Pumpkin Cheesecake Muffins

Hi Friends!

I made these Muffins on Saturday (The First Day of Fall Y'all!!), and they are SOOOOOO tasty! Seriously, I got one picture of them and when I went back to take some more pictures, they were gone. Poof! Gone! 

Pumpkin Cheesecake Goodness

About the Recipe: the original recipe can be found here, but I like to make recipes healthier so I've modified it replacing the vegetable oil with applesauce and I cut the white flour and added in the whole wheat. 

If this is your first time working with whole wheat flour, be warned that whole wheat anything doesn't tend to rise very much.  There's a scientific reason for this, but I won't bore you with that.. Just know that muffins (or bread or cookies or cupcakes or cake..) made with WW flour will never rise up the way white flour does.

Pumpkin Cheesecake Muffins
Makes: About 45 mini muffins (12 regular)

For the filling:

• 8 oz. Fat Free cream cheese, softened
• 1 large egg
• 1 tbsp flour
• 1 cup confectioners’ sugar

For the muffins:

• 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
•  3/4 c + 2 tbsp whole wheat flour
• 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp. ground nutmeg
• 1/4 tsp. ground cloves
• 1 tbsp
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1/2 tsp. baking soda
• 2 large eggs
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 cup pumpkin puree
• 1/2 cup applesauce

For the topping:

• 1/4 cup sugar
• 2 1/2 tbsp. flour
• 3/4 tsp. ground cinnamon
• 2tbsp. cold unsalted butter, cut into pieces

Directions:

1. To prepare the filling, combine the cream cheese, egg, flour and confectioners’ sugar in a medium bowl and mix well until blended and smooth. Set aside.
2. To make the muffins, preheat the oven to 350˚ F. Line muffin pans with paper liners. In a medium bowl, combine the flours, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, pumpkin pie spice, salt and baking soda; whisk to blend. In the bowl of an electric mixer combine the eggs, sugar, pumpkin puree and oil. Mix on medium-low speed until blended. With the mixer on low speed, add in the dry ingredients, mixing just until incorporated. DON'T OVER MIX! The whole wheat flour is already dense, and over mixing makes it even more so.
3. To make the topping, combine the sugar, flour and cinnamon in a small bowl; whisk to blend. Add in the butter pieces and cut into the dry ingredients with a pastry blender or two forks until the mixture is coarse and crumbly. Transfer to the refrigerator until ready to use.
4. To assemble the muffins, fill each muffin about 2/3 full with batter. Add a dollop of filling on top. I used an ice cream scoop for batter, and a tbsp sized "cookie" scoop for the cheesecake filling. Sprinkle with topping. Bake for 16-18 minutes. Cool on wire rack (or don't!) and Enjoy!!