White Top Cupcakes

These were incredibly tender and moist inside. Like little bites of brownie heaven. Soft, not too dense, and full of chocolate with a creamy white topping.
This recipe has definitely been around; I found it here.



Makes 16 cupcakes
25 minutes prep + 30 minutes baking (or 60 min, depending on #cupcakes in your pan)
- electric hand mixture
- medium bowl for cream cheese
- large bowl
- muffin tin with liners
Easy

INGREDIENTS
Cream cheese 'Filling'
8 oz. cream cheese*
1/2 c. fine grained white sugar
1 large egg
1 c. mini chocolate chips*
Chocolate Cupcakes
1. 5 c. flour ---> [1 c. brown rice flour + 1/2 c. Bobs Red Mill All Purpose Flour + 1 heaping tsp. xanthan gum]
1 c. sugar
1/4. c. cocoa powder*
1 tsp. baking soda
1 c. water
1/3 c. corn oil
1 tsp. apple cider vinegar
1 tsp. vanilla*

*Kraft cream cheese is GF; Toll House s.sweet morsels are GF; Hershey's cocoa powder is GF; McCormick vanilla extract is GF

DIRECTIONS
0. Preheat 350 F. Fit a standard size muffin tin with paper liners.
Cream Cheese
1. Whip the cream cheese, sugar and egg with an electric hand beater for 1 minute, until creamy. Stir in mini chocolate chips. Place aside.
Cupcakes
2. Combine the flour(s), xanthan gum, sugar, cocoa powder and baking soda in a large bowl.
3. Push the dry ingredients to the sides of the bowl (making a 'well' in the center for the wet ingredients). Add the water while stirring. Pour in the water, corn oil, apple vinegar, and vanilla extract.
4. Stir well to incorporate the oil-- it won't mix well at first. Keep stirring until the batter is smooth and silky. The gluten-free batter will be quite thick. Spoon into prepared muffin tins, filling half way.
5. If you want cream cheese inside the cupcakes, (as opposed to just the tops) you will need to sandwich it between the chocolate layers or pipe it in. Me, I just plopped the cream cheese on top of the chocolate batter. During baking, the cream cheese spread out and sat nicely on top of the cupcake, like baked-on icing!
6. Cook for 25 to 30 minutes. Check often near the end so that the cream cheese doesn't burn. You want it slightly tanned when removed from the oven. Cool slightly before removing them, they were quite impressionable when warm. I don't think these freeze very well, so enjoy then while fresh!

Meyer Lemon Ricotta Muffins

Meyer lemon has a softer, sweeter flavor than 'regular' lemons. These muffins are tender and moist with a hint of lemon. The glaze is super easy to make and adds even more citrus-y goodness. Also, don't skip on the almond extract-- it tastes great with the lemon.
Inspired by these two recipes and the meyer lemons I found at the farmer's market.

Question: Anyone else notice sour cream and ricotta cheese seems to make GF baked goods fall after baking? They rise okay in the oven, but fall while cooling. Muffins seem to fare better than cakes, but fluffiness still takes a hit. Maybe I should investigate this...



Makes 12 medium muffins
20 minutes prep + 20 minutes cooking time + 40 minutes glazing/drying
Preheat 350 F
- large mixing bowl
- electric mixer
- large spatula or spoon
- muffin pan; lined with paper or butter
- small bowl
Easy

INGREDIENTS
Muffins
1/2 c. (1 stick) butter
1 c. white sugar
Lemon zest from 2 lemons (~1 Tbsp.); you will also need the juice of said lemons, so keep them!
1 egg
1 c. ricotta cheese
1/2 tsp. almond extract
Lemon juice from 1 to 1.5 lemons (~1 Tbsp.)
2 c. GF flour --> [1 c. Bob's Red Mill All Purpose Baking Flour + 1 c. white rice flour + 2 heaping tsp. xanthan gum]
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
pinch of salt
Lemon Glaze
1/2 c. powdered sugar + more
Juice from 1/2 of a fresh lemon

