Easy Pumpkin Cheesecake Muffins

By gtbalm

The perfect combination of spicy pumpkin and creamy cheesecake married together in a bite-sized muffin. Make these for your next brunch, or even for a bite-size dessert!

Ingredients

• FILLING:
• 1 (15-ounce) can pumpkin puree
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil
• 2 large eggs
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 1 (8-ounce) package cream cheese, at room temperature
• 1 large egg yolk
• 5 tablespoons sugar
• 1/8 teaspoon vanilla extract
• Chopped nuts (walnuts, pecans) (optional)

Details

Servings 12
Preparation time 15mins
Cooking time 60mins
Adapted from instructables.com

Preparation

Step 1

Preheat oven to 350°F.

Mix pumpkin puree, oil, and sugar together, either by hand or with a mixer on low.
Add in eggs, one at a time, combining thoroughly after each. Add vanilla.

Blend together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and spices.

Slowly add flour mixture to liquids, combining thoroughly and scraping the sides of the bowl with a spatula until well combined.

MAKE THE FILLING:
Mix together cream cheese, sugar, egg yolk and vanilla until well combined.

Grease your muffin tins or line with paper cups. Drop in spoonfuls of pumpkin mixture. Add smaller spoonfuls of cream cheese mixture on top. Swirl with a skewer.

Bake as follows, turning the tins half way through baking times:
Mini muffins: 20-25 min
Standard muffins: 25-30 min
Jumbo muffins: 30-40 min

If you'd like, top with crushed nuts. Pumpkin seeds (pipits) also are a great topping to these pumpkin cheesecake muffins.