Carrot Cake with Frosting in the MIDDLE!

Greg LOVES Carrot Cake so I decided to give them another try. This time without the Fiber Cereal, so he's actually eat it! I also wanted to add frosting but it's SO messy. THEN I came up with an idea...put the frosting in the middle! They ooze out a little as you bake the muffins and you get ALL the FROSTING FLAVOR when you bite into them. YUMMY!

Ingredients: (6 muffins)

Muffin Batter:
1 c of all-purpose flour
1/3 c of firmly packed light brown sugar
½ tsp of baking powder
¼ tsp of baking soda
¼ tsp of salt
½ tsp of ground cinnamon
¼ c crushed pineapple in juice
¼ c of vegetable oil
1 egg, lightly beaten
1 tsp of vanilla
1 c of shredded carrots

Filling:
4 oz cream cheese
¼ c sugar

Prep:

1. Preheat oven to 400ºF. Make the cream cheese filling: soften the cream cheese and beat in the sugar, mixing gradually, until the filling is smooth and fluffy. (I used the food processor for this.)

2. In a large bowl, stir together flour, brown sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon. Then add in pineapple, oil, egg, and vanilla until blended. Stir in carrots last and mix well.

3. Spoon 2 Tbsp of batter into lined muffin cups. Place 1 Tbsp of filling on top and distribute the remaining batter over each cup, filling to the top.

4. Bake 20 to 25 minutes, or until the tops of each muffin spring back when lightly touched. Remove muffin tin to wire rack.

5. Cool 5 minutes before removing muffins from cups; finish cooling on rack. Serve warm or store completely cooled muffins in an airtight container at room temperature. These muffins freeze well.