DIRECTIONS
Muffins

0. Let butter come completely to room temperature. This should take about an hour if the butter isn't frozen. Preheat oven to 350 F. Line the muffin tins with paper or grease with a little butter.
1. In a large mixing bowl, briefly hand mix the soft butter and sugar. Scrub the outside of 2 large lemons and add in their zest. Place the zested lemons aside (you will use their juice later). Beat the butter/sugar mixture with an electric mixer until white and very fluffy-- around 3 minutes.
2. Add in the egg, ricotta cheese, and almond extract. Cut your fresh lemons in half and hand squeeze them to produce around 1 Tbsp. fresh lemon juice. Be sure to remove any errant seeds. Briefly beat in the egg, cheese, almond extract and lemon juice with the mixer until well combined with the butter/sugar mixture.
3. Add in the flour mix [BRM All-P flour, white rice flour, xanthan gum], baking powder, baking soda and salt all at once. Gentry stir the dry ingredients over the top of the wet (you could mix dry ingredients together in a separate bowl if you wish). Once the dry ingredients are combined, start mixing them with the wet ingredients sitting below; I use a spoon for this. Hand stir until the dough is well mixed. It should pull away from the sides of the bowl and will be almost spongy in texture.
4. Plop the dough into the waiting muffin tins. Equally distribute the fluffy dough; 12 muffins will be filled almost to the top. Place muffins into the oven and bake for 20 minutes, or until the tops are lightly golden. Take them out and let cool before glazing.
Lemon Glaze
1. Spoon 1/2 c. powdered sugar into a small bowl. Squeeze in fresh lemon juice. Whisk with a fork until clumps disappear. You want the glaze to just drip from the fork. If mixture is too thick, add in more juice... to watery, use a bit more sugar.
2. Clump the cooled muffins close together on a tray. Drizzle the glaze over the top of the muffins until they are well-covered. Let the muffins sit out for over a half hour, or until the glaze dries. Eat immediately or store in the fridge for a cool treat.

Strawberry-Chocolate Muffins

You can probably tell it's spring break at U of Illinois-- I've been cooking daily and now baking. These came out very cake-like, moist, and delicately flavored with strawberry. Omit or add in more dark chocolate chips, I wanted just a few sprinkles of chocolate in each muffin. You will taste more chocolate right out of the hot oven-- I prefer them chilled for a fresh strawberry delight.



Makes 9 large muffins
45 minutes
preheat to 375-400 F (my gas oven is funny.. the real temp was somewhere in that range)
-muffin tin with liners
-large bowl
-wire whisk or large fork
Quick and simple

INGREDIENTS
12 oz. of fresh strawberries (3/4ths of a 1 lb package)
1/2 c. white sugar
1 egg
1/4 c. corn oil (or any veggie oil)
2/3+1/3 c. (1 cup total) GF flour blend-- I used Kinnikinnick All Purpose baking Mix, it's already leavened, but I wanted to be sure these rose
1/2 tsp. Xanthan gum
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
1/6 c. dark chocolate -or- white chocolate chips-- I used Enjoy Life Chocolate Chips to be dairy-free

DIRECTIONS
1. Wash strawberries and cut into small chunks (I made a cut perpendicular to the top, then sliced across the width). Drain thoroughly and place into a large mixing bowl.
2. Pour white sugar over strawberries and mix. Let the fruit sit for 10 minutes while the sugar extracts some strawberry juice. The strawberries should be halfway covered in a red sugary syrup when ready to continue.
3. Prepare muffin tin (grease or use liners) and preheat oven to around 400 F while waiting on fruit.
4. Take out whisk or fork and mash the tender strawberries a little.. not too much. Add in the egg and the oil. Whisk by hand until the mixture is pink and frothy (around 30 seconds).
5. Add in 2/3 rds cup GF flour blend, then sprinkle with baking powder and xanthan gum before stirring. Mix thoroughly, then add the remaining 1/3rd cup flour.
6. Stir by hand until batter is well combined-- the mixture will be incredibly thick and sticky.. that's okay. Add in a splash of vanilla extract and the chocolate chips.
7. Spoon (more like plop) the batter into prepared muffin tins. Filling the cups almost all the way to the top made 9 large muffins.. make 12 small ones by filling a little under 3 quarters full.
8. Slide muffin tin into preheated oven and bake for 20 minutes**, until nice and golden brown on top and a knife inserted comes out clean (they are spongy and give a little). Let them totally cool before eating-- it REALLY brings out the strawberry taste!
**Make sure to check on these at the 10 minute mark.. I don't totally trust my oven temp and 400 F might be too high, but it worked this afternoon. Turn down to 375 F if getting too brown too fast.