TWD: Filled Pumpkin Streusel Muffins

Sorry my TWD's have been nonexistent the last few weeks, life has been very busy in October and as such my baking life is not quite my own!

However, I was really excited about this week's TWD, chosen by Kelly of Sounding My Barbaric Gulp, which were the autumn-appropriate Pumpkin Muffins. For once, Dorie does not get overly creative with the name of what we are baking, because these are simply, Pumpkin Muffins.

But wait, they aren't. They are Pumpkin Muffins on steroids. They have nuts, raisins, and seeds. My kinda baked good! Of course I wanted to make them my way, so I used chopped pecans, topped them with a cinnamon sugar streusel, and then filled the baked & cooled muffins with a maple cream cheese frosting. I also ommitted the seeds on top to make room for the streusel, and plumped the raisins with my ab-fab fave raisin pairing, dark RUM!



I am heading off to Vegas for 4 days for work on Monday, and writing this post on Sunday so that my viewers will have something to look at come Tues morning, and I wanted to take these with me as a bday gift for a coworker. The filled 'muffin' (more cupcake style this way) is a perfect way to transport something soft and sweet, great timing!



These muffins are the bomb!! Seriously... I loved them. My husband ate 4 unfilled miniatures as soon as they were cool enough to the touch. I ate 2 miniatures as well. The consistency is wonderfully fluffy, and the pecans and soft rummy raisins really give them a flavor boost. You don't even need to fill them, but when you do, the maple and cream cheese makes them all the more decadent! Or go cupcake style and put it on TOP.



Maple Cream Cheese Frosting
4 tbls softened butter
1 package cream cheese
3-4c confectioners sugar
2 tblsp real maple syrup

Cream butter and cream cheese together. Add syrup and sugar to consistency desired. Will easily frost 12-15 cupcakes or fill a whole lotta muffins (I used a tiny bit from an already made batch and just added the syrup in!).

Thanks for a fab pick this week, Miss Kelly. I am really excited about next week's Choco Cupcakes chosen by one of my fave lady bloggers out there, Clara of IHeartCuppycakes!

Don't forget to check out all the TWD pumpkinny lovelies this week...there are 250+ peeps now so I will forgive you if you don't get to them all. See ya next week for cupcake time.