strawberry cheesecake streusel muffins

           from the recipe critic.

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

1 cup whole milk

1 tsp vanilla extract

2 cups strawberries cut into small pieces

Cream Cheese Filling:

4 ounces cream cheese

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

3 tbsp butter

1.  Preheat oven to 400 degrees and line a 12 cup muffin pan with cupcake liners. 

2.  In a mixing bowl (for the muffin batter), sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt.  Set aside.  In another bowl, beat the milk, oil, egg, vanilla and sugar.  Stir the dry ingredients in the milk mixture gently but do not over mix.  The batter should be slightly lumpy.

3.  For the cheesecake mixture beat the cream cheese, egg, sugar, and vanilla in a bowl until smooth.

4.  For the topping, mix together the flour, sugar, and cinnamon.  With a fork blend in the butter until it looks like coarse sand.

5.  Scoop a tablespoon of the muffin batter into the bottom of each cupcake liner.  Sprinkle a few pieces of strawberries and then add about 1/2 tablespoon of the cheesecake mixture.  Sprinkle some of the streusel topping on the cheesecake filling, followed by another layer of the muffin batter.  Add a few pieces of strawberries on the top and lastly sprinkle with the cinnamon streusel.  

(In case you are re-reading that a bunch of times like I did: that's muffin batter, strawberries, cream, streusel, muffin batter, strawberries, streusel).

6.  Bake for 20-25 minutes or until toothpick inserted comes out clean.  Let cool in the pan for 5 minutes and transfer them to a wire rack.