One step ahead of the Riot Crowd of Interested Parties

What? You want the recipe? Really?

Well, okay, here goes...

Gayle's Totally Decadent Pumpkin Muffins

Streusel Topping:
4 Tbsp flour
3 Tbsp sugar
2 Tbsp brown sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
3 Tbsp butter
1/4 cup chopped pecans

Cream Cheese Topping:
1 8oz package cream cheese
1 egg
3 Tbsp sugar
1 tsp vanilla

Muffin Batter:
2 1/2 cups flour
1 cup sugar
1 cup brown sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp ginger
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp cloves
1/2 tsp salt
2 eggs
1 1/3 cup pumpkin (I used homegrown*, canned will work, too)
1/3 cup vegetable oil
2 tsp vanilla

Preheat oven to 375F. Grease muffin pan, or use paper liners.

Streusel - In a small bowl, mix flour, sugars, butter, and cinnamon with a fork until crumbly. Stir in pecans.

Cream cheese layer - Beat cream cheese until soft. Add egg, sugar, and vanilla and beat until smooth.

Muffin batter - In a large bowl, mix together the dry ingredients. Make a well in the center, and add the pumpkin, eggs, oil, and vanilla. Stir just until combined.

Fill the muffin cups about 1/2 full of batter. (I use an ice cream scoop.) Plop a good tablespoon of cream cheese topping in the center, then sprinkle on a generous amount of streusel.

Bake at 375F for about 20 minutes, testing with a toothpick.

Note: you can skip the cream cheese layer if you don't have or like cream cheese. Just fill the muffin cups about 2/3 full of batter and sprinkle with streusel. An excellent muffin, either way.

I ended up with 24 cream cheese muffins, and 5 plain ones (when the cream cheese ran out.) These probably have about a gabillion calories each - be warned!

*My homegrown pumpkin was a little drier than commercial pumpkin, so I ended up adding a splash of milk to make the batter moist enough. YMMV.