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.

Very Berry Healthy Muffins

Story of my life....my eyes were bigger than my stomach when I was at the grocery store. I also can't pass up a good value. I found myself with 2 containers of blueberries, 2 pints of strawberries, and a bag of cherries with 2 days before leaving for Door County for the weekend. I decided to peruse the net for a good muffin recipe that I could freeze for a later date. I came across this Berry Almond Quick Bread recipe that worked beautifully. I had all the ingredients on hand (as long as I took advantage of the 'tips' within the recipe) and made it even healthier by substituting apple sauce for the canola oil. I only used cherries and blueberries because I had more than enough, but maybe next time I'll add some strawberries. These muffins also gave me the chance to try out my new crate and barrel muffin pans before my cupcake extravaganza the next day (I'll post about that shortly). I will definitely make these again as I have been enjoying them for breakfast (and snacks) all week. I still have half of them in the freezer, but will surely take them out for my guests that are coming to town this weekend. Oh, and I'll definitely be investing in a cherry pitter before the next time I make these. Disregard this last statement if you're not a family member or someone who knows my Uncle Jack, but my hands looked like I finished skinning a deer (imagine his sign language here) by the time I was done.