INGREDIENTS:

Muffins
1 box white cake mix
8 ounces cream cheese, softened
½ cup sour cream
2 eggs
¾ cup sugar, divided
2 cups graham cracker crumbs (crushed with rolling pin)
6 Tbsp. butter, melted
¼ cup Clearbrook Farms® Red Tart Cherry Preserves

Cheese Filling
8 ounces cream cheese, softened
¼ cup sugar
1 egg
½ tsp. freshly-squeezed lemon juice

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat oven to 350°F.
Lightly grease a 12-cup muffin pan and set aside.

Cheese Filling
In a smaller mixing bowl, beat together all ingredients for cheese filling until smooth. Set aside.

Muffins
To make the batter, in a large mixing bowl, combine cake mix, softened cream cheese, sour cream, eggs, and ¼ cup sugar. Beat on medium speed for 3 minutes.

To make the crust, combine graham cracker crumbs, ½ cup sugar, and melted butter in a small bowl. Set aside.

Divide half of the graham cracker mixture among the 12 muffin cups and lightly press into bottoms. Fill cups all the way to the top with muffin batter. Place 1 teaspoon of cherry preserves on top of muffin batter and with a teaspoon, lightly push preserves into batter.

With the back of a spoon dipped in water to keep from sticking, indent the batter and top with a dollop of filling to cover the cherry preserves. Sprinkle remaining graham cracker mixture over the top of muffins. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes. Let cool 10 minutes before removing muffins from pan.

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