Sunshine in a Muffin!

It was a cold and snowy day in New York and since the sun wasn't shining so brightly I wanted to make some sunshine of my own... and what better way than to bake some awesome muffins? These little lemony treats will put a smile on your face and make you feel like the sun is shining on the darkest of days!!! (Ok... maybe I'm being a little cheesy but that's alright because these muffins also have an awesome lemony cream cheese filling inside. ;) Yum yum yum!!!!!

Lemon Blueberry Sunshine Muffins

1 c whole grain spelt flour (or whole wheat)
1/2 c brown rice flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 c raw cane sugar (Sucanat or Sugar in the Raw)
2 tsp lemon zest (zest from 1 lemon)
1 egg
1/3 c melted butter
1/2 c plain unsweetened kefir*
1/2 c milk
juice of 1/2 lemon
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 c blueberries (fresh or frozen, dust them with a little bit of flour before mixing in to keep them from sinking to the bottom of the batter)
Extra raw sugar to sprinkle on the tops of the muffins (optional)

Cream Cheese Filling:
4oz. cream cheese, softened to room temperature
2 TBL Cane sugar
juice of 1/2 lemon
1 tsp vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 375*F. Spray 12 cup muffin pan with cooking spray, or line them with paper muffin liners and set aside.

In a large mixing bowl sift together spelt and brown rice flours, baking powder, and salt. Stir in sugar and lemon zest. Make a well in the middle and set aside.

In a small mixing bowl whisk together egg, melted butter, kefir, lemon juice, milk and vanilla. Pour wet ingredients over flour mixture and stir until just combined and batter is moist. Fold in blueberries.

In another small mixing bowl, beat cream cheese and sugar until smooth. Slowly add in lemon juice and vanilla and beat until combined. Set aside.

Place heaping tablespoonfuls of batter into muffin cups. make slight indentations into the batter of each muffin with your finger (or a spoon) and fill it with 1 heaping tsp of cream cheese. Top with another tablespoonful of batter to cover filling. If desired sprinkle the tops of each muffin with a bit of extra raw sugar, this will add a delicious crunchiness to the tops of your muffins! Bake at 375*F for 20 - 23 minutes. Remove from oven and cool before serving.

Makes approx 12 muffins.

There will extra cream cheese filling left over after filling the muffins that you can use as a delicious spread. :)

Enjoy every delicious bite of lemony sunshine!!!!



* Kefir is a pro-biotic yogurt drink, you can usually find it in the dairy section of your grocery store. It's full of good bacteria that is great for your digestive system and it's 99% lactose free!! You can read more about the benefits of kefir here. If you don't want to use kefir you can substitute plain yogurt.