I had the pleasure of spending time with my sister-in-law and her daughter and baking this recipe with them.  It was pretty straight-forward and easy, as far as baking goes!  Her new mixer came in handy.  I have owned the same Kitchenaid Artisan mixer for years and it is very easy to use.  Two controls: one side is the lock, the other is the speed.  Easy and makes light work of something like kneading bread dough or whipping cheesecake batter that must be fully mixed or else.  Also, it’s a star at creaming butter and sugar.

This recipe yielded approximately 12 servings, but for us, it yielded about 15 muffins.

INGREDIENTS:

• ¹⁄₄ cup butter, softened (a half normal sized stick of butter)
• ¹⁄₂ cup sugar
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1 large egg
• 1 cup milk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 2 cups flour
• 1 tablespoon flour
• 8 ounces Ghirardelli white chocolate, chopped (a total of two 4 oz. bars)**
• ¹⁄₂ cup fresh raspberries**

**White chocolate and raspberries can irritate some IC patients, so please be careful. 

DIRECTIONS:

1. Preheat oven to 400*F.
2. Grease 12 standard-size muffin cups, or line with paper muffin liners.
3. In a medium bowl, using an electric mixer on medium speed, cream together the butter and sugar until smooth.
4. Add the egg, milk, and vanilla; blend well.
5. In a separate large bowl, combine the baking powder, 2 cups of the flour, and the chopped white chocolate; whisk to combine.
6. Gradually add to the butter mixture; stirring just until combined.
7. Gently fold in the raspberries–the batter will be slightly lumpy.
8. (The original directions on the Ghirardelli wrapper did not say to gently fold in, so we mixed them in which crushed them.  Either way, it will turn out just fine, it depends on your preference).  
9. Fill the muffin cups 3/4 full of batter.
10. In a small bowl, combine the 1 Tbsp. of flour and 1 Tbsp. sugar; mix thoroughly.
11. Dust muffin tops with the sugar mixture.
12. Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until the center of a muffin springs back when lightly pressed.
13. Cool for 5 minutes in the tins; carefully transfer muffins to wire racks and cool further.
14. Serve warm or cool; store in an airtight container at room temperature.