Pumpkin Cheesecake Muffins

Here is another great Autumn recipe! These Pumpkin Muffins are really super moist and tasty. On top of the muffin is a nice light cheesecake layer and finished with some crumble topping. The recipe makes about fifteen muffins. I actually made a dozen muffins and then made a mini loaf of Pumpkin Cheesecake Bread....which was equally as good as the muffins.

Pumpkin Cheesecake Muffins

Ingredients:

Cheesecake Topping

1 (8 oz) package of cream cheese
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 tablespoons brown sugar

Crumb Topping
4 1/2 tablespoons all purpose flour
5 tablespoons brown sugar
3/4 teaspoon cinnamon
3 tablespoons butter, softened

 Muffin Batter

2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
2 cups white sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1 1/3 cup pumpkin puree
1/3 cup canola oil
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Preparation:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Grease and flour 15 muffin cups.
2. To make the cream cheese topping: In a medium bowl, beat cream cheese until soft. Add egg, vanilla and brown sugar. Beat until smooth, (there will be some small lumps of cream cheese that is ok) then refrigerate.
3. For the streusel topping: In a medium bowl, mix flour, brown sugar and cinnamon. Cut  in butter with a fork or pastry blender, until crumbly. Set aside.
4. For the muffin batter: In a large bowl, sift together flour, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon and salt. In a separate bowl combine eggs, pumpkin, canola oil and vanilla.  Add the wet ingredients to the dry and mix together until smooth.
5. Place pumpkin mixture in muffin cups about 2/3 full. Then add one heaping tablespoon of the cream cheese mixture on top of the batter, avoiding the sides as much as possible. 
6. Sprinkle on the crumb topping.
7. Bake at 375 degrees F for 20-25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.