SWEET POTATO MUFFINS

It was hard to get back into school mode after being on spring break for a week. I had a test, 2 papers, and a presentation this week. Lets just say it was hard to get motivated. It seems that from now until finals teachers are trying to cram every bit of information they can into our brains. I have a test, project or paper due every week until finals. Thank god for weekends.

This week my roommates and I wanted to bake something that we would be able to grab and go as a breakfast since we were all so busy. As we were searching the Internet we came across this recipe that looked a little strange since it contained sweet potatoes in muffins. We all love sweet potatoes but weren’t sure that they would taste that great in muffins.

After making the muffins they were by far the most devious muffins I have ever tasted. You could barely tell that they even had sweet potatoes in the recipe. They also do not contain as many calories as the muffins that you would buy at the grocery store or at a coffee shop. These muffins are one of my new favorite recipes and are also really easy to make.

Sweet Potato Muffins Stuffed with Cream Cheese

Recipe: Makes 10 muffins
Muffins –

2 cups white whole-wheat flour (it is just as nutritious as brown whole wheat flour)
3/4 tsp baking powder
1/2-teaspoon table salt
1/4-teaspoon baking soda
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
1/3 cup plus 1 tbsp milk
1/3-cup heavy whipping cream
1-cup sweet potato puree
1 1/2 tsp good quality vanilla extract (I also threw in some vanilla beans!)
1/2 stick unsalted butter, room temperature
2/3-cup brown sugar
2 eggs
Stuffing -
8 tbsp cream cheese
1 tbsp maple syrup
2 tbsp sugar
1 tsp ground cinnamon
& Cinnamon-sugar mixture to sprinkle on tops of muffins before baking.
1. In a medium bowl, combine all-purpose flour, baking powder, salt, and baking soda and ground nutmeg. Set aside.

2. In another medium bowl combine cream, milk, sweet potato puree and vanilla extract. Set aside.

3. In a large bowl, cream the butter and dark brown sugar with an electric mixer, until fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.

4. Also with the electric mixer, alternately mix in dry and wet ingredients into the butter, starting and ending with the dry; mix only until each addition is just incorporated.

5. Coat a muffin pan with nonstick spray and divide the batter into 10 cups. Sprinkle the tops of the muffins with a generous amount of cinnamon-sugar mixture. Bake in a 350-degree oven for 20-25 minutes or until it they pass the toothpick test.

6. The stuffing: combine all ingredients and beat until well incorporated. To fill the muffins, I carved out a smallish hole and squeezed the stuffing in from a plastic baggy with a tiny hole in the corner.

Benefits:
Sweet potato * SO good for you. Loads of vitamin A, (C, copper, manganese, and fiber). The vitamin A acts as an anti oxidant in the body to eliminate free radicals that harm DNA.