I’m back!

Sorry about the MAJOR lack of posting lately.

I was out of commission for about 11 days with some crazy strep-like mouth thing.

But I’m all better now, thanks for asking 🙂

Along with everyone else in the world of blogging/baking, I decided to make something with some pumpkin and some spice. Not to be confused with the annoyingly over hyped pumpkin spice latte from Starbucks.

(Don’t get me wrong, I love Starbucks with a wallet draining passion. However, we don’t need to know every time you take a sip of your delicious latte).

I searched high and low and found this amazing recipe that combined not only pumpkin and spices, but a cream cheese center AND crumbled streusel topping.

Overkill?

Probably.

But isn’t that what baking is usually about?

Yes.

To begin you are going to make the cream cheese filling.

I recommend making it the day before if you can. It says to chill for 2 hours, but usually when you are baking you don’t want to make part and wait around for 2 hours…i’m too impatient for that.

And I was too impatient when I made these, so I only threw the cream cheese log in the freezer for about 30 minutes.

How did that work out for me?

Not well.

Try your best to glop the cream cheese in a row and then roll it into a log.

Good enough.

It doesn’t have to look nice or be the same size all the way down.

Throw that in the freezer for as long as you can and then slice once your batter is ready in the muffin tins. (or in my case, scrape with a spoon and have it all over your hands/kitchen and stuggle to scrape off fingers and into muffin batter.)

Combine those dry ingredients. 

This is where I will interject a quick story for your entertainment.

Many of you know that my parents were not fans of Halloween.

My brother and I make fun of my Mom on a regular basis (we love you) and she always replies with, “it was important to me at the time”…fair enough.

But we were those kids who didn’t dress up and go trick-or-treating.

It helps that we lived on an island in the middle of the woods with only about 2 other year round residences. And they were old. And probably mean.

The reason I mention that is because I don’t want you to picture us crying at the window watching all the kids run by with their bags full of candy.

We did have our amazing Grandma who always came to the rescue.

Despite what her daughter (my mom) thought, she always sent us a halloween box filled with candy and light up ghost earrings (seriously), and goblin window stickers.

She sent those boxes to me all the way through college!

She was a super amazing woman and is probably the reason I am so obsessed with every holiday, no matter how small.

My Grandma loved every holiday and always found a way to celebrate and fill us up with candy.

Oh, we did dress up a couple of times for our church “fall festival” .

My brother was Samson, Jonah and David. If you don’t know who they are, I will give you a hint: pick up a Bible.

I was a cat and then a ballerina, twice.

We have pictures of them somewhere. My brother is always happy and I always look super crabby. I also remember one year I zipped my neck up in a metal zipper…that was super fun.

I refused to let my mom unzip it for me…so I just screamed with my neck stuck in the zipper for about 10 minutes.

Explains why I am afraid of zippers and never let anyone zip up anything even close to my neck!

Back to baking.

Like the pictures above indicate, you want to combine the wet ingredients and then slowly mix in the dry ingredients until just combined.

Make the streusel.

Of course I couldn’t resist these skull cupcake liners (thanks to my Grandma and her love for all things themed/over the top. Including clothes with sequins and large sunglasses. Two things I  love).

Scoop a little batter into the bottom.

Add a slice/glob of cream cheese.

Then completely cover the cream cheese with more batter.

And top with streusel.

Bake. Let cool. Indulge.

I had sooo many pictures that I loved, so I was unable to select just one.

I hope you enjoy this muffin montage.

Thanks so much for stopping by 🙂 You should make these soon. Make them on Saturday morning. They make your house smell soooooooo good. Then you can share some so you don’t eat them all. And sharing these muffins will make you and whomever you share them with happy.

Recipe: Pumpkin Cream Cheese Muffins

Makes about 24-30 muffins. 

For the filling:

8 oz. cream cheese, softened

1 cup confectioners’ sugar

For the muffins:

3 cups all-purpose flour

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
1

¼ cups vegetable oil

For the topping:

½ cup sugar

5 tbsp. flour

1½ tsp. ground cinnamon

4 tbsp. cold unsalted butter, cut into pieces

Directions: 

For the  filling:

combine the cream cheese and confectioners’ sugar in a mixing bowl and beat 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. I was impatient and therefore had to cut the log into globs and use my fingers to scrape them off the knife. It worked, but if you have the time, make the day before and freeze.

For the muffins:

preheat the oven to 350˚ F.

Line muffin tins with liners.  In a medium bowl, combine the flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, pumpkin pie spice, salt and baking soda, stir to combine.

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 slowly add dry ingredients, mixing just until incorporated.

For the crumble topping:

Combine the sugar, flour and cinnamon in a small bowl. Cut the cold butter into the dry ingredients with a fork until the mixture is 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 (or so) equal pieces.  Place a slice of the cream cheese mixture into the center of each muffin.  Divide the remaining batter among the muffin cups, placing on top of the cream cheese to cover completely.  Sprinkle a small amount of the streusel mixture over each muffin.

Bake for 20-25 minutes.  Transfer to a wire rack and let cool completely before serving.

I scored this fantastic recipe from Annies Eats. An amazing blog that gives me something to work up to. If you are craving anything or looking for some inspiration, I recommend seeing what Annie has been up to!