Pumpkin Cream Cheese Muffins- and -my FIRST GIVEAWAY!

These are so fantastically awesome, I'm considering buying a case of pumpkin to keep around all year, just for these muffins. I found these on Annie's Eats. She has some really awesome recipes on there, and I often check her site to see what other rockin things she's posted! Fall is here, Thanksgiving is Thursday, it's high time that I broke out the pumpkin. These are so delicious! The ONLY thing I change next time would be to add some finely chopped toasted pecans to the sugar mixture on top. But I just love pecans. A minor plan a head is the cream cheese mixture- I made that the night before and put it in my freezer, got up the next morning and made the muffin batter. Worked wonderfully!



That being said- Muffins are Awesome, Giveaways rock!



CSN has offered me a $35 gift card to one of my most awesome readers!! I LOVE CSN, you can get just about anything there! CSN is comprised of over 200 online stores, where you can find everything from a counter stool for your kitchen to a baby crib or a new pair of shoes! Seriously! The first time I visited I was SHOCKED at the amount of items they carry! Talk about one stop shopping!

* CSN ships to US and Canada only.


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Giveaway ends December 1st @ midnight EST. A winner will be randomly selected and I'll contact you via email.



Pumpkin Cream Cheese Muffins Printable
VIA: Annie’s Eats

Ingredients:
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
1¼ 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:
To prepare the filling, combine the cream cheese and confectioners' sugar in a medium bowl and mix 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. Place into the freezer and chill until at least slightly firm, at least 2 hours, over overnight. It’ll be fine.

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

To make the topping, combine the sugar, flour 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. *Next time I’d add finely chopped toasted pecans to this mixture for some extra oomph.

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 equal pieces. Place a slice of the 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!)

Store in an airtight container. Makes 2dzn.