Pumpkin Muffins with Cream Cheese Filling!

Pumpkin Muffins with Cream Cheese Filling!

Happy Halloween!

Here's a muffin that fits in with the season! (Unless you are in Los Angeles right now and experiencing huge Santa Ana winds and lots of heat).


Cidney the Girl Dog is going to be a Bumble Bee. Yes, there is even a little video. Yes, I'm obsessed. But let's move onto the muffin.


This muffin has pumpkin.
This muffin has cream cheese.
This muffin has a streusel topping.

What's not to love?

The muffin was moist, but I think I can get away with a smidgen less oil. Next time I'll try that and let you know.

These were really loved at my meeting...you should treat your co-workers to some!

Happy Halloween!



Pumpkin-Cream Cheese Streusel Muffins
Recipe from MyRecipes.com (Julia Dowling Rutland, Coastal Living, April 2013)

Cream Cheese Filling:
8 ounces cream cheese, softened (one block)
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup (100 grams) sugar

Streusel Topping:
1/2 cup (100 grams) sugar
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon cinnamon
4 Tablespoons butter, cold

Muffins:
1 3/4 cups sugar
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 Tablespoon pumpkin pie spice (original recipe: 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon, 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves, 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg)
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
3 large eggs, lightly beaten
1 (15-ounce) can pumpkin (not pumpkin pie filling)
1 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup milk (I used low-fat milk)

1. Preheat oven to 375°. Prep muffin tins with paper liners - this recipe makes 24 muffins.
2. Cream cheese filling: Mix together cream cheese, vanilla extract, and 1/2 cup sugar in a medium bowl. Set aside.
3. Streusel topping: Combine 1/2 cup sugar, 1/3 cup flour, and 1 teaspoon cinnamon in a small bowl. Using a pastry blender or a fork, cut in the butter until large crumbs form. Place in refrigerator until needed.
4. Muffins: In a large bowl, whisk together 3 cups flour, 1 3/4 cups sugar, pumpkin pie spice, baking soda, and salt. In a medium bowl, whisk together eggs, pumpkin, oil, and milk. Fold egg/pumpkin mixture into flour mixture until just moist. Don't overmix!
5. Spoon batter muffin pan, 1/2 way to top. Dollop about 1 tablespoon cream cheese mixture in center of batter (I used a small cookie scoop), and top evenly with remaining batter until muffin is 3/4 full. Sprinkle top with streusel mixture.
6. Bake 20 to 23 minutes until toothpick comes out clean. Remove from pans; cool on a wire rack.

Pumpkin Cupcake with Maple Cream Cheese Frosting

Pumpkin Cupcake with Maple Cream Cheese Frosting

Oh, Pumpkin. The best time of the year.
Well, until Peppermint season comes around.
So, let's enjoy pumpkin season with these "Pumpkin Snack Cake baked in Cupcake cups and topped with Maple Cream Cheese Frosting." Kinda a long name, but that's what this is. It's not a true cupcake (which I feel should be lighter) - it's has a denser consistency. Not that that's bad! I love snack cakes...thus, with the muffin/snack cake texture, this is perfect 24 hours/day - including breakfast!

This cake uses a whole can of pumpkin - very pumpkin-y flavor. I've made it as a snack cake, but the cupcakes are easy to bake and serve. And they look all pretty!

The recipe is adapted from Everyday Food from the Martha Stewart empire (I really miss this cooking magazine) and it was baked on the PBS Everyday Food show back in the day.

The consistency is more snack cake/muffin. I like that in a pumpkin cake - you should taste and feel the pumpkin!

I made a Maple Syrup Cream Cheese Frosting. The original recipe had honey but I used maple syrup instead and added some powdered sugar to stiffen it so it was "pipeable" (that's totally a word, right?)

A lot of non-bakers don't believe me, but it is so much faster to pipe frosting with a big tip than spread it with a butter knife or offset spatula. I use disposable plastic piping bags and that makes it super easier.

