Pumpkin Cream Cheese Muffins

I would like to start this post with welcoming back one of my favorite blog readers, Rita. I missed you and I am glad you are back to cooking and feeling better, slowly but surely!!

This muffins are fantastic, seriously. The moist pumpkin taste (which, obviously I love according to all the pumpkin posts) with the crumbly, buttery streusel topping, and the surprise of the sweet cream cheese in the middle all add up to a muffin you will want to taste again and again. I sent these in with Chuck to share at work and apparently they all went fast!

Note: The cream cheese and powdered sugar "log" definitely did not freeze within two hours. When I took it out of the freezer, I was basically able to divide it into 24 sections with a very sharp knife, but even then I was not successful at cutting out the disks. I recommend just taking a spoon and scooping out enough filling for each muffin.

Your friend, the pastry blender.

Pumpkin Cream Cheese Muffins
from Annie's Eats
Makes 24 muffins

For the muffins:
3 cups flour
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon nutmeg
1 teaspoon ground cloves (optional)
1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
4 eggs
1 ¼ cups vegetable oil
2 cups sugar
2 cups pumpkin puree

For the filling:
8 ounces cream cheese, softened
1 cup powdered sugar

For the streusel topping:
½ cup sugar
¼ cup plus 1 teaspoon flour
4 tablespoons butter, cubed
1 ½ teaspoons cinnamon

To prepare the filling, combine the cream cheese and powdered sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer and whip until smooth. Form into a log on plastic wrap or foil, making sure that 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 of an electric mixer, combine the eggs, vegetable 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 the oven to 350°. 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.