Blueberry Cheesecake Muffins

I found this recipe on Pinterest and adapted it only slightly to make muffins. It's pretty labor intensive but the muffins came out so fluffy and delicious it's worth it. Enjoy!

Ingredients

Batter:

½ cups Butter
½ cups Sugar
¼ teaspoons Salt
1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
2 whole Egg Yolks
1-½ cup All-pupose Flour
1 teaspoon Baking Powder
⅓ cups Milk
2 cups Blueberries
1 Tablespoon All-purpose Flour
2 whole Egg Whites
¼ cups White Sugar

Filling:

8 ounces, weight Cream Cheese
½ cups Sugar
1 Tablespoon Flour
1 whole Egg
1 Tablespoon Orange Zest

Preparation

Filling:

In a medium bowl, combine cream cheese, sugar, 1 tablespoon flour, egg and orange zest; beat until smooth. (Be sure to use the measurements found under filling for these.) Set aside.

Batter:

Cream butter and sugar (1/2 cup) until fluffy. Add salt and vanilla. Add egg yolks (save the egg whites as you’ll need them later) to the sugar mixture; beat until creamy. Set aside.
In another bowl, combine flour (1 1/2 cups) and baking powder. Add this mixture, alternately with milk to egg yolk mixture.

Coat berries with 1 tablespoon flour and add them to the batter.

In a separate bowl, beat egg whites until soft peaks form. Add sugar (1/4 cup), 1 tablespoon at a time, and beat until stiff peaks form. Fold egg whites into batter.

Spoon batter into muffin tins; fill them half way. Layer the filling over the batter and then top with more batter. This will create a layer of “cheesecake” between the blueberry batter.

Bake at 350F for 30-35 minutes or until golden brown.

Baltimore Summer Restaurant Week 2013: Mother's Federal Hill Grille

Great restaurant week menu . . . This past Thursday was my first time at Mother's. I hear people talk about it all the time, usually burgers, beer and sports, but the food was delicious. 

I ordered calamari as a starter. It was tender on the inside and crispy on the outside. The sauce was good too. The crabcake was perfectly cooked and had the largest pieces of crab I've ever seen in a cake; I mean they barely bother with filler, I'm surprised it held together! I carb loaded with mashed potatoes topped with loaded butter and chipotle Mac n cheese. The potatoes were scratch made and the mac had a wonderful kick to it. Dessert was bread pudding; not my favorite on any day but I tried it anyway. It was just ok. City Café's is worlds better. 

Overall, surprisingly great experience and I can't wait to go back and try one of those 20 burgers and wings.

Baltimore Summer Restaurant Week 2013: Black Olive

I went to Black Olive today for lunch for restaurant week. The decor is nice and the location is quaint. I wasn't impressed with the food. I had a roasted tomato soup with feta, shrimp scorpio with orzo and feta, and baklava. Everything was just ok, middle of the road. The soup portion was huge and the entree was small. The pasta wasn't seasoned and only had two shrimp. I wouldn't recommend anyone go here, but I wouldn't discourage them form trying it either. Blah is the best description I can give.

Starters: Maryland Crab Dip

Maryland Crab Dip

Ingredients:

1 lb. backfin crabmeat

8 oz. cream cheese

1/2 cup mayonnaise

1 Tbsp. Old Bay seasoning

1 Tbsp. Worcestershire

8 oz. grated sharp cheese

3 green onions, sliced very thin

Instructions: 

Clean crabmeat.

Mix together all ingredients.

Place in individual ramekins or in large glass baking dish for serving.

Bake at 350 for 15 to 20 minutes until hot and bubbly. 

Top with additional green onion and a dash of Old Bay.

Serve with crackers, sliced french bread, pita or tortilla chips.

Snacking: Garlic Kale Chips

Wash and dry a bunch of kale.

Cut into chip size pieces.

Line a cookie sheet with parchment.

Arrange kale on sheet and drizzle or spray with oil.

Sprinkle with garlic salt.

Bake for 10 minutes or until crispy but not brown.

Enjoy!