Pumpkin Spice Cream Cheese Muffins

Pumpkin Spice Cream Cheese Muffins have been the highlight of my fall season baking so far!  Not only are they absolutely delicious and gorgeous, but they were so much fun to make.  That’s, of course, if you’re much like me and love to play with food!

McKenna and I spent some quality time together in the kitchen preparing these Pumpkin Spice Cream Cheese Muffins – OMG, we laughed so much!

Imagine, if you will, a thirteen year old girl who happens to be left-handed. Add to that an OCD dad who thinks he does everything the right way and all other ways are wrong.  Toss in a small kitchen, very little counter space, lots of dirty dishes scattered everywhere (or so it seemed!) from a day of back-to-back baking, and you’ve got a recipe for disaster.  But, damn it, we didn’t care about the mess; we just had a great time!

The funniest thing was me trying to teach her how to swirl the cream cheese mixture through the pumpkin spice muffin mixture before baking. It wasn’t until now, writing this up, that I’m becoming aware of how confusing my directions might have been!

“Drag the toothpick through the batter,” I told her. “Don’t go in too deep with the toothpick or you might tear the paper liner… Don’t be afraid to put the toothpick deeper so that you’re mixing the cream cheese in well… Make sure you go from one side of the muffin liner to the other so that you’re getting it well mixed… Don’t go to close to the edge, because you’ll spill the batter over the side of the paper liner.”  Can you just imagine what she must have been thinking?

Well, to make matters worse, she was doing the best she could, based on my instructions with her left hand, which to me looked all wrong! I can’t even begin to think about teaching her how to crochet.  #lordhavemercy

Even though some of these muffins don’t look swirly like they should, some of them do and you’ll get the point, Dear Reader. Swirly or not, these are damn good, and you’ll be so happy you’ve made them – with or without a left-handed thirteen year old!  #lovesher

By the way, you can find the recipe that I use for homemade pumpkin spice right here!

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Pumpkin Spice Cream Cheese Muffins

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Prep Time 20 minutes mins

Cook Time 18 minutes mins

Total Time 38 minutes mins

Author Lord Byron's Kitchen

Ingredients

For the muffin batter:

• 1 ¾ all-purpose flour
• 2 tablespoons pumpkin spice
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 15 ounces canned pumpkin puree
• 1 cup sugar
• ½ cup brown sugar, lightly packed
• 2 large eggs
• ½ cup vegetable oil
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract

For the cream cheese topping:

• 8 ounces cream cheese
• ¼ cup sugar
• 1 large egg yolk
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Instructions

• Begin by preheating your oven to 375 degrees. Line a muffin tin with paper muffin liners and set aside.
• Sift together the flour, pumpkin spice, baking soda and salt. Set aside.
• In large bowl, use a handheld mixer to beat together the pumpkin puree, sugar, and brown sugar. Beat in the eggs, vegetable oil, and vanilla.
• Next, on low speed, blend in the flour mixture.
• Fill the paper muffin liners about ¾ way full and set aside.
• In a clean bowl, and with clean attachments on your handheld mixer, beat cream cheese until smooth. Add in the sugar, egg yolk, and vanilla; mix until incorporated.
• Use a tablespoon to scoop the cream cheese mixture onto the top of each muffin. Just spoon it over top – about one tablespoon for each muffin will do just fine. Use a toothpick to drag the cream cheese mixture through the pumpkin mixture. Be sure to drag the toothpick from side to side without spilling the batter over the side. Also, be careful to not touch the bottom of the paper liner, but go deep enough so that both batters are being slightly blended.
• Place the muffins in the oven on the middle rack and bake for 18 minutes. Allow to cool for two minutes in the muffin pan before transferring to a wire cooling rack to finish the cooling process.