Jumbo Blueberry Cheesecake Muffins

The hubby is gone fishin' again today, and my typical routine on such days is to get up early with the boys, take the puppies for a walk, and then do some cleaning and baking.

I also typically go shopping for chocolate, but that's just between you and me.

I had some lovely blueberries in the fridge, and decided to make a batch of blueberry cheesecake muffins. The muffins have the flavor of a typical blueberry muffin, but with little bites of cheesecake. And an admittedly strange streusel topping. (Hey, I wanted the streusel to taste like white cake mix, so I used white cake mix.)

You can easily substitute frozen blueberries for the fresh, and this is what I do throughout the winter. Justs be sure to thoroughly rinse the blueberries and then let them dry on a towel, or your batter will be stained a nice blueish purple. Not that stained muffins taste any different than "clean" muffins. But hey, this stuff matters to some people.

Jumbo Blueberry Cheesecake Muffins
Makes 8

8 oz. cream cheese, softened
1/4 c. butter, softened
1 egg, at room temperature
1 c. milk
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
1 3/4 c. flour
1/2 c. sugar
1/2 c. brown sugar
2 tsp. baking powder
3/4 tsp. salt
1 c. fresh or frozen blueberries (if frozen, rinse and dry before using)
1 Tbsp. flour
1 Tbsp. sugar
4 Tbsp. white cake mix
1 Tbsp. butter

1. Preheat an oven to 400 degrees.

2. Using a stand mixer, beat cream cheese and butter until well combined. Add egg, milk, and vanilla. Mix until combined, but cream cheese is still chunky. (These are the chunks you'll bite into in the muffins.)

3. In a large bowl, combine flour, sugars, baking powder, and salt. Make a well in the mixture and add the cream cheese mixture. Stir until just combined.

4. In a small bowl, combine blueberries, 1 Tbsp. flour, and 1 Tbsp. sugar. Add blueberries to better, gently folding in.

5. Add liners to jumbo muffin pans and fill each cup until mostly full.

6. In a small bowl, combine cake mix and 1 Tbsp. butter with a fork, until crumbly. Sprinkle mixture evenly across muffins.

7. Bake for about 25 minutes, until muffins are golden and a toothpick comes out clean.

8. Let cool in pans for 5 minutes, then remove from pans and let cool on racks.