Pumpkin Cream Cheese Muffins!

As its obvious all over my blog, I am a BIG fan of the lovely blog known as Annie's Eats. Annie has recipes for every genre of food, and seasonal cooking always features heavily. As the year marches towards the end (how on earth is it October already?!), I am getting more and more into the spirit of fall cooking. Fall is my favorite season, and probably the only time during the year that I will lament living in sunny South Florida. Leaves changing! Pumpkin patches! Apple picking! These activities are not a part of my life down here, but a girl can dream.

Let's starting dreaming with the most glorious pumpkin spice muffin recipe EVER. Pumpkin muffins flavored with traditional fall spices such as nutmeg, cinnamon, and cloves, topped with a crackly cinnamon-sugar topping, and cream cheese-sugar filling inside! Are you drooling yet? I was so intrigued by this recipe - the filling is not piped in at the end, but instead frozen, and then sliced and placed halfway through the batter! This muffin-making was a two-day process. I whipped cream cheese and confectioner's sugar yesterday, and rolled it into a log, wrapping it carefully in plastic wrap and aluminum foil, to hold its shape. Today I made the muffin batter, and filled the bottom of the baking cups with a bit of the batter, then sliced the log into rounds, and placed a round (or ball - it is sticky to work with!), and then filled the cup the rest of the way with batter.

Next step was making the topping. Flour, white sugar, cinnamon, and unsalted butter gets mixed together until crumbly, and sprinkled over the top of the muffins.

I HIGHLY recommend that you put these on your "To-Bake" list! They are perfectly flavored with spices and pumpkin, and the slight crunch of the cinnamon sugar on top, along with the oozy, sweet, creamy center, makes it truly the best muffin. They are a bit more work then your average muffin (more similar to cupcakes with the frosting inside maybe?), but they are so worth it! :) Happy Baking! Here's the recipe link!