Avocado Muffins

Our standard uses for avocados are as a topping for chili or tortilla soup or layered in sandwiches. Pretty boring, huh? Anyway, because of our limited usage, and because I buy our avocados at Costco (which normally means five large ones in a bag), sometimes we have more leftovers than I know what to do with and of course, they all ripen at the same time. I know, I know, make guacamole but this time, I decided to explore the potential of avocados in the world of baking. I’ve read that due to its high fat content, you can essentially substitute avocados for the other fats in your recipe such as butter, shortening, or eggs. So I took my favorite muffin recipe and did just that. Not only that, I decided to fill the muffin with a mixture of avocado and cream cheese to give it an added boost of flavor. Topped with a sprinkle of chopped walnuts, these muffins are a delicious addition to any breakfast table. Enjoy!

Please note that this muffin recipe is adapted from the Sour Cream Muffins recipe in the King Arthur Flour Whole Grain Baking cookbook.
Makes 1 dozen

Filling
½ cup softened cream cheese
½ cup mashed ripe avocado
¼ cup sugar
2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice

Batter
¾ cup mashed ripe avocado
2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup whole milk
2 cups white whole wheat flour
½ cup unbleached all-purpose flour
1½ teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt

Topping
½ cup chopped walnuts

To make the filling: In a small bowl, whisk all the ingredients until smooth. Set aside until needed.

To make the muffins: In a large mixing bowl, beat the avocado, lemon juice, and sugar until smooth and creamy, scraping down the sides of the bowl once or twice. Meanwhile, in a medium bowl, whisk together the flours, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Once avocado mixture is creamy, add the vanilla and milk, and mix until incorporated. Add the dry ingredients, mixing on low speed just until the batter is smooth. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl once more to make sure everything is evenly combined.

Preheat the oven to 400°F. Line muffin tin with paper baking cups, and coat the papers with nonstick spray. Drop 2 heaping tablespoons of batter into each cup. Using the rounded bottom of a teaspoon (dipped in vegetable oil to prevent the batter from sticking), make a shallow well in the center of each cup. Add a heaping tablespoon of filling (I use a level small cookie scoop), cover with enough batter to fill each muffin cup to almost the top, and sprinkle with chopped walnuts. Bake the muffins until a skewer inserted in the center comes out clean, 20 to 24 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool in the pan for 5 minutes, then transfer to a rack to finish cooling.