Chocolate Chip Cheesecake Pumpkin Muffins

I love the combinations of cream cheese and pumpkin or cream cheese and carrot cake.  Recently I've seen a few recipes online for muffins or cupcakes with those ingredients.  So, I had to try out our favorite pumpkin bread recipe paired with a cream cheese filling that I've used with cupcakes


Chocolate Chip Cheesecake Pumpkin Muffins
First, make the cream cheese filling:
1 (8 oz.) pkg. cream cheese
1/3 cup sugar
1 egg
1/8 tsp. salt
1 cup mini chocolate chips
Soften the cream cheese and beat it with the other ingredients until you have a fluffy filling.  Set this aside while you make the batter.

To make a batch of Pumpkin Bread batter you will need the following ingredients:
1 small can pumpkin (1½ cups)
½ cup water
3 eggs
¾ cups oil
2 ¼ cups sugar
¾ tsp. nutmeg
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. salt
1½ tsp. baking soda
2¼ cup + 2 Tb. flour
Mix wet, then dry ingredients. Fill paper lined muffin tins 1/2 way with a small scoop of batter.  Place a small teaspoon of cream cheese filling in each cup.  {This recipe made 30 muffins.}

Bake at 350° for about 19-20 minutes. Remove and cool on a wire rack.  Store in the refrigerator--eat cold or warm!

Tiffany's Notes: These turned out great!  I was disappointed that the filling didn't sink to the middle of the muffins--it basically covered the top like a frosting or cheesecake layer.  But, it still tasted great and worked!  If you wanted it more in the middle you could layer it into your muffin tins--a bit of batter, a small spoonful of filling, and a bit more batter.  {I'm thinking it's the consistency of the batter that allows the filling to sink or keeps the cream cheese on top?}

They were done after baking about 20 minutes in my oven--you certainly want them cooked and not doughy, but the cheesecake layer will still look a little bit moist. 

I did substitute some Penzey's Cake Spice instead of using the nutmeg and cinnamon in the recipe.  (Their "Cake Spice" is a blend of cinnamon, star anise, nutmeg, allspice, ginger, and cloves.)

We ate these for breakfast, but you certainly could use them for a dessert!  {Actually, I ate them for breakfast and lunch and then another one for breakfast this morning!}

The original pumpkin bread recipe was double the listed amount (made with a large can of pumpkin).  That's why there are odd amounts of flour listed.  A double recipe of that Pumpkin Bread makes about 4 or 5 large loaves. 

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