As you can see, I'm kinda crazy about pumpkin and Trader Joe's is too! Have you tried the Pumpkin O's? I'm addicted. And that Pumpkin Brittle? OMG. So good. To tell the you truth, I was going to break off pieces of the brittle and put it on the frosting...but I didn't want to use all the brittle! (sorry co-workers). I love the Pop-Tarts and Pumpkin Butter every year. Oh, and the Pumpkin Mochi Ice Cream? YUM. The Pita Crisps aren't life changing - I'm going to skip them next time. I haven't tried the soup yet.

Celebrate Pumpkin Season by making these pumpkin treats!

Pumpkin Cupcake with Maple Cream Cheese Frosting
Adapted from: Everyday Food Pumpkin Spice Cake with Honey Frosting

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted
2 1/2 cups (350 grams) all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon pumpkin-pie spice (I used Trader Joe's Pumpkin Pie Spice). The original recipe says you can also use: 1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon, 3/4 teaspoon ginger, 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg, and 1/8 teaspoon each allspice and cloves)
2 large eggs
1 1/2 cups (300 grams) sugar
1 can (15 ounces) solid-pack pumpkin puree (I used Trader Joe's organic pumpkin puree)

Frosting
1 stick (4 ounces or 1/2 cup) butter, softened
1 block (8 ounces) cream cheese, softened
1 cup powdered sugar
3 Tablespoons maple syrup

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Prep muffin tin with liners. I got 17 muffins from this recipe. (Original recipe bakes in a 9-inch square pan).
2. In a large, whisk together flour, baking soda, salt, and spices.
3. In a medium, whisk together eggs, sugar, butter, and pumpkin puree until combined.
4. Fold together the wet and dry ingredients until combined. Don't overmix.
5. Fill muffin cups. I use an ice cream scoop.
6. Bake until a toothpick inserted in center of cake comes out clean. 25-30 minutes. Cool completely before frosting.

Frosting
1. In a mixer with paddle attachment, cream the butter and cream cheese together until well blended.
2. Add maple syrup and powdered sugar and blend until smooth.
3. Pipe or spread on the cupcakes.

Pumpkin Sheet Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

Pumpkin Sheet Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

I saw these Pumpkin Bars on Kitchen Runway's blog and knew they would be a perfect into to autumn foods. This recipe is super easy - it's like a Texas Sheet Cake (one of my favorite treats to make) but with Pumpkin and Cream Cheese Frosting.

Be sure to read Kitchen Runway's post...you'll see who got a little bite of the cake! :)

Baked in a half-sheet pan, it cooks quickly. You'll need to cool the cake before frosting (unlike the Texas Sheet Cake that has a warm frosting poured over a warm cake).

The resulting cake is soft and light. You can eat this for breakfast, lunch and dinner. And why wouldn't you do that? ;)

It's Fall. It's also Time for Dodger Baseball! I'm here shouting: GO DODGERS!

The Dodgers always hold a special place in my heart, since they've been my hometown team forever. It's an exciting time for the team, especially after the years of terrible Frank McCourt ownership. Go Dodgers!

I love my offset spatula. It's a must-have in the kitchen. I have a bunch of them (bought a few at the restaurant supply place for the kid's cake decorating party), and use them all the time.

Updated: I also made this in a 9 x 13 pan. You'll get a taller cake, and baking time is about 30 minutes.

Pumpkin Sheet Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting
Adapted from Kitchen Runway who adapted Paula Deen's recipe.
I reduced the amount of sugar and used a pumpkin pie spice blend instead of cinnamon and nutmeg.

Cake:
4 large eggs
1 1/2 cups (300 grams) sugar
1 cup (200 grams by weight) canola oil
15 ounces pumpkin puree (not pumpkin pie mix)
1 teaspoon vanilla

2 cups (280 grams) all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 Tablespoon pumpkin pie spice (I used Trader Joe's Pumpkin Pie Spice that has cinnamon, ginger, lemon peel, nutmeg, cloves and cardamon)
1 teaspoon salt

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Butter and flour or spray with Pam with Flour a half-sheet tray (18" x 13")
2. In a large bowl, whisk together the eggs, sugar, oil, pumpkin pie puree, and vanilla.
3. In a medium bowl, mix together the flour, baking powder & soda, spices and salt.
4. Slowly add the flour mixture into the pumpkin. Stir to combine until completely blended.
5. Pour into tray and spread evenly in pan.
6. Bake for 20 minutes until toothpick inserted into cake comes out clean.
7. Place on wire rack and let cool.

