Cream Cheese Swirled Zucchini Muffins

HOLY COW . . . these are so good!  One of my favorite zucchini recipes are my ZUCCHINI CAKE COOKIES WITH CREAM CHEESE FILLING, so I know how well cream cheese goes with zucchini.  

Plus, I know how well lemon goes with cinnamon and zucchini because of my BEST EVER ZUCCHINI MUFFINS.

It is a super bonus that these are somewhat HEALTHY.  At least healthier than your average muffin.  They have some whole wheat flour, hardly any oil, Greek yogurt and lots of zucchini.

The flavor is awesome, the texture is soft and light and the cream cheese filling takes these from an every-day zucchini muffin to a gotta-eat-these-now zucchini muffin.

Cream Cheese Swirled Zucchini Muffins

adapted from: I Heart Eating
(Printable Recipe) or (Printable with Picture)

1 c. whole wheat flour

1 c. all-purpose flour

1 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. ground cinnamon

1/4 tsp. ground nutmeg

1/2 c. plain non-fat Greek yogurt

1/4 c. vegetable oil

2 large eggs

1/2 c. light brown sugar

1/4 c. sugar

1 tsp. vanilla extract

zest of 1 lemon, opt.

2 c. zucchini, grated

Cream Cheese Filling:

6 oz. reduced-fat cream cheese, room temp.

1/4 c. sugar

1 large egg

1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

pinch of salt

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  For the cream cheese filling:  In a small bowl, combine all ingredients and beat until smooth and creamy.  It might be runny, but that is okay; set aside.  For the muffins:  In a large bowl, combine the wheat flour, all-purpose flour, baking powder, salt, baking soda, cinnamon and nutmeg; set aside.  In a separate bowl, combine the yogurt, vegetable oil and eggs and beat until smooth.  Add the brown sugar, sugar, vanilla and lemon zest and beat until combined.  Last, stir in the grated zucchini.  Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients and stir until just combined.  Do not overmix.  

Spoon some of the muffin batter into a well-greased muffin tin, filling each cup around 1/2 full.  Top each with a heaping spoonful of the cream cheese filling (about 1 1/2 Tablespoons each).  Then, top each with more muffin batter.  Muffin cups will be full.  Bake for 20-23 minutes or until top springs back when lightly touched.  Yield: 12-15 muffins. 

Jenn's Notes:  The lemon zest is optional, but I love the flavor of cinnamon and lemon with zucchini.  I made these exactly as I typed above.