Pumpkin Muffin Recipes

Every fall, I make pumpkin muffins.  This year, I was tasked with making muffins for the Men's Breakfast that the PTSA holds so, of course, they would be of the pumpkin variety.  I made my standby Pumpkin Cream Cheese Muffins and decided to try a new recipe, Cinnamon Pumpkin Cheesecake Muffins.  The new muffins were a hit, so much so that Jason stole quite a few before I was able to wrap them up for school.

Pumpkin Cream Cheese Muffins (makes ~18 large muffins)
Filling
8 oz cream cheese
1/4 c powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla

Muffins
3 cups all purpose flour
2 cups sugar
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
2 tsp cinnamon
2 tsp nutmeg
2 tsp ground cloves
1 tsp ginger
2 tbsp pumpkin pie spice
4 eggs
2 cups (15 oz) pumpkin
1 1/4 cup light olive oil
pumpkin seeds or chopped nuts (optional)

Directions
1.  Preheat oven to 350.
2.  Mix ingredients for muffins until smooth.
3.  In separate bowl, mix ingredients for filling.
4.  Fill muffin tins half full.  Spoon 1 tbsp of filling onto the muffin mixture.  Add more muffin mixture until tin is full.
5.  Sprinkle with seeds or nuts if desired.
6.  Bake for 20-25 minutes.

Cinnamon Pumpkin Cheesecake Muffins (makes ~18 large muffins)
Topping
3 tbsp butter
4 tbsp all purpose flour
1 tsp cinnamon
4 tbsp sugar
pumpkin seeds or chopped nuts (optional)

Filling
8 oz cream cheese
3 tbsp brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
3 tbsp brown sugar

Muffins
3 cups all purpose flour
2 1/4 cups sugar
1 tbsp cinnamon
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
2 eggs
2 cups (15 oz) pumpkin
1/3 cup light olive oil

Directions
1.  Preheat oven to 375.
2.  Mix ingredients for muffins until smooth.
3.  In separate bowl, mix ingredients for filling.
4.  In separate bowl, mix topping ingredients with fork until mixture crumbles.
5.  Fill muffin tins 3/4 full.  Add 1 tbsp of cream cheese filling.  Sprinkle on ~1/2 tbsp of the topping.
6.  Bake for 20-25 minutes.


Tips for muffins:  Allow cream cheese to warm at room temperature for a bit before mixing it.  Completely filling the muffin tins creates larger "domed" muffins.  If you want smaller muffins, fill the tins ~2/3 of the way.  I use muffin liners and spray them with oil to keep the muffins from tearing when the paper is removed.