Pumpkin Cream Cheese Muffins

I got this recipe from the mykitchencafe blog. And they are tasty! I used Luke's pre-school class as the testers and all 12 kids and 4 adults raved about them. As far as muffins go they are a little more time consuming but oh so yummy...more like a cupcake. If you want to see pictures here is the link http://mykitchencafe.blogspot.com/2009/11/pumpkin-cream-cheese-muffins.html

For the muffins:

• 3 cups flour
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1 tsp nutmeg
• 1 tsp ground cloves
• 1 Tbsp pumpkin pie spice
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 4 eggs
• 1 1/4 cups vegetable oil
• 2 cups sugar
• 2 cups pumpkin puree

For the filling:

• 8 oz cream cheese, softened
• 1 cup powdered sugar

For the streusel topping:

• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup flour
• 4 Tbsp cold butter, cubed
• 1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon

To prepare the filling, combine the cream cheese and powdered sugar and whip until smooth. Form into a log on plastic wrap or greased foil, making sure that the diameter is small enough to fit into the well of a muffin pan. Wrap the log tightly and freeze until slightly hardened, 1-2 hours. ( I had mine in the freezer about 2 hours, but it could have gone a little longer)

To make the muffin, combine the flour, spices, salt and baking soda in a medium bowl. Mix well and set aside. In another large bowl combine the eggs, vegetable oil, sugar and pumpkin puree. Mix until well combined. Add in the dry ingredients and mix until just combined.

To make the streusel topping, combine all the ingredients in a small bowl. Mix together with a pastry blender or two forks until crumbly.

Preheat the oven to 350. Line two muffin pans with paper liners. To assemble the muffins, fill each muffin well 1/3 of the way with batter. Remove the cream cheese log from the freeze and slice into 24 equal slices. Place a slice on top of the batter in each muffin well and gently press (don't press all the way to the bottom but just slightly into the batter). Divide the remaining muffin batter evenly among the muffin cups on top of the cream cheese. Sprinkle the streusel topping over the top of the batter. Bake the muffins for 18-20 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the top of the muffin (about 1/2 of the way down) comes out with moist crumbs. Let cool completely on a wire rack before serving.