Cream Cheese Muffins — The Small Luxuries That Mean We’re Going to Be Okay

The second-book draft is at sixty pages now. Cody and I have been doing weekly interviews via FaceTime — Sunday afternoons, two hours each, where I record him talking through specific moments from the original arrest, the unit, the homecoming, the cafe’s opening, the second arrest, the misdemeanor, the rebuilding. The recordings are going into transcripts that I am weaving into the book’s later chapters. Cody has been generous with the material in a way that surprised me. He has stories I had not heard before and that he wanted me to put in the book.

The book is going to be the closest-look-at-Cody’s-arc that has ever existed in print. The publisher is excited. The agent is excited. Cody is nervous about how some of it will read but has agreed to the candor. The trust between us is the thing that makes the book possible.

Sunday I made cream cheese muffins because the apartment had a craving for small luxuries and the cream cheese muffin format is one of the small bakery-style luxuries that’s achievable at home with about thirty-five minutes of work. Cream cheese muffins are the bakery-case standard that home cooks rarely make because the technique requires a slightly more attentive hand than standard muffins — you press a small disk of cream cheese into the center of each muffin before baking, and the cream cheese melts into a soft cheesecake-like center.

The technique: in a small bowl, beat eight ounces of softened cream cheese with three tablespoons of sugar and a teaspoon of vanilla until smooth. Roll the cream-cheese mixture into a small log on a piece of parchment paper. Refrigerate for thirty minutes to firm up so it can be sliced into disks.

The muffin batter: in a large bowl, whisk two cups of all-purpose flour, three-quarters cup of sugar, two teaspoons of baking powder, a half-teaspoon of salt. In a separate bowl, whisk two large eggs, three-quarters cup of milk, a half-cup of vegetable oil, a teaspoon of vanilla. Whisk the wet into the dry until just combined — lumpy is fine.

The streusel topping: a half-cup of all-purpose flour, a half-cup of brown sugar packed, a teaspoon of cinnamon, a quarter-cup of cold cubed butter. Worked together with fingertips into clumpy crumbles.

The assembly: spoon a tablespoon of muffin batter into each cup of a paper-lined muffin tin. Slice the chilled cream cheese log into twelve disks (about a half-inch thick each). Place a cream cheese disk on top of the batter in each cup. Spoon another tablespoon of batter over the cream cheese disk to cover. Sprinkle the streusel generously across the top of each muffin.

The bake: three-fifty for twenty to twenty-three minutes until the streusel is deeply golden and the muffins are set. The cream cheese center will be visible as a soft white-or-slightly-melted-yellow pocket when you cut a muffin in half.

Twelve muffins. Brayden had two with milk. Wyatt had a small piece of streusel-edge. Dustin had three. The remaining six fed us through Wednesday breakfast. The small-luxury Sunday confirmed that we are going to be okay across whatever the rest of the year brings.

Cream cheese center, streusel top, three-fifty for twenty-three. Slice the chilled cream cheese log into disks first. Here’s the build.

Cream Cheese Muffins

Prep Time: 10 minutes | Cook Time: 20 minutes | Total Time: 30 minutes | Servings: 12 muffins

Ingredients

• 8 oz cream cheese, softened
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup whole milk
• 1/4 cup unsalted butter, melted and slightly cooled
• 2 tablespoons powdered sugar, for dusting (optional)

Instructions

1. Preheat oven. Heat oven to 350°F. Line a standard 12-cup muffin tin with paper liners or grease lightly with butter.
2. Beat cream cheese and sugar. In a large bowl, beat the softened cream cheese and granulated sugar together until smooth and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed.
3. Add eggs and vanilla. Beat in the eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Stir in the vanilla extract.
4. Combine dry ingredients. In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt.
5. Mix batter. Add the dry ingredients to the cream cheese mixture in two additions, alternating with the milk and beginning and ending with flour. Stir gently until just combined — do not overmix. Fold in the melted butter.
6. Fill muffin cups. Divide the batter evenly among the prepared muffin cups, filling each about 3/4 full.
7. Bake. Bake for 18—22 minutes, until the tops are set and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. The tops should be pale golden, not deeply browned.
8. Cool and serve. Let muffins cool in the tin for 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack. Dust with powdered sugar before serving if desired.

Nutrition (per serving)

Calories: 195 | Protein: 4g | Fat: 10g | Carbs: 22g | Fiber: 0g | Sodium: 145mg