Frosting:
8 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, room temperature
2 cups (6 ounces) sifted powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla

1. Using a mixer with paddle attachment or an electric mixture, blend the cream cheese and butter together until smooth.
2. Gradually add the powdered sugar.
3. Add the vanilla. Blend until complete mixed.
4. Using an offset spatula, spread frosting over cooled cake.

Lemon Meringue Cupcakes - Martha Stewart Cupcake Club

For this month's Martha Stewart's Cupcake Club, Megan from My Baking Adventures chose Lemon Meringue Cupcakes on page 142 of Martha's book: Martha Stewart's Cupcake Book

I made half the recipe in minis (about 48 cupcakes). My torch was unavailable (don't ask) and my whisk was missing (again, don't ask). So I opted for a quick cream cheese frosting. I want to try them again with the proper meringue.

The combo of Meyer lemon zest and a dollop of lemon curd...delicious!

Be sure to check out the other Martha Stewart Cupcake Club members and their version of the recipe! I'm sure you'll see lots of yummy torched meringue!

P.S. On the Ides of March, I wish my friend Jun a happpppy birthday!

Recipe:
Martha Stewart's Cupcake Book: Lemon Meringue Cupcakes, page 142

The Martha Stewart Cupcake Club doesn't post the recipe, but you can find this one on Martha's website here. You can use WorldCat to see if your library has this book in their collection.

Pumpkin Patch Cupcakes - Martha Stewart's Cupcakes Club

For this month's Martha Stewart's Cupcakes Club, Kim from What the Whisk chose Pumpkin Patch Cupcakes on page 236 of Martha's fantastic book: Martha Stewart's Cupcake Book

Martha Stewart Cupcakes Club is a new club where members make one cupcake recipe per month.

I scored some canned pumpkin (you know you are in a baking community when your twitter feed is full of the Pumpkin Panic of 2009!) and made 1/2 the recipe.

I made my own version of cream cheese frosting: 1 block (8 oz) cream cheese and 1 1/4 cup powdered sugar.

I thought the cupcake was not dense like a pumpkin bread and pretty light on the pumpkin flavor. However, I only had a bite and it was right out of the oven...so the flavors might not have settled down yet.

Martha, oh Martha. I'm so not in your world. She (well, her staff) leave us instructions to make our own marzipan pumpkins to place on top. Um, yeah...I'm just not a marzipan decorating kinda gal. I love me marzipan, but I'm not crafty enough to shape my own mini-pumpkins (and I just don't have the time). I'm just saying that the great Pumpkin shortage includes handcrafted marzipan pumpkins. I sprinkled some orange jimmies on top and saved myself about 10 hours of work. Whew!

By the way, come back to visit on Saturday. I'm starting a crazy, I-hope-I-can-do-this baking project. For those who know me...it will involve my beloved Bundt pan. - mary

Recipe:
Martha Stewart's Cupcake Book: Pumpkin Patch Cupcakes, page 236

The Martha Stewart Cupcakes Club doesn't post the recipe. You can use WorldCat to see if your library has it in their collection.

Be sure to check out the other Martha Stewart Cupcakes Club members and their version of the recipe! I'm sure some bakers were marzipan artists!

Zucchini-Spice Cupcakes - Martha Stewart's Cupcake Club

For this month's Martha Stewart Cupcake Club, Tracey from Tracey's Culinary Adventures chose Zucchini-Spice Cupcakes on pages 44 of Martha's fantastic book: Martha Stewart's Cupcake Book. Tracey is the most awesome baker, cook, and all around nice person! I love her! Go visit her blog!

