Snickerdoodle Muffins

Preheat oven to 350F. Make the topping by mixing the sugar and cinnamon together. Set aside.

Make the filling by beating the cream cheese and butter together. When well blended, add the vanilla and mix until combined. Add the sifted powdered sugar and beat until smooth.

In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt. In a separate bowl, whisk the egg, milk, melted butter, and vanilla. Add the wet ingredients to the dry and whisk until just combined.

Line a muffin tin with 10 muffin cups. I use two cookie scoops, one big and one small, to help fill the muffin cups. I use the larger cookie scoop to add batter to the bottom of each muffin cup (about 1/3 full). I then use the smaller cookie scoop to add the cream cheese filling (about the size of a raspberry) on top of the batter. Don’t let the filling touch the sides. I then use the larger cookie scoop again to fill the muffin cup nearly to the top with batter.

For the topping, you have two options. You can sprinkle the cinnamon/sugar mixture on each of the muffins before baking, which allows the sugar/cinnamon mixture to kind of bake into the tops. Or you can bake the muffins and add the topping after you take the muffins out of the oven.

Bake the muffins for 18 to 20 minutes. Makes 10.

Alternate preparation: Do not add filling to the center of each muffin. Instead, quadruple the filling recipe (or multiple it by 6 to use up the entire brick of cream cheese) and use it as a cream cheese frosting after the muffins have been baked and cooled. Sprinkle the frosting with a pinch of cinnamon to make them look pretty. They are REALLY, REALLY good this way but a lot more fattening. I apologize for the extra calories if you choose to make them this way.

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