Pumpkin Cream Muffins

It's our turn to bring snacks to our child birthing class tonight so I thought I'd make a fall treat! They are now one of Dan's favorite.



1-1/3 c. sugar, divided
1-1/4 c. all-purpose flour
2 t. cinnamon
1 t. baking soda
1/2 t. salt
3 eggs, divided
3/4 c. oil
1 c. canned pumpkin
8-oz. pkg. cream cheese, softened

Topping:
1/4 c. sugar
1/4 t. cinnamon
3 T. all-purpose flour
2 T. butter

Combine one cup sugar and flour, along with cinnamon, baking soda, salt, 2 eggs, oil and pumpkin; mix and set aside. In a separate bowl, blend together cream cheese, remaining sugar and remaining egg. Pour pumpkin mixture into greased muffin cups, filling 2/3 full. Place a heaping teaspoon of cream cheese filling in the center of each muffin. Sprinkle each with one teaspoon topping mixture. Bake at 350 degrees for 15 to 18 minutes. Makes 1-1/2 dozen muffins.

This recipe comes from Gooseberry Patch Pumpkin Cookbooklet #15.

Mixed Berry Buttermilk Muffins

Last summer, I kept buying berries at Trader Joe's and the Farmer's market, and sticking half of them in the freezer "for the winter". I never ended up using them, and DH has been asking me what I'm planning on doing with ALL. THOSE. BERRIES! So, when my family visited this weekend, I made a batch of muffins for snacking on at the hotel!

Here's the link to the recipe; I followed it ALMOST exactly, except I used 2 cups of whole wheat flour, and a half cup of regular.

This is what they looked like before they went into the oven. I forgot to take an after shot, and now there's only three left, so there's not much point, eh?




As the recipe says, they are simple, but PACKED with flavor! I really love the added zing from the orange zest; you can TOTALLY taste it. (But not in a gross way. I usually hate orange zest, actually!)

The sign of a productive morning

...a messy kitchen.

This morning I made my favorite fall breakfast: Pumpkin Apple Streusel Muffins. There are a lot of recipes out there for pumpkin muffins and pumpkin bread, etc., but these are my favorite. It is a pretty easy recipe, but it makes a mess of my kitchen a lot of dirty dishes. However, the payoff is a scrumptiously autumnal breakfast. Paired with a cup of tea courtesy of the earl of Grey, this spells comfort. Ahh, the crisp morning breeze, the smell of fall, and pumpkin muffins warm out of the oven - it doesn't get much better than this!

Pumpkin Apple Streusel Muffins

2 1/2 c. all-purpose flour

2 c. white sugar

1/4 Tbsp each of allspice, ground ginger, cinnamon, and nutmeg

1 tsp. baking soda

2 eggs, lightly beaten

1 c. canned pumpkin

1/2 c. vegetable oil

2 c. peeled, corred, and chopped apple

2 tbsp. all-purpose flour

1/4 c. white sugar

1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon

4 tbsp. butter

• Preheat oven to 350. Lightly grease a muffin pan or line with 24 muffin papers.
• In a large bowl, sife together 2 1/2 c. flour, 2 cups sugar, spices, baking soda, and salt. In a separate bowl, mix together eggs, pumpkin, and oil. Add pumpkin mixture to flour mixture, stirring just to moisten. Fold in apples. Spoom the batter into prepared muffin cups.
• In a small bowl, mix together 2 tbsp flour, 1/4 cup sugar, and cinnamon. Cut in butter with a fork until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Sprinkle topping evenly over muffin batter.
• Bake at 350 for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
• Makes about 24 muffins.

I actually made 12 big muffins and used the rest of the batter for mini-muffins, which were ready in about 15 minutes. They're a big hit with the toddler set.