Pumpkin Cream Cheese Muffins

Sometimes, I think that the Pinterest cooks are just messing with us. They post beautiful pictures of mouthwatering food and then I repeat their recipe, only mine ends up looking and tasting like something that came out of the trash (and that’s usually where it ends up).

So, when I saw this recipe for pumpkin cream cheese muffins I was skeptical. Could they really be as tasty as they looked? The answer is yes! In fact, these are some of the best muffins I’ve ever eaten. They only lasted a day in our house (and, there’s only two of us living here).

This recipe has gone through more than a few levels of adaptations and maybe that’s why it actually works. It was adapted from a Starbucks recipe and then at least two different cooks and finally, me! I think it’s perfect now, but if you want to adapt it some more, go for it!

1 ½ cups flour
3/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
1 ½ cups pumpkin puree (a 15 oz. can, no need to measure)
¼ cup melted butter slightly cooled (half a cube)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 egg

FILLING

4 ounces cream cheese softened (half an 8 ounce package)
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
1 heaping teaspoon flour
2 Tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon milk

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a muffin tin with cooking spray.

In a mixing bowl, mix: flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt and pumpkin spice on low.

In a medium bowl, whisk: pumpkin, melted butter, vanilla and egg.

Add the wet mixture to the dry and mix just until combined.

Fill the 12 muffin tins ¾ full (these don’t rise a lot). Using the same mixing bowl (no need to wash it) mix all the filling ingredients together until smooth. Divide the filling equally among the twelve muffin tins. You can spoon it on the center-top or be fancy and pipe it on the center.

Bake 20 minutes. Let cool for five minutes before removing them from the pans.

You can sprinkle oats on the top before baking if you want the muffins to be more like the Starbucks originals. Or, add ½ cup of nuts to the pumpkin dough for a little crunch.

But, any way you adapt these, I hope you love them as much as I did.