Strawberry Cream Cheese Muffins

I had a huge package of strawberries that I needed to use up before we went out of town for the weekend and decided to make two things with them, Strawberry Shortcake (recipe coming soon) and these muffins I had previously saved the recipe for.  Apparently I have a thing for muffins lately.  These muffins were really yummy, very moist and we loved the strawberries.  I was expecting a stronger cream cheese flavor having not baked with it before, but it was very mild, it mainly just made for an almost creamy muffin (sort of like the ricotta ones I made once).  I think the thing I would do next time is add more strawberries to the muffins - maybe go for 1 1/2 cups to 2 cups.  I also decided to add a lemon glaze to the top from the Lemon Poppyseed muffins I made a few weeks ago and would highly suggest this!

Strawberry Cream Cheese Muffins
adapted from Foodie Bride

Ingredients:

2 cups flour (I used half whole wheat)

1/2 cup sugar (original recipe called for a full cup - you don't need it)

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

8 oz cream cheese, softened (I used low fat)

1/4 cup butter, softened

2 eggs

1/2 cup buttermilk

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1 1/4 cup chopped fresh strawberries, divided (use more if you desire)

Instructions:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
In a mixer cream together the cream cheese, butter, and sugar. Add the eggs, buttermilk, and vanilla and mix until just combined.
In a bowl whisk together the flours, baking powder, baking soda, and the salt. Add the dry ingredients to the mixing bowl and mix until just combined. Be careful not to over mix. The batter will be thick, almost like cookie dough.
Fold in 1 cup of strawberries. Spoon batter into a paper lined muffin pan.
Fill the muffin cups about 3/4 of the way full and top with remaining 1/4 cup chopped strawberries (2-3 pieces per muffin, lightly press into the dough.
Bake for about 20 minutes, until the tops are golden. Cool on a cooling rack for about 15 minutes.

For the Glaze
1/2 cup powdered sugar whisked together with 2 or 3 Tablespoons of lemon juice (add more powdered sugar if you want it thicker, I like the stronger lemon flavor though).  Drizzle over the top of cooled muffins.