Pumpkin Cream Cheese Muffins!

Wow...I have not blogged in over a month.  The holidays are always so busy and they got the best of me.  I have been cooking a lot of new recipes but have not taken time to take pictures or write about them.  During the fall I stocked up on canned pumpkin.  It is so hard to find throughout any other time of the year.  I had used about half of a can for smoothies and freezed the other half.  Once pumpkin is frozen and then thawed it does not come out the same consistency.  My solution, these delicious Pumpkin Cream Cheese Muffins.  I found this recipe on pinterest and one of my favorite blogs.  I just could not pass them up.  Pumpkin and cream cheese...oh my.  I created quite the mess of my kitchen while making these but they are totally worth it.  It made 24 muffins and I can not wait to devour these on my drive into work this week.  I didn't freeze the cream cheese mixture and don't think it had any affect on how these turned out.  I did put the mixture in the freeze while making the batter to get a little more solid.   

Pumpkin Cream Cheese Muffins

Yield: 24 muffins

Ingredients

For the filling:
8 oz. cream cheese, softened
1 cup confectioners’ sugar
For the muffins:
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1 tsp. ground nutmeg
1 tsp. ground cloves
1 tbsp. plus 1 tsp. pumpkin pie spice
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking soda
4 large eggs
2 cups sugar
2 cups pumpkin puree
1¼ cups vegetable oil
For the topping:
½ cup sugar
5 tbsp. flour
1½ tsp. ground cinnamon
4 tbsp. cold unsalted butter, cut into pieces

Directions

• To prepare the filling, combine the cream cheese and confectioners’ sugar in a medium bowl and mix well until blended and smooth. Transfer the mixture to a piece of plastic wrap and shape into a log about 1½-inches in diameter. Smooth the plastic wrap tightly around the log, and reinforce with a piece of foil. Transfer to the freezer and chill until at least slightly firm, at least 2 hours.
• To make the muffins, preheat the oven to 350˚ F. Line muffin pans with paper liners. In a medium bowl, combine the flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, pumpkin pie spice, salt and baking soda; whisk to blend. In the bowl of an electric mixer combine the eggs, sugar, pumpkin puree and oil. Mix on medium-low speed until blended. With the mixer on low speed, add in the dry ingredients, mixing just until incorporated.
• To make the topping, combine the sugar, flour and cinnamon in a small bowl; whisk to blend. Add in the butter pieces and cut into the dry ingredients with a pastry blender or two forks until the mixture is coarse and crumbly. Transfer to the refrigerator until ready to use.
• To assemble the muffins, fill each muffin well with a small amount of batter, just enough to cover the bottom of the liner (1-2 tablespoons). Slice the log of cream cheese filling into 24 equal pieces. Place a slice of the cream cheese mixture into each muffin well. Divide the remaining batter among the muffin cups, placing on top of the cream cheese to cover completely. Sprinkle a small amount of the topping mixture over each of the muffin wells.
• Bake for 20-25 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack and let cool completely before serving. (It may be hard to resist immediate consumption, but the cream cheese filling gets very hot!)

Enjoy my friends!