Try finding pumpkin puree in the store right now. I dare you. No, you know what, I double dare you.

Okay, so maybe it’s not the hardest thing in the world, but many stores still don’t have it in stock, especially major super markets. Apparently Hurricane Irene destroyed some pumpkin farms along her path making them scarce this year, so if you do find canned pumpkin, stock up.

I searched high and low to find pumpkin puree this week, and when I finally called a local health food store and they said they had two cans left, I told them to keep guard of them until I got there. They did. Apparently, it’s not technically ‘in-season’ yet, which I happen to think is complete BS because once girls start wearing UGGs, it’s pumpkin season. I think the two go hand-in-hand, don’t you?

So I got my hands on two cans of organic pumpkin. Two cans of glorious, organic pumpkin which will be the base for the most amazing muffins I know how to bake. These are my favorite muffins to date and I will continue to make them year in and year out. They’re the perfect way to start the autumn season.

I made these muffins for the first time last year and got great reviews from family and friends. I decided to make them again this year and they were again a hit. They’re moist, filled with the perfect amount of cream cheese, and bursting with spicy flavor. As you can see from my post last year, my picture quality wasn’t great. I was still using my point and shoot at that time. I’ve since upgraded to a big girl camera, so I figured I’d take another stab at a muffin photo shoot. Hope you like these pictures better!

Oh, and if you love pumpkin even half as much as I do, I suggest you invest in these two pumpkin flavored food items I am borderline obsessed with:

Nature’s Path Pumpkin Flax Plus Granola
Kashi’s TLC Crunchy Granola Bars Pumpkin Spice Flax

Pumpkin Spice Muffins with Cream Cheese Filling

from Annie’s Eats

Yield: 24 muffins

Ingredients:

For the filling:

• 8 oz. cream cheese, softened
• 1 cup confectioners’ sugar

For the muffins:

• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp. ground cinnamon
• 1 tsp. ground nutmeg
• 1 tsp. ground cloves
• 1 tbsp. plus 1 tsp. pumpkin pie spice
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 4 large eggs
• 2 cups sugar
• 2 cups pumpkin puree
• 1¼ cups vegetable oil

For the topping:

• ½ cup sugar
• 5 tbsp. flour
• 1½ tsp. ground cinnamon
• 4 tbsp. cold unsalted butter, cut into pieces

Directions:

To prepare the filling, combine the cream cheese and confectioners’ sugar in a medium bowl and mix well until blended and smooth. Transfer the mixture to a piece of plastic wrap and shape into a log about 1½-inches in diameter (your logs will be messy and difficult to smooth into perfectly shaped logs. Don’t worry, they go inside the muffin and no one will see them. Just make sure they’re log-like). Smooth the plastic wrap tightly around the log, and reinforce with a piece of foil. Transfer to the freezer and chill until at least slightly firm, at least 2 hours.

To make the muffins, preheat the oven to 350˚ F. Line muffin pans with paper 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 and oil. Mix on medium-low speed until blended. With the mixer on low speed, add in the dry ingredients, mixing just until incorporated.

To make 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 forks until the mixture is coarse and crumbly (it’s going to be tempting, but do not heat the butter. The cold butter adds the crumbles and melts in the oven). 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 (1-2 tablespoons). Slice the log of cream cheese filling into 24 equal pieces. Place a slice of the cream cheese mixture into each muffin well. Divide the remaining batter among the muffin cups, placing on top of the cream cheese to cover completely. Sprinkle a small amount of the topping mixture over each of the muffin wells.

Bake for 20-25 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack and let cool completely before serving. (It may be hard to resist immediate consumption, but the cream cheese filling gets very hot!)

My summer days are long and I’ve been eating quinoa like it’s going out of style. I try as hard as possible to fit as much as I possibly can into each and every day. And on my days off – which are few and far between – I try to relax. Today, I had a few hours to spare, a bit on my mind, and a pint of fresh blueberries in the fridge. No better way to relax in my mind than to bake.

I haven’t had a ton of time lately to bake. Plus, it’s hot these days and having the oven on for hours at a time makes the house sticky and humid. I’ve also been reading The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo which has occupied a lot of my down time now because I simply cannot put the book down! Next book on my list: The Help. I started reading because it keeps me awake on my hour bus ride commute, but I actually really enjoy it. Maybe I’ll join my sister’s book club soon…

Speaking of sticky and humid, I’ve taken up hot yoga – hot vinyasa yoga at Younique Yoga in Cedar Grove. For those of you who are familiar with bikram yoga, it’s similar, but involves a lot more moving around and changing positions. The room is over 100 degrees and it’s become my favorite part of the week. I think I might actually be addicted. I try to go to a class at least once or twice a week to relax and unwind, but it really does prove to be a tremendous workout! My back, legs, and arms are always a bit sore the next day… the sore that tells you you actually engaged your muscles enough to feel a post-workout burn.

