Pumpkin Cream Cheese Muffins

Baking day continues with BREAKFAST! I wanted a delicious treat that worked for breakfast as well--cereal doesn't always cut it! I adapted this recipe to include oats. It makes the batter a little more chunky, but the flavor is great! The cream cheese in the middle will melt during baking if it is not frozen beforehand. I prefer to eat these while warm, but they're great either way! Enjoy :)

Pumpkin Cream Cheese Muffins

Yield: 24 muffins

Filling:
8 oz. cream cheese, softened

1 cup confectioners’ sugar

½ tsp. vanilla

To prepare the filling, combine the cream cheese and confectioners’ sugar in a medium bowl and mix well until blended and smooth (I did this in a food processor). I then put the mixture in a piping bag and made 24 dollops on a piece of waxed paper. I placed this in the freezer until at least slightly firm, at least 2 hours.

Muffins:
2 ½ cups all-purpose flour

½ cup oats
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 (I used farm fresh eggs!)
2 cups sugar
2 cups pumpkin puree (15 oz. can works well too)
1 cups vegetable oil (could substitute apple sauce for a healthy alternative)

To make the muffins, preheat the oven to 350˚ F. Line muffin pans with paper liners. In a medium bowl, combine the flour, oats, 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.

Topping:
¼ cup sugar
2 tbsp. flour

½ tbsp oats
¾ tsp. ground cinnamon
2 tbsp. cold unsalted butter, cut into pieces

To make the topping, combine the sugar, flour, oats 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.

Directions

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). Place a dollop of 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. (It may be hard to resist immediate consumption, but the cream cheese filling gets very hot!)

Recipe adapted from Annie's Eats!