Pumpkin Muffins Two Ways

Recently I had to take breakfast for our MOPS meeting. I was also in charge of the snack for the 3 year old MOPPETS class. So I checked out the "muffins" section of my favorites list and found two recipes I had bookmarked to try.

For the adults I made Pumpkin Cream Cheese Muffins (a pumpkin muffin with a cream cheese filling and streusel on top) and for the kids I made much healthier Whole Wheat Pumpkin Mini Muffins. Both of them turned out well and went quickly at the meeting.

Here are both recipes for you to try:

Pumpkin Cream Cheese Muffins (from Annie's Eats)

Ingredients:

For the muffins:

3 cups flour
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. nutmeg
1 tsp. ground cloves
1 tbsp. and 1 tsp. pumpkin pie spice
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking soda
4 eggs
1 ¼ 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:
½ cup sugar
¼ cup and 1 tsp. flour
4 tbsp. butter, cubed
1 ½ tsp. cinnamon

Directions:
To prepare the filling, combine the cream cheese and powdered sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer and whip until smooth. Form into a log on plastic wrap or foil, making sure that the diameter is small enough to fit into the well of a muffin pan. Wrap the log up tightly and freeze until slightly hardened, 1-2 hours.

To make the muffins, combine the flour, spices, salt and baking soda in a medium bowl. Mix well and set aside. In the bowl of an electric mixer, combine the eggs, vegetable oil, sugar and pumpkin puree. Mix until well combined. Add in the dry ingredients and mix on low speed until just combined.

To make the streusel topping, combine all 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 halfway with batter. Remove the cream cheese log from the freezer and slice into 24 equal slices. Place a slice in each muffin well. 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 for 20-25 minutes. Let cool completely before serving.

Whole Wheat Pumpkin Mini Muffins (from AllRecipes.com)

1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
3/4 cup canned pumpkin puree
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup honey

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease a 12 cup muffin pan, or line with paper liners.

In a large bowl, stir together the whole wheat flour, brown sugar, pumpkin pie spice, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Make a well in the center, and put in eggs, pumpkin, oil and honey. Mix just until the dry ingredients are absorbed. Spoon into muffin cups so they are about 2/3 full.

Bake for 10 minutes in the preheated oven, or until the tops spring back when lightly touched. Cool in the pan before removing from cups.

These recipes are linked to Tempt My Tummy Tuesday and Tuesdays at the Table. Head over there to find hundreds of other great recipes.