Strawberry Cheesecake Muffins

You know, I really hate it when I buy fresh fruit and vegetables and they go bad before I'm able to eat them. It's such a waste! That's what ALMOST happened with these strawberries, so to rescue them, I put them into these muffins before I lost them all!

With a vanilla batter and a light vanilla cheesecake mixture, topped with a crunchy cinnamon streusel, these muffins are so much fun to eat! I used melted butter in the muffin batter this time, but I think next time I make these, I'll use oil instead--because the muffin was a little dry for my taste, but definitely delicious. I adapted the recipe from here.

Ingredients:
Muffin Batter:

• 2 cups all purpose flour
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 egg
• 1/4 cup canola oil (I used butter)
• 1 cup whole milk (original recipe used 3/4 cup)
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 cups strawberries, chopped

Cream Cheese Filling:

• 4 ounces cream cheese, softened
• 1/3 cup granulated sugar
• 2 tbsp beaten egg
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

Cinnamon Streusel:

• 1/4 cup all purpose flour
• 1/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 2 tbsp butter, cold
• 1/4 cup oats (optional)

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 400 and line a cupcake tine with paper liners; set aside.
For the streusel topping:

Sift the flour, sugar and cinnamon together in a bowl. Whisk together. Add the cold butter and mix with a fork until the mixture looks like coarse wet sand. Set aside. (I put mine in the freezer until I was ready to use it.

For the cheesecake filling: 

Beat the cream cheese, egg, sugar and vanilla in a bowl until smooth.

For the muffin batter:

Sift the flour, baking powder and salt in one bowl. Whisk together. In another bowl, beat the milk, oil, egg and sugar. Stir the dry ingredients into the milk mixture gently. Do not overmix. The muffin batter will be slightly lumpy.

Scoop a tablespoon of the muffin batter into each cupcake liner. Sprinkle a few pieces of strawberries. Add a dollop (about a heaping teaspoon) of the cream cheese filling. Sprinkle a little of the cinnamon streusel on top of the filling, followed by another layer of the muffin batter. Add a few more pieces of strawberries. Lastly, sprinkle the cinnamon streusel on top.