Pumpkin Cream Cheese Muffins

These muffins were quite tasty.  They took quite a while to put together, but it was ok.  There was some baking + babywearing going on so I could get these done without any tears (from me or the baby).  I like pumpkin stuff well enough, but don't love it; however, I have an urge to bake with it in the fall, and these muffins looked really good.  These made two dozen, so I gave most of them away.  I had frozen the rest of the canned pumpkin from these cookies; pumpkin freezes beautifully.  I thawed it for 2 days in the fridge. 

My cream cheese mixture was still soft after 2 hours in the fridge, so I just left it overnight and did them the next day.  I was happy with how these turned out; the cream cheese filling was fun.  I cut the streusal topping in half and had plenty; I'll reflect that in the recipe below.  I had some batter leftover; enough for a mini loaf pan. 
I couldn't use 1 1/4 cups of oil in this recipe without convulsing, so I used about 3/4 cup unsweetened applesauce and 1/2 cup sunflower oil.  It worked out very well- just made the muffins really moist, so store in the fridge after they've cooled.

Pumpkin Cream Cheese Muffins
adapted from Annie's Eats
24 Muffins + 1 mini loaf

For the filling:
8 oz. cream cheese, softened
1 cup confectioners’ sugar

For the muffins:
3 cups all-purpose flour (I used 1 cup whole wheat pastry)
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 canola/sunflower oil (can use part unsweetened applesauce)

For the topping:
1/4 cup sugar
2 1/2 tbsp. flour
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
2 tbsp. cold salted butter, cut into pieces

1.  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 (or overnight).

2.  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 (and applesauce, if using). Mix on medium-low speed until blended. With the mixer on low speed, add in the dry ingredients, mixing just until incorporated.

3.  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.

4.  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.

5.  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!)

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