Pumpkin, Round 2: Pumpkin Cream Cheese Muffins

Well, the pumpkin granola was only Part I. In reality, I had my eyes set out on using up that last can of pumpkin pie filling (not puree) waiting patiently in the pantry with a recipe I found on Libby's website, Pumpkin Granola Muffins. Since I had also needed to get rid of the extra puree leftover from the pumpkin cookies, the granola was a two-fer: it used up the puree and also produced the granola that I needed for the pumpkin muffins!

While I was at it, I figured I would try to adapt the recipe to make those oh-so-popular Starbucks copycat-recipe cream cheese pumpkin muffins. So I found a filling recipe to use and then added a bit of espresso powder to the muffin batter to pay homage to the pumpkin spice latte muffin recipes I've also seen lately. 

These muffins were moist and had good texture from the granola, and the creamy ribbon of cream cheese running through the muffin was a great complement. Although it's a lot of steps, the recipe makes a lot of muffins (24), which is great for sharing and having enough left over to stash in the freezer for breakfasts!

 
Pumpkin Latte Granola Muffins with Cream Cheese (adapted from a combo of Libby's, Annie's Eats, and Baking Bites)

Ingredients:
8 ounces cream cheese, softened
1 cup confectioner's sugar

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 & 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
3/4 cup granulated sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice (see here for a recipe)
1 tablespoon instant espresso powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups granola

1 30-ounce can Libby's Easy Pumpkin Pie Mix (NOT puree)
2 large eggs or 1/2 cup egg substitute
1/2 cup light-flavored oil (such as canola or light olive oil)

Instructions:
Combine the cream cheese and confectioner's sugar in a medium bowl and mix until well blended. Scrape the mixture onto a piece of plastic wrap and form a log, wrapping tight and reinforcing with a layer of foil; freeze for at least 2 hours until at least slightly firm. If you don't have 2 hours, throw the whole bowl in the freezer and keep it there as long as you can before using, preferably at least 1/2 hour.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Arrange 2 oven racks to upper and lower thirds of the oven. Line 2 standard muffin trays with 24 paper cups, or grease the trays.

In a large bowl, whisk together the flours, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, pumpkin pie spice, espresso, and salt. Stir in granola. In another bowl, whisk together the pumpkin pie mix, eggs, and oil. Pour pumpkin mixture into flour mixture and fold until just moistened. 

Take cream cheese mixture out of freezer. If you had time to do the logs, cut the log into 24 evenly sized pieces. If cream cheese was chilled in the bowl, use 1 rounded teaspoon for each muffin to start. Fill muffin cups half full (~2 tablespoons), then add cream cheese to each cup, and lastly top each with more muffin batter to cover. I found using a tiny cookie scoop for the cream cheese and a medium scoop for the muffin batter worked really well. Use a wooden skewer to tease the batter to the edge of each cup, covering the cream cheese entirely. 

Place one muffin tray on each oven rack and bake at 400 degrees for 15-17 minutes, rotating the two pans at the mid-way point. A wooden skewer should come out clean for muffin batter, although may have a bit of cream cheese smeared on. Cool in pan for 5-10 minutes, then transfer muffins to wire rack to cool completely. Serve on the same day or else freeze in airtight bag/container for future consumption.