Cream Cheese Ginger Muffins
Contributed by: NAPSA
Great Baking With The Kids (NAPSA) - Baking with kids helps to promote family traditions and build loving memories of little hands at work. It's also an important learning experience, improving math and reading skills, teaching team work and an understanding of food.
For children, the kitchen is a place where ground rules need to be established, chiefly in safety.
- Be sure to ask Mom's or Dad's permission to use the kitchen.
- Always ask for help when using the oven, cooktop, microwave or knives.
- Always wash hands with soap and water before starting.
- Assemble ingredients and equipment before starting.
- Be sure to keep kid-friendly pot holders available.
The bakeware to use should be durable and designed for easy handling and cleaning. A great choice is T-Fal's Patisserie, crafted of heavy-gauge aluminum in a light gray nonstick inside and out.
The nonstick coating offers unsurpassed releasability, so cakes, cookies, muffins and other goodies pop out of pans without sticking.
Cleanups are a breeze with Patisserie, washing up effortlessly in soap and warm water or in the dishwasher.
Here is a prize-winning recipe from T-Fal's 2002 Perfect Baker Contest winner Julie Stutzman.
See also:
Sesame Almond Thumbprints
Ingredients:
- 2 1/4 cups cake flour
- 1 1/4 teaspoons baking soda
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
- 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1/3 cup shortening
- 1/3 cup sugar
- 3/4 cup molasses
- 3/4 cup hot water, divided
- 1 egg, lightly beaten
For the Filling:
- 8 ounces cream cheese
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1 egg
Directions:
Heat oven to 350 degrees.
In a small bowl, combine flour, baking soda, salt, and spices. Set aside. In mixer, cream sugar and shortening; add molasses. Alternately add 1/2 of the flour mixture and 1/2 of hot water, mixing well after each addition and ending with the flour. With mixer running, gradually add the egg, mixing until it is combined; continue to mix for 2 minutes.
Make filling:
In a small mixing bowl, combine cream cheese, sugar, vanilla and egg. Beat until smooth. Set aside. Pour batter into a T-Fal Patisserie 12-cup nonstick muffin pan, filling cups to half full. Add a heaping tablespoon of the cream cheese mixture to each. Bake at 350 degrees for 20 to 30 minutes, until done.
Serving Size: Makes one dozen
