chocolate cream cheese muffins

after a two week hiatus from muffin mondays and the blog, i am back! well, school started and i needed a little time to adjust and make my schedule work for me. with a 5 unit science class and 2 online classes that requires a ton of reading and writing, i have my hands full. badminton and cooking has been my refuge during this crazy time. i am so glad that i still have some time to squeeze those in, if i didn't i would've already pulled all my hair out.

knee-deep in unfinished essays and quizzes closing in on their deadline, i got some relief when an of bakerstreet.tv emailed me asking if i would be able to join them for muffin monday. i told her that i would be in a couple of weeks and i that i am excited to join them again. during that crazy week, i was looking forward to getting a recipe from an so i can at least have a little break from all the school work.

when i got this monday's recipe, i immediately thought of the starbucks chocolate muffin with cream cheese in the middle. i love that muffin. it's moist and sweet, and the cream cheese adds a hint or tartness to it. when i first tasted it a couple of years ago at the startbucks down the street, i came back repeatedly and devoured that muffin over and over again. then one day, it was gone and i haven't seen it since.

i thought i have forgotten about it, but this week's recipe brought it back. changing the recipe into this one was a no-brainer. when i made this last friday, i had the intention of bringing it to shawn's work together with the macaroni salad from raley's he requested. however, that did not happen since i baked it for 25 minutes instead of 12-15 minutes. after i realized that i over baked it, i was glad that i did not dump the left over batter yet. so i baked another batch, baked it for the right amount of time and it came out perfect. moist, sweet, a tinge of bitterness from the cocoa and some tartness from the cream cheese, i loved it.

chocolate cream cheese muffins

ingredients:

275 g flour
75 g cocoa powder
1 1/2 tbsp baking powder
140 g sugar
1/2 tsp salt
2 eggs
250 ml milk
2 tsp white vinegar
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
3 oz oil

filling

6 0z cream cheese, room temperature
3 tbsp brown sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla

instructions:

1. preheat the oven to 350 F. line a muffin tin with 12 paper cases.

2. sift the flour, cocoa powder and baking powder into a large bowl, then stir in the sugar and salt.

3. beat the eggs, milk vinegar and vanilla extract together in another bowl, then stir in the oil and gently mix into the dry ingredients to make a loose, slightly lumpy mixture. Do not overmix or the muffins will be tough.

4. mix together the soft cream cheese, sugar and vanilla for the filling.

5. half-fill the paper cases with the muffin mixture, then top with a teaspoon of sweet cheese.

6. bake for 12-15 minutes until well risen and a toothpick comes out clean. remove from the tin and allow to cool completely on a wire rack.

muffin monday is an initiative by baker street. a culinary journey of sharing a wickedly delicious muffin recipe every week. drop in a quick line to join her on her journey to make the world smile and beat glum monday mornings week after week.

want some more muffins with cream cheese? check out these awesome bloggers' take on the recipe!