Martha Stewart Cupcake Club is a new baking club started by Sugar B of Eat My Cupcake and we are going to make one cupcake recipe per month (or more!) Check it out on the new website here.

I made this recipe earlier with a simply glaze, but this time I made it with the recommended Cream Cheese Frosting. It was the first recipe I made from this book, and it's a winner! I was very happy to make it again as I still had lots of zucchini hanging out in the veggie drawer.

The recipe calls for a boatload of cream cheese frosting. I made 1/2 the cupcake recipe and about 1/4 of the frosting recipe. Me thinks Martha and her crew love the frosting way more than me. :)

Be sure to check out the other Martha Stewart Cupcake Club members and their version of the recipe! And be sure to make this tasty treat! (The cupcake is dairy free but the cream cheese frosting...well, is not!)

Recipe:
Martha Stewart's Cupcake Book: Zucchini-Spice Cupcakes, page 44
Note: The Martha Stewart Cupcake Club doesn't post the recipe. You can use WorldCat to see if your library has it in their collection (hey, I need to put the Librarian in the Food Librarian sometimes! :)

Espresso Cheesecake Brownies - Tuesdays with Dorie

For this week's Tuesdays with Dorie selection, Melissa of Life in a Peanut Shell chose Espresso Cheesecake Brownies, page 104 of Dorie's book, Baking: From My Home to Yours.

I baked this week's entry early this morning before my first (and hopefully only) day of jury duty. It has been too hot in Los Angeles to cook any other time. I am now starting this post using my iPod Touch and free WiFi at the courthouse...how do you iPhone people manage this keyboard?! My finger is cramping, I keep hitting the wrong letters, and oh my gosh, I'm getting motion sick seeing those letters pop out at me. (I have an LG Envy phone and it has a "raised" touchable QWERTY keyboard that I can use without looking. Um, I need to be schooled by my iPhone peeps or eventually forget getting the iPhone and pick up the Blackberry.)

Swirl the brownie batter with the espresso cheesecake batter before baking

I skipped the sour cream topping and don't really have a review because I can't eat them...dairy is pretty much a foe of mine now. I'm crazy not happy about that. Sadly, I now chew (to check if I accidentally used salt instead of sugar and to check the texture) and then I spit it out. Sigh. However, the flavors I did get were pretty tasty!! :)

...Back home now for lunch, shoot some photos and post this entry (using a real computer keyboard! :) I am crossing my fingers I don't get picked during the second session of jury duty. They haven't called anyone yet and there are over 100 of us reading, surfing the net, and dozing off. Los Angeles County uses a one trial or one day system...so if I can just make it to 5 pm...

Be sure to check out the other Tuesdays with Dorie bakers!

Recipe:
Melissa's Life in a Peanut Shell blog post has the recipe
Dorie's awesome book, Baking: From My Home to Yours (just buy it, you'll love it), page 104.

Cream Cheese Pound Cake with Lime Glaze in a Rose Bundt - Williams Sonoma

Dear George Clooney,

Hi. You don't really know me, but I've known you from the days of Facts of Life. Detective Falconer on Sisters? My UCLA roommate and I planned our weekends around Sisters. When you got killed off? Oh, the pain and heartache. But then there was a little show called ER. Happiness again.

Anyway, I'm just saying I'm not a Johnny come lately girl. Um...unlike your recent cocktail waitress flings, I was actually alive when you started your career. Just saying...experience is a good thing.

So, if you do happen to finally realize that you really need a librarian and baker in your Italian villa...I'm here. And if you want to send me flowers, I'd like a bouquet of Rose Bundts. Like you being named People Magazine's Sexiest Man Alive (twice!!!), this Nordic Ware pan is totally the Sexiest Bundt Alive!

I made the William Sonoma's Cream Cheese Pound Cake with Lime Glaze. I don't know what happened, but I must have over beat the wet ingredients into a tizzy or something. By the time I slowly mixed in the dry ingredients, it was practically coming out of the KitchenAid bowl. Since the recipe was made to fit into the pan, I just threw in all the batter. Mistake. Luckily, I had some parchment in the oven to catch the overflow. So, note to self: don't over beat and don't overfill! :)

Isn't this sooooo pretty?

