Orange Ginger Cheese Muffins

Looking for brunch ideas for Mother’s Day? These Orange Ginger Cheese Muffins come together quickly and are packed with Sincerely, Brigitte™ Orange Ginger Cheese. They would make a beautiful accompaniment to the brunch table or even breakfast in bed. The basic muffin batter has shredded Orange Ginger Cheese folded right in along with a little orange zest to help bring out that bright, citrus flavor. Even more cheese is sprinkled over the tops of the muffins to add a golden color and crispness.

Disclaimer: This post is sponsored by Sincerely, Brigitte. All comments and opinions are my own.

Sincerely, Brigitte™, created by Brigitte Mizrahi, features cheese with bold, innovative flavors using only fresh ingredients. All of their products are gluten free and certified kosher by OK Kosher. I love that the flavors are available in a variety of convenient sizes and packages including 7 and 3.5 ounce chunks, sticks, grab n go, slices, goat crumbles, goat tubes, variety tray, sampling trio, and loaves. You can find the cheese at over 1,000 club stores, supermarkets and independent specialty retailers in the US and abroad, including Mexico, Canada and Australia.

For the muffins, I used Sincerely, Brigitte™ Orange Ginger Prairie Jack Cheese. This cheese gave the muffins a light and airy texture with hints of orange and ginger. Pasteurized cultured milk from Wisconsin dairy farms is made into cheese using kosher vegetarian rennet and seasoned with orange peel, ginger, salt, and a little honey. Other current flavors include Blue Marble Cheese, Chipotle Cheese, Jalapeño Cilantro Cheese, Garlic Basil Cheese, Parsley Chives Cheese, Tarragon Ginger Cheese, Tomato Olive Cheese, and Wasabi Cheese.

Check out my other recipes using Sincerely, Brigitte™ cheese: Fried Ravioli with Raspberry Chocolate Goat Cheese, Pumpkin Cheese Soup with Garlic Basil Cheese Crisps, and Sweet Potato Maple Pecan Goat Cheese Croquettes.

I lined the muffin tins with paper liners, but don’t necessarily recommend it. Due to the amount of cheese in the muffins, they tend to stick to the liners. These would work much better baked straight in the greased muffin tins or with nonstick liners.

After shredding the block of cheese, I set aside about 1/3 cup to sprinkle over the tops of the muffin batter. When topping, try to keep the pieces of cheese towards the center and away from the edges of the tin.

If you want a stronger ginger flavor, fold some finely chopped crystalized ginger into the batter before baking.

These muffins are best the day they are made, but especially warm from the oven.

Orange Ginger Cheese Muffins
Adapted from Sugarcrafter
11-12 muffins

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 tablespoon granulated sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
7 ounces Sincerely, Brigitte™ Orange Ginger Cheese, shredded and divided
1 cup milk
1 egg
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and slightly cooled
zest of 1/2 orange

 

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Grease 12 muffin tins or line with nonstick liners.

In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. Set aside 1/3 cup of the shredded cheese and mix the rest into the flour.

In a small bowl, beat together the milk, egg, butter, and orange zest. Stir into the dry ingredients just until combined.

Use an ice cream scoop or spoon to fill the prepared muffin tins 3/4 full with batter. Sprinkle the tops with the reserved cheese.

Bake in preheated oven until the cheese on the top is golden and the muffins are cooked through, 20-25 minutes. Serve warm.