Baking Adventures; Lime Ricotta Raspberry Muffins

I have a mini just-for-fun cake business. Sometimes - like many folks do - I just like to bake things - try new flavors and come up with something delicious that I have zero intention of selling to anyone.

This was inspired by With Style & Grace's recipe for Gluten-free Lemon Ricotta Blueberry Muffins. I saw this recipe and wanted to eat them. I told my husband, "I WANT TO MAKE THESE MUFFINS...only, ya know, with regular flour" ;)  And he said to me, "why don't you use raspberries instead since they're your favorite? and lime, because that would go great with raspberries."

...

He knows this already, but the man is a genius. He's more of a lime person than I am, but I can definitely appreciate the subtle flavor difference between the lemon and lime when you turn these two citrus fruits into baked goods.

I didn't have quite enough ricotta or lime zest, but I'm not so much into measuring. I just threw it all into some bowls and got to mixing.

I always think of taking pictures of the process, but then I never go get my camera. My hands are sticky or I am too involved in what I'm doing, whatever.

Instead, I took pictures to quell my impatience while they baked...

You can see that I forgot to top with sugar before I baked them. Oh well. They didn't really need it. It just would have added a nice little crunch.

I tried to add some sugar after. I crossed my fingers that because the muffins were still super hot, it might melt the sugar a little. No such luck.

There was more impatient waiting to follow.

Don't my countertops look pretty underneath the muffins. This makes me so happy. *sigh*

Once they cooled, which felt like an eternity because I wanted to try one before they were even out of the oven, I dug in.

The raspberries I put in were GIANT, so I had a hard time getting 3 berries in there, but I am so very glad I did because the berries make this - the tangyness of the raspberries plus the subtle citrus of the lime muffins work so well together. I could eat these things all day. They are so yummy.

After I ate a bunch of these, I was inspired to create a slightly healthier option. So, I will definitely have to get to work on blending in some cardboard components to create something healthy and delicious - flax or whole wheat or sum'n.
Plus side: these muffins are made with olive oil instead of butter, but there is cheese in there, so its a bit of a give and take.