Enjoy this lovely pound cake with lime glaze. You can also use lemon as JustJenn does in her adaptation.

Recipe:
From Williams Sonoma: Cream Cheese Pound Cake with Lime Glaze

Cherry Cheesecake Tart - You Want Pies with That?

I need to check my birth certificate. I think my middle name is actually "Procrastination."

It's Sunday night...the Lakers just won Game 2 of the NBA Championship (whoo hoo!) and my pie is finally in the oven. And, of course, it is due in a few hours. I also spent the morning at Disney's California Adventure with UCLA friend, Barbara...and got my personal best on Toy Story Mania with 176,100 points...however, I just watched this youtube video of hints and discovered the high point Easter eggs. Next time, I'm going over 200K :)

This month's theme for You Want Pies with That? is "Childhood Favorite Pie" by Ellen at Kittymama. Ellen couldn't join us this month because she has very exciting happenings in her life...in fact, check her blog for details of how she is going to create wonderful childhood memories for a beautiful little sweetheart!

Childhood Memory Pie: Bake a pie or tart that is inspired by a favorite childhood memory. Maybe you spent a summer vacation in Maine so it's a blueberry pie; or your grandmother always baked lemon meringue, or you remember your first taste of apple pie ever. Tell us a little story that will help us walk down memory lane with you and relive some happy childhood memories!

Um. Memories.
Let me describe myself using some Disney terms.

I am Dory from Finding Nemo. I speak whale and can't remember anything.

However, I did reach way way back and found two childhood food-related memories: graham crackers and cherries.

I remember eating graham crackers for snack at "Preschool in the Park" (it was actually held in a park). And I remember seeing a photo of my brother and I holding a big box of fresh picked cherries. Now, I don't remember going out and PICKING the cherries, but I remember my mom showing me the photo and telling me that we went cherry picking someplace in Los Angeles or the surrounding counties. Pretty pathetic memory, but, like I said...I'm Dory.

This pie is a variation of Tyler Florence's Lemon Blueberry Cheesecake Bars. I made the original before (very yummmmy!), and switched it up for this challenge.

I used a 9" tart shell, omitted the lemon zest, and used 1 cup pitted and halved fresh cherries on top. Baking time remained the same. It's a great tart for those times when you don't want a 3" tall chunk of cream cheese but all the flavor. Original recipe: Lemon Blueberry Cheesecake Bars by Tyler Florence

Please be sure to check out the other creative You Want Pies with That? bakers!! Whew! 11:45 pm and I got it in! Good night!

Sky-High Chai Cake with Honey-Ginger Cream (The Cake Slice Bakers)

Chai Cake with Honey-Ginger Cream

For this month's The Cake Slice Bakers selection, we voted to make Chai Cake! I made this cake right after I got the fantastic book, Sky-High Cakes by Alisa Huntsman (see post here) and was delighted to make it again. It was a fan favorite at the library back then, and it continues to be one of my absolute favorites. It's on page 152 of the Sky-High Cake book and I'm sure you can find the recipe on other Cake Slice Baker's blogs.

Last time, I used regular Chai tea and gave away the extra tea bags because I don't drink caffeine (I get headaches). So this time I picked up decaf Chai at Fresh & Easy so I could enjoy the extra tea bags!

Next time (of course there will be a next time! I love this cake!), I'm thinking of trying the Good Earth Sweet and Spicy tea that you can pick up at Trader Joe's. I think that combo of spices will be delicious as well! :)

Topped with a honey, ginger, cream cheese frosting...all made in the food processor. That is brilliant! True to the name of the book, this cake is SKY-HIGH. Three 8-inch layers...I hope it doesn't topple over in the car on the way to work! :)

Thanks Alisa for writing such a fantastic book! If you don't have it yet, please, please pick it up - you won't be disappointed! Check out the other Cake Slice Bakers!

