prepare, but I'm thinking they're worth it.