Pumpkin Cream Cheese Muffins

My favorite part about Fall is when all the leaves turn their bright yellow, orange, and red colors. My second favorite thing about Fall is PUMPKIN! I cook with a lot of pumpkin and cinnamon this time of year and it makes the house smell so good!

These muffins were wonderful! Thank goodness because it made 24 of them! My whole family loved these. My 3 year old said, "Mommy, these are delicious!" and my husband was pleasantly surprised with the cream cheese filling. These muffins remind me of pumpkin roll. I will definitely be making these again!

Pumpkin Cream Cheese Muffins
Source: Annie's Eats

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

For the muffins:
3 c. flour
1 t. ground cinnamon
1 t. ground nutmeg
1 t. ground cloves
1 T. plus 1 t. pumpkin pie spice
1 t. salt
1 t. baking soda
4 large eggs
2 c. sugar
2 c. pumpkin puree
1¼ c. vegetable oil

For the topping:
½ c. sugar
5 T. flour
1½ t. ground cinnamon
4 T. cold unsalted butter, cut into pieces

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.