sweet potato muffins with cheesecake topping

yum these are so good and also healthy??? right?

the hardest thing about baking these is there is a lot of moving parts.

wet ingredients :

180g brown sugar (light or dark)

113g or one stick of salted butter (browned)

80g yogurt (or sour cream, full fat)

2 eggs at room temp

320g sweet potato mash

4g vanilla bean paste

dry ingredients :

210g AP flour

8g (2 tsp) baking powder

3g (1/2 tsp) baking soda

3g (1/2 tsp) salt

8g (2 tsp) cinnamon

1/2 tsp ginger - optional

1/4 tsp cloves - optional

cream cheese topping

250g or one block of cream cheese

55 grams of sugar

pinch of salt

4g (1 tsp) vanilla pasta

instructions :

to begin i prepare my sweet potatoes by peeling and cutting into half inch rounds. then boil them on the stove until they are completely fork tender and fally aparty (about 10 min of boiling). while they're cooking i measure out my wet ingredients (in medium bowl) and dry ingredients (in large bowl). making sure that the yogurt, cream cheese and eggs will all have enough time to get to room temp. after they're cooked drain them and return them to the hot pot letting them steam off any extra water for one minute before mashing them very well, or putting them all into a blender. i do not have a blender that is big enough, i mash as good as i can. then put them aside to cool down, or in fridge if you're doing this step way ahead of time.

at this point i also begin browning my butter in a small sauce pot. this is relatively hands off but making sure the bottom does not burn is very important, so keep it at a low temperature and be patient. gently swirl the butter when it starts to foam and use a spatula to gently unstick the solids at the bottom if needed. let it cool as well.

prepare your baking liners for large bakery style muffins, this means using only half of the muffin holes in your muffin tray. this recipe will make 6 large muffins, so i use two pans with six slots, putting paper in only three of the six slots on each tray. to make the liners i use parchment paper cut into 4x4 or 5x5 squares and make them into liner shape by pushing them onto the bottom of a pint glass. put the lined trays to the side for later.

once you are able to mix all of your wet ingredients together ie when your sweet potato and brown butter has cooled to room temp ish, make a crater in the middle of your whisked dry ingredients and pour all of the mixed wet ingredients in, mix together by scraping the sides of the bowl and moving the outside to the middle. mix until everything is just incorporated, but there is still some flour now fully mixed in places. now let the mixture sit for 15 minutes.

while you are letting your batter sit, mix together the room temp cream cheese (or slightly warmed over warming plate on oven or in microwave) with the sugar, salt, and vanilla paste, incorporate well with a spatula, pushing it against the sides the work out any lumps in the cream cheese, you could spend the whole 15 minutes doing this if you have the patience. you could also put it in the kitchen aid and mix it well that way, i just avoid bringing the kitchen aid out if i can find another way. also begin preheating the oven to 425.

once the time has passed scoop out the batter evenly, i usually do this by doing one scoop at a time in each and then dividing up the remaining batter as evenly as i can. then do the same thing with the cream cheese mixture. with wet fingers go back around and gently push the cream cheese into the batter slightly.

pop the muffins in the oven and set a timer for 5 minutes. when the timer goes off change the oven temperature to 350 and set a timer for another 23 minutes, checking with a small paring knife avoiding the cream cheese topping when timer is up. if there is wet batter on the knife add another 3-5 minutes.

let them cool on a wire rack and keep ones you will not eat in the next day in the fridge. let them come to room temp or warm them slightly in the oven before eating them.