iHeart Pumpkins {Cream Cheese Muffins}

It finally feels like Fall outside! I am just loving this cool weather, and think that it warrants another recipe post.  I actually made these muffins a few weeks ago, but have been so busy with family in town (yay!) and modeling for Lukas and Suzy Van Dyke's workshop (yay again!) amongst other things, that I'm just now getting to put this up.  


This recipe was inspired by Starbuck's Pumpkin Cream Cheese Muffins, which I look forward to every year.  Here's what you'll need:

{Muffins}
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. nutmeg
1 tsp. ground cloves
4 tsp. pumpkin pie spice
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking soda
4 eggs
2 cups sugar
2 cups pure pumpkin (Libby's 100% Pure Pumpkin)
1 1/4 cups vegetable oil
Chopped pumpkin seeds or walnuts/ pecans (optional)


{Cream Cheese Filling}
8 oz. cream cheese
2 Tbs. powdered sugar
1 Tbs. brown sugar
1/4 tsp. vanilla


Preheat the oven to 350°
In a small bowl, mix together the cream cheese, powdered sugar, brown sugar, and vanilla, and put in the fridge while you mix together other ingredients.


In a separate bowl, mix together the rest of the ingredients.

Spoon batter into a muffin tin, filling each cup about 1/2 full.

Take your cream cheese mixture out of the fridge, and spoon out about 3 tsp. worth of filling, and place on top of the batter.  Then push the filling about halfway down into the muffin.

I didn't push my filling down far enough on this batch... but you get the idea.

Bake for 20-25 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean from the muffin (don't touch the cream cheese). Let cool in pans for about 5 minutes, then remove and let cool completely.

Serve with coffee and enjoy!

Let me know if you try the recipe, and what you think!