Pumpkin Muffins with Cream Cheese Filling

"This muffin is a real treat and should not be saved just for breakfast. Some of the ingredients may be a challenge to find but they should be found in your grocery store."
 
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Ready In:
55mins
Ingredients:
15
Yields:
6-12 muffins
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ingredients

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directions

  • To prepare the muffin tin use 1 1/2 tbsp unsalted butter, aluminum foil or paper cupcake liners; or nonstick vegetable spray and set aside.
  • Preheat the oven to 350F with a rack in the center of the oven.
  • Place the cream cheese in a small bowl and add the maple syrup.
  • Use a fork to blend them together until smooth.
  • Set aside.
  • Place a mesh sieve over a medium mixing bowl and add the flour, baking powder, salt ginger, cardamom, and cinnamon.
  • Shake the contents into a bowl and set aside.
  • Place the eggs and light brown and granulated sugar in a large mixing bowl.
  • With the mixer on high speed, beat the eggs and sugars together until they are thickened and light, about 2 minutes, scraping down the bowl from time to time as you work.
  • The mixture should be thick enough to fall back into the bowl in a thick ribbon when the beaters are shut off and raised.
  • Beat in the pumpkin puree on low speed.
  • With the mixer still on low speed, pour in half of the oil, then add half the flour mixture.
  • Repeat with the remaining oil and flour mixture until there are no streaks of flour remaining.
  • Scrape down sides of the bowl as you work.
  • Beat in the milk until just combined.
  • Divide the batter amoung the muffin tin holes.
  • If you are baking regular size muffins, place 1/2 tbsp cream cheese mixture on each portion of batter then top with pecan halves.
  • Press down lightly on the cream cheese and nuts.
  • For jumbo muffins, place 1 tbsp of cream cheese mixture on each portion of batter, then top each with 3 or 4 pecan halves.
  • Bake regular muffins for 20 to 22 minutes, and jumbo muffins for 30 to 35 minutes until the muffins are golden brown and have risen nicely; a cake tester inserted in the center of a muffin should come out clean.
  • Remove the muffins from the oven and allow them to cool in the pan for 10 minutes.
  • Transfer them carefully to a wire rack and cool.
  • The muffins can be stored in a reclosable gallon-size plastic bag at room temperature for 24 hours.
  • They can also be frozen for up to 3 months.
  • Wrap individual muffins in plastic wrap, then place them on a baking sheet and freeze for at least 3 hours.
  • When they are completely frozen, place each on in an individual recloseable sandwich-size bag.
  • Lable the bag and note the date with a waterproof marker.
  • Remove the muffins from the freezer the night before and defrost on the kitchen counter at room temperature to be eaten the next morning.

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Reviews

  1. Yum! I added about a teaspoon of lemon zest to the wet ingredients (before mixing them with the dry ingredients). The slight extra "tang" was wonderful.
     
  2. I made these as mini muffins (48 ct) 4 days ago and took them to a party. They were all gobbled up within 2 hours! But, they weren't quite sweet enough for my taste, so I made them again. Added 1/2 cup more brown sugar, an extra 1/4 tsp each of the spices, and put some cinnamon sugar in with the cream cheese. Oh boy, now they are just to die for! I put a pecan half on each of the mini muffins, which helped to keep the cream cheese from being too gooey on top, and baked them at 350F for 16 and a half minutes. Just delightful. Thank you so much for sharing this wonderful seasonal recipe.
     
  3. Very nice flavor. Texture was quite 'stodgy', which I guess is the pumpkin. I made my own pumpkin puree, as tinned puree isn't available here in New Zealand. The other thing I did differently was, once the flour mixture and oil were added to the egg mixture, I mixed by hand rather than with the beater, as I was afraid of over mixing. I used golden syrup instead of maple syrup, which worked nicely. The filling really makes these muffins something special. I got 10 average sized muffins. Very yummy!
     
  4. These had a super delicious flavor. Unfortunately I had a few changes. I had scooped all of the batter into muffin tins (mine made 15) when I realized that I'd omitted the milk. (I had been thinking that the batter seemed really thick!) I probably could have scraped it back into the bowl and added the milk, but I have kids & have no time for that nonsense. :) Also, I used leftover cream cheese frosting (recipe 6536) instead of the maple mixture listed here. Next time I would push the cream cheese into the batter a bit more so it's more like a filling and less like a melty glazy goo on top. I'm not sure if it ran over the top instead of sinking in as filling because I forgot the milk and the batter was too dense or because it was a different cream cheese mixture... but really I don't care. It tastes delicious! My neighbor was over and she gave two thumbs up also. This is well worth making & I wish I'd doubled the recipe. Yum!!
     
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Tweaks

  1. Very nice flavor. Texture was quite 'stodgy', which I guess is the pumpkin. I made my own pumpkin puree, as tinned puree isn't available here in New Zealand. The other thing I did differently was, once the flour mixture and oil were added to the egg mixture, I mixed by hand rather than with the beater, as I was afraid of over mixing. I used golden syrup instead of maple syrup, which worked nicely. The filling really makes these muffins something special. I got 10 average sized muffins. Very yummy!
     
  2. These had a super delicious flavor. Unfortunately I had a few changes. I had scooped all of the batter into muffin tins (mine made 15) when I realized that I'd omitted the milk. (I had been thinking that the batter seemed really thick!) I probably could have scraped it back into the bowl and added the milk, but I have kids & have no time for that nonsense. :) Also, I used leftover cream cheese frosting (recipe 6536) instead of the maple mixture listed here. Next time I would push the cream cheese into the batter a bit more so it's more like a filling and less like a melty glazy goo on top. I'm not sure if it ran over the top instead of sinking in as filling because I forgot the milk and the batter was too dense or because it was a different cream cheese mixture... but really I don't care. It tastes delicious! My neighbor was over and she gave two thumbs up also. This is well worth making & I wish I'd doubled the recipe. Yum!!
     

RECIPE SUBMITTED BY

My husband and I moved to Las Vegas after retirement in 2000. We lived in South Bend, IN for about 26 years. We both like to travel and we have taken up RV camping and enjoy it a lot. Most of our camping is done in Nevada Utah Arizona and So. California. During the summers our (almost) 9 year old Granddaughter will go with us sometimes. Our Daughter, Son-in-law, and Granddaughter have lived in Las Vegas since January 2001.
 
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