I decided to whip up these blueberry-oat muffins this morning for a quick, healthy morning breakfast this week. I had them in and out of the oven before 9:15 am, which is totally awesome if you ask me! They required no mixer, no butter, I had all ingredients right there in my cabinet, and they taste amazing. They’re not the least bit dry and have just the right amount of sweet. That right there equals a killer recipe in my book and it is my duty to share it with you so you can all feel the joy I am feeling right now. Oh, and if you don’t keep whole wheat flour on hand at all times, go buy some, because you really never know when you’ll need it. I don’t use it all the time, rarely actually, but when I do, I have it on hand. I think you can call these low-fat, too. They have no butter, only 1/2 cup of brown sugar, whole wheat flour, fruit, and low-fat Greek yogurt. Heck, I’m going to go eat another!

Blueberry-Oat Muffins
from EatBetterAmerica

Yields 12 muffins

• 1 cup plain low-fat Greek yogurt
• 1 cup old-fashioned or quick-cooking oats
• 1 egg or 2 egg whites, slightly beaten
• 1/4 cup canola oil or vegetable oil
• 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
• 2/3 cup all-purpose flour
• 2/3 cup whole wheat flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup fresh or frozen (do not thaw) blueberries

Directions:

Heat oven to 400°F. Place paper baking cups in 12 regular-size muffin cups, or grease bottoms only of muffin cups.

In small bowl, mix yogurt and oats. In large bowl, mix egg, oil and brown sugar. Stir in flours, baking soda, cinnamon, salt and yogurt mixture (batter will be lumpy; do not overmix). Gently stir in blueberries. Divide batter evenly among muffin cups.

Bake 18 to 20 minutes or until golden brown. Immediately remove from pan.

This recipe comes from Joanne at Fifteen Spatulas, (yet again!). When I saw these on her blog, I knew I had to make them. So I did. And they were fabulous! So easy, so chocolatey, and moist. I topped mine right out of the oven with whipped cream straight from the can! I wonder how these would be filled with cream cheese… Mmmmm. Stay tuned! In the mean time, make these. Your loved ones will be glad you did!

It’s this easy: Wet ingredients into dry ingredients… we know the routine. Make sure you keep your batter nice and lumpy though!

Pour into prepared pan

Bake, and voilà! Decorate as desired

Chocolate Chunk Muffins
from Fifteen Spatulas

Ingredients:

• 2 cups all purpose flour
• 3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 tbsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp sea salt
• 1½ cups sugar
• 2 extra large eggs
• 8 tbsp unsalted butter, melted
• 1 cup plain yogurt (or buttermilk)
• 1 tbsp vanilla extract
• 1½ cup chocolate chunks or chocolate chips

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Line a muffin tin with paper cups.

Sift together the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Toss the chocolate chunks into the dry ingredients (coating the chocolate chunks with flour prevents them from sinking to the bottom of the muffin while baking).

Whisk together the sugar, butter, eggs, yogurt, and vanilla until well blended and consistent.

Stir the wet mixture into the dry. Before you go too far, it is VERY important that you leave lumps in there. If you stir it until it’s smooth and consistent and you don’t see any more flour, you have stirred too much. Overmixing will yield a drier muffin.

Use a disher to drop scoops of batter into the muffin tin, filling the cups completely.

Put the muffins in the oven and bump the temperature up to 400 degrees F. Bake for 20 minutes, until the interior of the muffin is 205 degrees on an instant read thermometer (or a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean).

Enjoy while hot so the chocolate is gooey. Yields 12 muffins.

I made Pumpkin Spice Muffins with Cream Cheese filling on Monday, determined to make something pumpkin to celebrate autumn. I found this recipe from a blog called Annie’s Eats. These muffins were an absolute HIT with friends, family, and co-workers. They had a moist consistency and the sweet-spicy flavor of the pumpkin and cream cheese combo melt in your mouth. I must admit, they were quite tasty

This recipe is actually very easy, but takes a bit of time to prepare. As you’ll read in the recipe below, you have to make the filling at least 2 hours in advance so it has time to harden in the freezer. I was surprised by how much filling there was, and decided to make two logs out of it, instead of just one (they were easier to manage this way). I snapped a few pictures along the way to show you how my little logs came out.

I actually left mine in the freezer for a good 24 hours before I actually got around to making the muffins. Hint: Don’t take them out of the freezer until you’re absolutely ready for them. The cream cheese softens quickly and gets messy. The mix was crazy simple, just follow the directions below. Dry into wet, you know.

Now this is the secret part of the recipe… your friends and family will most definitely ask you how you got the cream cheese in there, but they don’t need to know how incredibly simple it was. You can tell them you slaved over these muffins, stuffing them with cream cheese with just enough so that they didn’t explode… you get the drift.