Pumpkin Cream Cheese Muffins

I saw a sale for pumpkin puree at the store.. and you know what I did? Bought 7 cans. I have a problem. And that problem apparently involves butter, cream cheese, and pumpkin puree. My roommate Lindsay was cleaning out the fridge and she just kept pulling out butter and cream cheese. I sheepishly tried to deny that they were mine and then told her I had a problem. You see, butter is expensive. It's $5 at my local grocery store. However, every once in awhile I find it on sale for 2/$5 and then I end up buying like 10. Seriously problematic. I have the same problem with cream cheese. I never know how many I have at home and then I stop by the store on my way home from class and buy bagels and wonder "Hmmm I wonder if I have cream cheese for this... well I'll just pick some up anyways." My inner self should be screaming NO MEGAN! You have enough cream cheese. Calm yourself. But nope. That doesn't happen. I just have a heap of cream cheese and butter in the refrigerator. Even worse.. last Friday we were playing catchphrase at our house and Lindsay got cream cheese as her word... she yells "Megan has too much of this in the fridge and it's not butter???" My other roommate Katie and I both yell CREAM CHEESE on the top of our lungs. Do they have a cream cheese and butter help group? And now my food problems have carried over to pumpkin puree? This cannot be good. Or can it? I mean pumpkin goodies are quite delicious so I can't be too mad about that. These pumpkin cream cheese muffins were no exception. It combines two of my new favorite ingredients... pumpkin and cream cheese. These were another treat I brought to accounting class and they were well received. I ate them cold, at room temp, and heated up and they were all delicious. However, I do think heating them up in the microwave for about 20 seconds is the way to go. The best thing about these muffins? They put a little dent in my cream cheese and pumpkin puree hoarding habit.... Victory. 

Ingredients:

Cream Cheese Filling:

1 (8 oz) package cream cheese

1 egg

1 tsp vanilla extract

3 tbsp brown sugar

Streusel Topping:

4 1/2 tbsp all-purpose flour

5 tbsp white sugar

3/4 tsp cinnamon

3 tbsp butter, cold and cubed

3 tbsp chopped pecans (I omitted)

Muffins:

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 cup white sugar

1 cup brown sugar

2 tsp baking powder

2 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp salt

2 eggs

1 1/3 cup canned pumpkin puree (Just shy of 15 oz can)

1/3 cup olive oil

2 tsp vanilla extract

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit. Fill 18 muffin cups with paper liners. To make the cream cheese filling, put cream cheese in a medium sized bowl. Using an electric mixer, beat until soft. Then add egg, vanilla, and brown sugar. Mix until smooth and set aside. To make the streusel topping, in a medium sized bowl, mix together, flour, sugar, cinnamon, and pecans (if using). Cut the butter into the mixture with a fork until the mixture is crumbly. Set aside. To make the muffins, in a large bowl, sift together flour, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon and salt. Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients and add in the eggs, pumpkin puree, olive oil and vanilla. Mix together until the batter is smooth. Fill the muffin cups with the batter 1/2 way full. Add a tablespoon of cream cheese to the center of the batter. Try to make sure that the cream cheese does not tough the sides of the muffin. Sprinkle the streusel topping over the batter. Bake at 375F for 20 to 25 minutes, or until baked through. You can test this by inserting a toothpick in the center of the muffin. If the toothpick comes out clean, the muffins are ready. 

Source: Recipe from Erin's Food Files