Tiramisu muffins

I've never had tiramisu, the Italian dessert. It's a pity, but it's true. But I took the idea of the dessert and turned it upside down. Or rather - inside out. Savoiardi cookies were turned into muffin batter, coffee-liqueur mixture was stirred smoothly into it and mascarpone topped with cocoa powder...well...remained mascarpone topped with cocoa powder.


Tiramisu muffins

4 dl wheat flour
1 dl oil
1 egg
1 1/2 dl sugar
2 tsp baking powder
2 dl milk
2 tsp instant coffee powder
2 tbsp Amaretto liqueur
salt

Topping
250 g Mascarpone
2 tsp sugar + vanilla/
vanilla sugar
unsweetened cocoa powder

1. Beat the egg with sugar and oil. Add Amaretto.
2. Dissolve the coffee powder in milk and add.
3. Mix flour with baking powder and a a tiny pinch of salt, add to the batter, mixing only until just combined.
4. Pour the batter into a muffin pan and bake at 200C for about 18 minutes
5. Mix Mascarpone with a bit of sugar and vanilla or just add some vanilla sugar to it. Cover cooled muffins with Mascarpone and sift some cocoa powder on them.

I like how the mascarpone is only slightly sweetened and the flavor of vanilla can stand out. None of the tastes in these muffins are too overwhelming, although they seemned to appear stronger when I tasted the batter. Tiramisu-like? Probably yes! The topping seems somehow refreshing on the tender and soft muffins.

These muffins are created for the event Muffin Monday #2 - Muffins that Make you go *Ooooh!* hosted by Experiments.
My idea would be to host an event about muffins full of inspiration. So that the readers would get the reaction 'now where did that muffin come from?' The inspiration should come from any type of dish: no matter if it's a soup, a dessert, a casserole, a cake, anything. Just like my inspiration came from the Italian dessert tiramisu. A brief description of the inspirational dish should be included too. There are millions of recipes out there - let there be millions of muffins as well!

Having-it-all muffins

What if you had a muffin dream? No, really, let's imagine. What would the muffins be like? They should have every good thing in them, right? Starting with...honey. Definitely some berries. And I really like cheesecake, they should have cheesecake too. What about almonds? And cinnamon? Lime? After a day outside in the cold I was ready to take the challenge. What a lovely challenge it was. As a base recipe, I used a recipe for honey muffins.


Honey muffins with cheesecake and everything

Muffin batter:
100 g butter, at room temperature
150 g honey (liquid or melted)
1 1/2 tbsp lime juice
2 eggs
4 dl flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp cinnamon

Cheesecake mixture:
350 g cream cheese
2 eggs
1 dl sugar
vanilla

some cherries
sliced almonds for coating

1. Prepare the cheesecake mixture. With an electric mixer, beat together cream cheese, sugar, two eggs and vanilla.
2. Now the muffin batter. Beat together butter, honey, lime juice.
3. In another bowl, beat the eggs with a pinch of salt and add to the mixture.
4. Mix flour with baking powder and cinnamon, add to the mixture and stir until just combined.
5. Now fill the muffin pan. Place a cherry or some on the bottom of each cup, then add muffin batter. Pour cheesecake mixture over it and cover with sliced almonds.
6. Bake at 200C for about 18 minutes.

The muffins taste overwhelmed by honey, teased by the scents of lime and cinnamon. Cherries add a sourish juiciness and complete the overall sweet taste. The mild cheesecake topping with crunchy almond slices...the muffins do have a nice combination of textures.

It's repeated often that too many flavourings should not be used together. Well this time I put everything together and it worked just fine. Or actually...these muffins are the best I have ever made. And together with some cold milk...the best I have ever eaten (although I admit I'm not a big muffin fan). Having a muffin dream would not be so bad after all.