Cream Cheese Pumpkin Muffins

In the spirit of fall I have been on quite the pumpkin kick and just about everything pumpkin sounds appealing to me. I am never opposed to cream cheese, so when I came across this cream cheese pumpkin bread I was very excited to try it. The recipe makes two loaves of bread so I decided to make one loaf to bring to a party and use the remaining batter for muffins. They both turned out fantastic! I also made a honey butter to go along with them which was just delicious.

Pumpkin Bread (adapted from Joy of Baking ):

Ingredients
1 Cup Pecans- choppped and toasted
3-1/2 Cups All Purpose Flour

1 teaspoon Baking Powder

1 teaspoon Baking Soda
3/4 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons Cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
4 Eggs
2 Cups Sugar
1 Cup Butter- unsalted, melted and cooled
1- 15oz can Pumpkin (not pumpkin pie mix)
1/2 Cup Water
2 teaspoons Vanilla Extract

Cream Cheese Filling
Ingredients
8 oz Cream Cheese- softened
1/2 Cup Sugar
2 Eggs
2 Tablespoons all purpose flour

Preheat Oven to 350°, grease and flour bread and/or muffin pans
1. Beat cream cheese and sugar until smooth and creamy. Add eggs one at a time and beat until incorporated. Stir in the flour until smooth and set aside.
2. In a medium bowl whisk the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg.
3. In another large bowl whisk the eggs. Stir in sugar and butter until blended. Stir in the pumpkin, water, vanilla extract, and pecans until blended.
4. Add the flour mixture into the pumpkin mixture until just combined. Do not over stir or the bread will be tough.
5. Place a quarter of the batter in the bottom of a greased and floured bread pan and another quarter in a greased a floured muffin pan or another bread pan. Place a layer of the cream cheese filling into each. Top each off with the remaining batter.
6. Bake the bread 60 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. For muffins bake about 30-35 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
7. Let cool on a wire rack for about 10 minutes before removing from pans.

Honey Butter:
Ingredients
4 Tablespoons unsalted butter- room temperature
1-1/2 Tablespoons butter
3/4 teaspoon Cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon Nutmeg

Stir all ingredients together until blended.