Strawberry Cheesecake Muffins

This idea has been around since our early days low carbing. I have no idea where the original idea came from--it is probably as old as the original Atkins diet. These are not really muffins, but more like little cheesecakes you can hold in your hand. But then, cheesecake is really not much like a cake, so I the name stands. They are baked in a muffin tin, afterall. These are great for breakfast or dessert.

What is new today is that I added fresh strawberries to the batter. It has been a while since I made them and I am so glad I did. I had about forgotten how delicious they are. The strawberry, just half a berry per muffin, really did wonderful things to the flavor! The original recipe is in the Diner e-book. I am busily at work making an updated version of my Diner System that is streamlined to fit our new empty nest lifestyle. The new e-book will be ready very soon. I have been so busy at that, I haven't had much time to keep up with the blog and Facebook. Hang in with me though, and I will have the new book out soon. This recipe is going in there along with the chocolate and peanut butter versions.

Now back to the muffins. I found that the strawberries did add some moisture to the muffins, so I needed to increase the bake time a little bit. These muffins do rise high in the oven and  they look amazing. Truth told, they will deflate as they cool. In fact, the strawberry ones even sink a bit. But what they lack in stature, they make up for with flavor! The girls in my family tend not to be too tall anyway, so we find beauty in shortness. These are that kind of yummy. If you want, just bake them in a silicone muffin cup and keep them in the cup. That way you can eat them with a spoon. If you want them to hold in hand, just be sure to let them cool before you remove them from the muffin cup. I used silicon and have no trouble removing them when cool.

Strawberry Cheesecake Muffins

8 oz cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup Swerve or any sweetener equal to 1/2 cup sugar
1 egg
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
3 strawberries

In a medium bowl, combine cream cheese, sweetener, egg and vanilla. Use a mixer or beat by hand until no lumps remain. Finely dice two strawberries and slice the third into 6 slices. Gently stir the diced berries into the batter. Pour batter into an oiled muffin tin or silicon cup. Top each with a slice of strawberry. Bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes. Let cool completely before removing. Serve chilled.

6 muffins:   each 149 calories     3 g carbs

This time I didn't use Swerve, but Natural Mate Sucralose and Stevia blend. I don't use sucralose too often anymore, and these tasted quite sweet to me. Since this is such an old recipe for me, I have to wonder why that is. It could be that sucralose tastes sweeter to me now that I use more erythritol and stevia. It could be that this is simply a very good sweetener. You only need half as  much as a cup by cup replacement, and I am sure I did not mistake that conversion. Don't get me wrong, they are wonderful! If you are sensitive to sweet, you may prefer to go with 1/3 cup sweetener. Perhaps it is the berries that sweeten things up too.

I have summer day camp next week, so I am sure it will be a busy week. I had best get to my prep day in the kitchen. Here with it being Father's Day, we were treated to a meal at Logan's Steakhouse. That was great, but now I need to get busy. Happy Father's Day to you all.

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