P.S. Today is the last day to enter my 5 giveaways for National Library Week. See the five posts below! Good luck and please check out your local library! :)

National Library Week Day 5 with Sprinkles' Strawberry Cupcakes, Cinnamon Blueberry Muffins and Hello Kitty Giveaway

Whew! It's the last day of National Library Week!

I made Sprinkles' Strawberry Cupcakes with a strawberry cream cheese frosting. I missed the farmer's market and used frozen strawberries to make the puree. I think fresh would have given more of a strawberry punch.

I didn't make the Sprinkles' frosting on Martha's website because I wanted to incorporate cream cheese. The frosting was 1 block cream cheese (8 ounces), 1/2 stick butter, 3 cups powdered sugar, 3 T strawberry puree.

I also made some Cinnamon Blueberry Muffins (recipe from July 2006/Gourmet on Epicurious). See those brown cupcake holders? Well, you can win a package of them that I picked up at Surfas. How many in that package? 600. Yes, six-hundred. That's a zillion of those little packs you get from the grocery store. If you should win, I hope you either make a ton of cupcakes and muffins or share with others!

Some people have asked if I'm eating all these baked goods myself...oh no! Reason #100293 why the library is a great place...it has lots of hungry co-workers who eat lots of desserts! And yes, this does generate a bunch of goodwill at work. ;)

Today's library thing...programs! Do you like knitting? watching movies? local history? genealogy? selling everything you own on eBay? Perhaps your library has a program about your favorite hobby or interest. Libraries today are reaching out to the community with a plethora of programs for kids, teens, adults and seniors. Most people know about storytime for kids, but did you know that a chess club might be meeting at the library as well? Or a seminar on identity theft? Check out your library's website for a listing of programs and opportunities. You might be surprised that it isn't just storytime anymore!

Here is today's language lesson: kawaii (ka - wa- EEEEeeeee) is the Japanese word for cute. Since I'm Japanese American, I'm genetically drawn to all things cute. (So that probably explains my obsession with the miniature treats!)

And what is more kawaii than Hello Kitty?! For today's giveaway, you can win a Hello Kitty stationery pack with 5 different papers and envelopes, candies, pencils and eraser. (Librarian Action Figure and rice (!!) not included)

To celebrate my last day of National Library Week Day 5, I'm giving away the following to one lucky winner:
a. Hello Kitty Assortment of kawaii stationery and candy
b. 600 (six-hundred!!!) brown cupcake holders (2 inch standard)
c. Handmade beaded bookmark (designed by the Food Librarian!)
d. Disneyland book bag

600 pretty brown cupcake holders from Surfas (Librarian Action Figure not included)

This is your last chance to win! To enter the Day 5 Giveaway, simply leave a comment below (one entry per person) and I'll pick the winner from a hat. Deadline: Monday, April 20, 2009 at midnight PDT. If your comment isn't linked to a blog where I can find you, please leave your email or check back on Tuesday, April 21st to see if you won. Shipping to U.S. addresses only.

Don't forget to enter the daily giveaways to celebrate National Library Week!
Day 1 Giveaway for mini-cake pans, Day 2 Giveaway for mini-loaf pans, Day 3 Giveaway for Trader Joe's Favorites, and Day 4 Giveaway for mini-tart pans. Deadline for all giveaways is Monday, April 20, 2009!

Thank you for visiting my little blog and celebrating National Library Week with me!!! I really enjoyed hearing your library stories - Jen F. cracked me up with: We love ours not only for my crazy book habit, but also for the DVDs for my son--it's a great way to keep up with his ever-changing interests, and as a bonus, we get to get rid of the really annoying DVDs after a week!

Special thanks to my co-workers who loaned me their Librarian Action Figure (Patty, Susan, Andrea, Karen, Jessica and Sue), and my friends who helped make the bookmarks (Agnes, Julie and Sumi)!

Whew. I'm exhausted. Good thing this is only once a year!

What are you still doing here? Get out there and visit your library! :) - mary the food librarian