Pumpkin Cheesecake Bites

It's that pumpkin season that everyone so adores.  To celebrate?  Other than our favorite ermahgerd girl?? 

How about some pumpkin cheesecake bites?  Now, if you're like me, you might not be a huge cheesecake person, but give these a chance.  They are AMAZE BALLS.  F'realz.

Ingredients:
15 oz canned pumpking (not pie, just pumpkin)
3 eggs
1/2 C brown sugar
2 T cream
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 C granulated sugar
1 T cornstarch
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp ginger
1/2 tsp salt
1.5 lbs cream cheese (room temp)
Ingredients (crust):
2 sleeves of graham crackers (18 crackers)
1 stick butter, melted
1/4 C sugar
* whipped cream to top

Directions:
1. Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees
2. In a large bowl, crush the graham crackers (or process them to make it easier). Add sugar and melted butter and mix well.  Press into a parchment lined pan and bake for 5 minutes until toasty.
3. Reduce oven temp to 325 degrees.
4. Mix together pumpkin, eggs, brown sugar, cream, and vanilla in a large bowl.
5. In a separate bowl, beat together cream cheese, sugar, cornstarch, cinnamon, nutmeg, salt, and ginger.  Beat until light and fluffy.
6. Slowly pour in pumpkin mixture.  Continue beating until smooth and no lumps remain.
7. Pour batter onto cooked crust and bake for 50 minutes or until edges begin to pull away from the side of the pan.
8. Cool completely before removing from pan, then cut into small squares and top with whipped cream.

It's getting cheesy!

Take a selection of your favorite cheeses...  Then use a couple of cookie cutters...

Then make a wreath!!

Cream Cheese Filled Pumpkin Muffins!

 Okay.  Fall and I had a face off and I lost.  We were doing so well with sunny, warm days, that I lived in denial of where it might all be going.  Then, for the past two days, it's been chilly for about 22 hours of the day, then gorgeous for two, late in the afternoon.  Made me feel like a sweatshirt.


And pumpkin muffins.


I have an awesome friend back home, Kara, who makes pumpkin muffins with a cream cheese frosting - to die for!

I have a friend out here, Megan, who just posted this idea for cream cheese filled muffins, and I thought that might be just what I was craving!


I turned to Google, and food.com gave me this recipe.  Sounded good, but I didn't want to make the muffins from scratch, so I grabbed the Pillsbury box and followed the muffin recipe.

Then I made the filling.  SO EASY!!

 Egg yolk, bar of cream cheese, and 2T of sugar.

Beat until it looks amazing.  Like this!!

It's a very firm filling, so it's easy to scoop up a teaspoonful and drop it into the center of your muffins.

(yes, I used way to much Pam, but the cannister was nearly empty, so it was very hit or miss!!)

Now, this is where I'd stray from the recipe a bit.

If it had been up to me, I would have filled it half way, placed the spoonful of stuffing (don't let it touch the paper), then put more pumpkin on top.

I did push it down a bit, and it did bake up around it, but when it was warm, the cream cheese fell and left little divots in the tops of my muffins.

Ugh. More on that later!

So, once everything looks all pretty, you make the crumble topping.  Use 2T of softened butter, 4T of flour, 4T of sugar, and 1/2 t of cinnamon. 

Then just use a fork (or knife) to cut the butter until it's well mixed.

Just sprinkle on the goodness, completely covering the muffins, and bake according to the box directions.  (About 18 minutes at 400).



Turned out amazing, although you can kind of see where the cream cheese is sinking in.

That's the money shot!