Pumpkin Cream Cheese Muffins

These muffins are absolutely delicious!  I am not a big pumpkin person at all, and this recipe has officially brought me over to the other side.  I made these for a brunch we went to this morning, and these are a definite keeper - a great fall treat, and the cream cheese center will impress (although its so easy, and not impressive at all really... lol).  This recipe is from Annie's Eats.

Pumpkin Cream Cheese Muffins

Yields 24 muffins

Ingredients

For the muffins:

3 cups flour

1 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp nutmeg

1 tsp ground cloves

1 tbsp and 1 tsp pumpkin pie spice

1 tsp salt

1 tsp baking soda

4 eggs

1 1/4 cups vegetable oil

2 cups sugar

2 cups pumpkin puree

For the filling:

8 oz. cream cheese, softened

1 cup powdered sugar

For the streusel topping:

1/2 cup sugar

1/4 cup and 1 tsp flour

4 tbsp butter, cubed

1 1/2 tsp cinnamon

Directions

To prepare the filling, combine the cream cheese and powdered sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer and whip until smooth.  Form into a log on plastic wrap or foil, making sure that the diameter is small enough to fit into the well of a muffin pan.  Wrap the log up tightly and freeze until slightly hardened, about 1-2 hours. (The direction to freeze is really just to make the cream cheese easier to work with.  If you are like me and accidentally put it in the refrigerator instead, don't panic! Its okay - just more difficult to work with.)

To make the muffins, combine the flour, spices, salt, and baking soda in a medium bowl.  Mix well and set aside. In the bowl of an electric mixer, combine the eggs, vegetable oil,sugar, and pumpkin puree.  Mix until well combined.  Add in the dry ingredients and mix on low speed until just combined.  

To make the streusel topping, combine all the ingredients into a small bowl.  Mix together with a pastry blender or with two forks until crumbly.

Preheat the oven to 350.  Line two muffin pans with paper liners.  To assemble the muffins, fill each muffin well halfway with batter.  Remove the cream cheese log from the freeze and slice into 24 equal slices.  Place a slice in each muffin well.  Divide the remaining muffin batter evenly among the muffin cups, on top of the cream cheese.  Sprinkle the streusel topping on top of the batter.  Bake for 20-25 minutes.  Let cool completely before serving.