Pumpkin Cream Cheese Muffins

Seriously don't read any further if you have no self control. These muffins, according to spark people recipe calculator, have over 400 calories a piece. If your like me and can keep your sweet tooth in check read on. These muffins took first place last night at our city's dessert baking contest. They are seriously that good. Personally this is all of my favorite sweet tastes rolled into one. They taste like pumpkin pie with a pumpkin cheesecake flavor added as a bonus. They are easy to make and each batch makes 24 muffins. Yes 24! Do NOT double this recipe like I did as I had to give them away to avoid the weight gain these will bring. I found this recipe via pinterest which is a favorite site of mine.

Pumpkin Cream Cheese Muffins
Lung Family Blog

Yield: 24 muffins

 Ingredients:

For the filling:

8 oz. cream cheese, softened

1 cup confectioners’ sugar

¼ tsp vanilla extract

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

1 tsp vanilla extract

For the topping:

½ cup sugar

5 tbsp. flour

1½ tsp. ground cinnamon

4 tbsp. cold unsalted butter, cut into pieces

 Directions:

For the filling, combine the cream cheese, vanilla  and confectioners’ sugar  in a medium bowl and mix well until blended and smooth.  Once blended, cover tightly with plastic wrap and chill in the refrigerator.

For the muffins, preheat the oven to 350˚ F, and line muffin pans with cupcake  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 ,, vanilla and oil.  Mix on low speed until blended.  With the mixer on low speed, add in the dry ingredients, mixing just until incorporated.

For 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 knives 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 (2 tablespoons).  Spoon a tablespoon of the cream cheese mixture into the very center of each cup.  Divide the remaining batter among the cups, placing on top of the cream cheese to cover completely.  Sprinkle a tablespoon of the streusel mixture on top of each muffin.

Bake for 20-25 minutes.  Transfer to a wire rack and let cool completely before serving, the cream cheese filling will be very hot!