Day 27: Muffin Juice?

Still juicing, juicing juicing. But I haven't had the motivation to update! Very sorry to all 3 of you lovely, loyal readers who have been waiting for this, here it is at last!

I've lost a total of 22lbs by this point and I'm wearing some of my smaller clothes again. That of course thrills me, but not enough to make me continue to fast beyond this month! I have been working out steadily for the past two weeks and I plan to continue that, along with healthy food choices, and lose another 30lbs. 

MY JUICER BROKE! That is in all caps because I did indeed yell a lot when it happened. My handy husband super glued the broken bit back on only to have in break again within hours. Oh the frustration! This was on Day 23! My Dad was over the second time it broke and I might or might not have shed some tears right before his inner Daddy hero came out just in time to save the juice fast! He called a friend of his who owns a really snazzy juicer and was willing to let me borrow it as long as I needed to finish the fast. Praise God for good friends and great family!

Now on to these beautiful muffins! No, I did not eat one. But I'm wilting outside the kitchen and I really needed a challenge to distract myself from unwanted thoughts of food. Oddly, it is cooking that most relaxes me. These are made from scratch, but do not despair! I'm not a talented baker and I still pulled it off. 

Pumpkin Cheesecake Muffins

Raw

Cooked

Justin says they're delicious!

Ingredients:

For the filling:

8 oz. cream cheese, softened

1 cup confectioners’ sugar

¼ tsp vanilla extract

For the muffins:

3 cups all-purpose flour

1 tsp. ground cinnamon

1 tsp. ground nutmeg

1 tbsp. pumpkin pie spice

1 tsp. salt

1 tsp. baking soda

4 large eggs

2 cups sugar

2 cups pumpkin puree

1¼ cups vegetable oil

1 tsp vanilla extract

For the topping:

½ cup sugar

5 tbsp. flour

1½ tsp. ground cinnamon

4 tbsp. cold unsalted butter, cut into pieces

Directions:

For the filling, combine the cream cheese, vanilla  and confectioners’ sugar  in a medium bowl and mix well until blended and smooth.  Once blended, cover tightly with plastic wrap and chill in the refrigerator.

For the muffins, preheat the oven to 350˚ F, and line muffin pans with cupcake  liners.  In a medium bowl, combine the flour, 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 ,, vanilla and oil.  Mix on low speed until blended.  With the mixer on low speed, add in the dry ingredients, mixing just until incorporated.

For 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 knives until the mixture is coarse and crumbly.  Transfer to the refrigerator until ready to use.

To assemble the muffins, fill each muffin well with a small amount of batter, just enough to cover the bottom of the liner (2 tablespoons).  Spoon a tablespoon of the cream cheese mixture into the very center of each cup.  Divide the remaining batter among the cups, placing on top of the cream cheese to cover completely.  Sprinkle a tablespoon of the streusel mixture on top of each muffin.

Bake for 20-25 minutes.  Transfer to a wire rack and let cool completely before serving, the cream cheese filling will be very hot!

I did not write this recipe! I found it on Pinterest.com and only tweaked it a bit. Perfect fall treat and you don't even have to be a fan of pumpkin! 

Two tips: 

1.) Be generous, never stingy with the vanilla extract. 

2.) Use more than 8 ounces of cream cheese, it's better to have too much than not enough filling!