adapted from Brown Eyed Baker

For the Cream Cheese Filling:
4 ounces cream cheese, softened to room temperature
½ cup powdered sugar
1½ teaspoons vanilla extract

For the Streusel:
½ cup all-purpose flour
1/3 cup granulated sugar
¼ cup pecans, roughly chopped
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

For the Muffins:
1½ cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
½ teaspoon ground nutmeg
½ teaspoon ground cloves
½ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup canned pumpkin
5 ounces (½ cup + 2 tablespoons) vegetable oil
½ teaspoon vanilla extract



First, make the cream cheese filling. In a medium bowl, stir together the cream cheese and confectioners sugar until smooth. Add the vanilla and stir to combine thoroughly. Form the mixture into a 12-inch log on a piece of plastic wrap, wrap it, and freeze for at least 2 hours. NOTE: My cream cheese filling did not freeze solid. It was still pretty soft and mushy after several hours. If you want it more solid (potentially a tad easier to work with), you might need a longer freezing time.



Preheat the oven to 350F. Line a standard or mini-muffin tin with paper liners and set aside.

Make the pecan streusel: In a medium bowl, combine all streusel ingredients with a fork. Set aside.

Whisk together the flour, pumpkin pie spice, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, baking soda and salt in a large bowl. In a smaller bowl, whisk together the sugar, pumpkin, eggs, oil, and vanilla. Pour the pumpkin mixture over the dry ingredients and gently combine using a rubber spatula. Mix just until the ingredients are moistened.

Remove the cream cheese log from the freezer and slice into 12 1-inch slices for regular sized muffins, or 24 1/2-inch slices for mini-muffins.

Scoop a small amount of pumpkin batter into the muffin cups. Place one slice of the cream cheese filling in the center of each cup, then fill muffin cup with remaining batter. Sprinkle pecan streusel on top of each muffin. Press the struesel lightly to make sure it sticks to the batter.

Bake until golden, about 20-25 minutes for regular sized muffins, 18-22 minutes for mini-muffins. Cool in the pan for 5 minutes and then remove muffins to a cooling rack to cool completely. Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator. Let muffins come to room temperature before serving.

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