Carrot Pumpkin Muffins with Cream Cheese Filling

I was going to post this a long time ago. Like weeks ago. But you know why I didn't? Because genius over here deleted all the pictures before uploading them to my post. I typed out the recipe and my intro, went to get the pictures, only to realize I had deleted them. Lovely. Anyway, it gave me an excuse to make them again (Thanksgiving!), so here you are. 

My friend Jourdan adapted this muffin recipe to make it healthier.  She's so good about doing that with her recipes, and I wanted to try this one for a faculty chip-in lunch we had a few weeks ago.

Even with less oil and sugar and whole wheat flour, these were delicious! I doubled the recipe and was only left with four at the end of the day, which I in turn gave away so I wouldn't be tempted to eat them all myself! (I doubled the recipe for Thanksgiving, too, and almost all were gone as well!)

These have the perfect blend of spices and flavors, and the cream cheese filling was by far the best part of the muffin! Yum!

Carrot Pumpkin Muffins with Cream Cheese Filling
Recipe by Jourdan Leigh, adapted from The Delicious Life
Yields about 16 muffins
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Ingredients:
*3/4 cup all-purpose flour
*3/4 cup whole wheat flour (or could use all-purpose flour)
*1½ tsp. baking soda
*1 tsp.baking powder
*½ tsp. salt
*1 tsp. cinnamon
*½ tsp. nutmeg
*3/4 cup sugar (recipe calls for 1 cup; I used 1 part sugar 1 part splenda)
*3 eggs
*2/3 cup vegetable oil (I used 1/3 c. butter, 1/3 c. olive oil)
*1 cup shredded carrots
*1/2 cup pumpkin puree

For filling:
4 oz. softened cream cheese (I used light cream cheese)
1 egg yolk
1/4 cup sugar (original had 1/2 cup; I did one part splenda one part sugar)
1/2 tsp. vanilla

Preparation:
*Preheat oven to 350.

*Sift together flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, and sugar.

*In a separate bowl, beat eggs, and oil (and butter if using) until lightened.

*Stir in shredded carrots and pumpkin.

*In another bowl, cream softened cream cheese with egg yolk, sugar, and vanilla.

*Fold the dry ingredients into the egg/oil mixture. Stir until just combined.

*Fill muffin cups about 3/4 full. Plop a generous teaspoon of the cream cheese filling on top of the batter in each muffin cup.  I sort of used my spoon to fill it down into the middle of the cupcakes...other wise it will spread out over the top while baking.

*Bake about 15-20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the cake part comes out clean.

muffin mixture

cream cheese filling...clearly I've already been dipping...

filled

I used a toothpick to swirl the tops so they would look pretty like the nutella cupcakes

out of the oven!

Filling!

sooo fluffy!