Pumpkin Cream Cheese Muffins

Pumpkin Cream Cheese Muffins

This recipe is supposed to make only 24 muffins but I made about 27; however, 3 of the muffins had a little less muffin batter over the top and appeared mainly cream cheese.  I also accidentally used 3/4 cups of powdered sugar in the filling instead of 1 cup but they still turned out and tasted fine.

from Annie's Eats

Ingredients:

For the muffins:

3 cups flour

1 tsp. cinnamon

1 tsp. nutmeg

2 Tbsp. pumpkin pie spice

1 tsp. salt

1 tsp. baking soda

4 eggs

1 1/4 cups vegetable oil

2 cups sugar

2 cups pumpkin puree

For the filling:

8 oz. cream cheese, softened

1 cup powdered sugar (my mistake, I used the wrong measuring cup and ended up with only 3/4 cup)

For the streusel topping:

1/2 cup sugar

1/4 cup and 1 tsp. flour

4 Tbsp. butter, cubed

1 1/2 tsp. cinnamon

Directions:

To prepare the filling, combine the cream cheese and powdered sugar in a bowl with an electric mixer and whip until smooth.  Form into a log on the plastic wrap or foil, making sure the diameter is small enough to fit into the well of a muffin pan.  Wrap the log up tightly and freeze until slightly hardened, 1-2 hours.

To make the muffins, combine the flour, spices, salt and baking soda in a medium bowl.  Mix well and set aside.  In the bowl with the electric mixer, combine the eggs, oil, sugar, and pumpkin puree.  Mix until well combined.  Add in the dry ingredients and mix on low speed until just combined.

To make the streusel topping, combine all ingredients in a small bowl.  Mix together with a pastry blender or two forks until crumbly.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  Line two muffin pans with paper liners.  To assemble the muffins, fill each muffin well halfway with batter.  Remove the cream cheese log from the freezer and slice into 24 equal slices.  Place a slice in each muffin well.  Divide the remaining muffin batter evenly among the muffin cups, on top of the cream cheese.  Sprinkle the streusel topping over the top of the batter.  Bake for 20-25 minutes.  Let cool completely before serving.