Kefir Kommunity

We went on a little bit of a Sweet Kiss bender here in the office yesterday - sampling each of our cheesecake-like, light farmer cheese spreads and oohing and ahhing over how creamy and yummy they are! With less fat and fewer calories than cream cheese, not to mention probiotics, why not indulge a little? 

Sweet Kiss cheeses are tasty all on their own, but we figured why stop at dessert? So we whipped up some Apple Cheesecake Muffins for breakfast this morning, we hope you enjoy them!



Ingredients:

• 1 & ½ cups all-purpose flour
• ½ cup white whole wheat flour
• 2/3 cup sugar
• 3 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• ¾ cup plain Lifeway Kefir
• ½ cup butter, melted & cooled or canola oil*
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup apple Sweet Kiss Cheese Spread
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 3 Tbs brown sugar

*Replace with 1/2 cup apple sauce to cut fat & calories, but note that the muffins will be slightly chewy.
Directions:

1. Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees and spray one muffin pan with non-stick baking spray.
2. In a large bowl, whisk together flours, sugar, baking soda, salt and cinnamon. In a smaller bowl, combine Kefir, butter (or substitute) and 1 egg.
3. Stir together Kefir mixture with flour mixture, mixing only until combined. The batter will be lumpy and that's OK - don't over mix!
4. In another small bowl, beat together the Sweet Kiss cheese, 1 egg, vanilla and brown sugar until it's smooth and spoonable.
5. Fill each muffin cup half way with the muffin batter, then top each with 1 Tbs of the cheese mixture. It will combine when the muffins bake, giving you a cheesecake-like center or topping on each muffin.
6. Bake for 22 minutes, until topping is set up and muffins are golden. Cool in the pan on a wire rack 10 minutes before serving warm.