Pumpkin Cream Cheese Muffins

Pumpkin Cream Cheese Muffins
from food.com
makes 18 muffins

For Cream Cheese Topping:
1 (8 Oz.) Package Cream Cheese, Room Temperature
1 Egg
1 Teaspoon Vanilla
3 Tablespoons Brown Sugar

For Muffin:
2 1/2 Cups AP Flour
1 1/2 Cups White Sugar
2 Teaspoons Baking Powder
2 Teaspoons Cinnamon
1/2 Teaspoon Salt
2 Eggs
1 1/3 Cups Canned Pumpkin
1/3 Cup Vegetable or Canola Oil
2 Teaspoons Vanilla Extract

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.  Grease and flour a muffin tin and set aside.  For the topping, beat cream cheese until smooth.  Add egg, vanilla, and brown sugar.  Set aside.  For the muffin batter, sift together the flour, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt in a large mixing bowl.  Make a well in the center of the flour mixture and gradually incorporate the 2 eggs, pumpkin, oil, and vanilla extract.  Beat together until smooth.  Fill the muffin  cups about 1/2 full of muffin batter and spoon about 1 teaspoon of the cream cheese topping on the batter.  Bake for 20-25 minutes.

Of course it wouldn't really be fall without a pumpkin recipe!  These moist little muffins are perfect on a chilly morning with a cup of coffee.  I was a little concerned when I was mixing the muffin batter that they would get too dry since all the wet ingredients are mixed in with the dry instead of mixed in a separate bowl  then incorporated into the dry but it turned out not to be an issue at all and then I didn't have to dirty an extra bowl!  Side note, these muffins freeze beautifully.  I just set them out in a covered container the night before and the next morning they are ready to go.