Edit: there’s a newer version of this recipe! Click here!

A bunch of stuff has been going on lately, and I’m kind of all over the place (not to mention still fighting off this disgusting cold that just won’t die… it’s like a bad zombie movie: Night of the Living Mucus). I wanted to thank everyone who purchased from Yoyo‘s webstore on November 1st. Thanks to you all she was able to raise a whopping $351 dollars for Delaney’s Dream! Amazing. That’s her highest amount yet. Everyone should be so lucky to know someone as generous and spectacular as Miss Yoyo. She doesn’t have to do this, but she has such a big heart. Who else do you know takes time out of their life to sew all these awesome handmade creations, then uses 100% of the profits of one entire day (every month) of sales and contributes it to a different charity? Probably not many people. Most people are flaming douchebags. Yeah, I said it. Anywho… then a night or two ago, some crazy shit went down with the Cupcake Rehab MySQL database and all my posts and pages magically disappeared. Yeah, three years worth of blog posts GONE. Poof. Just like that. So after a brief freak out and after talking to the folks at GoDaddy (who were very nice, and ran all sorts of checks, but weren’t very helpful in terms of fixing it), I just did a Google on it, found some directions on repairing the problem and just fixed it myself. Lesson here: back up your databases if you’re running PHP-based websites, especially blogs, on a regular basis, and always know what you’re doing when you own/run a site so you don’t need to rely on the people at Tech Support to save your ass. Seriously. Buy some books for dummies and get on that shit. Right now. Otherwise you may find yourself in a sticky situation. If I had no idea what I was doing and didn’t know what the shit a MySQL database was or how to find it, I might have just scrapped everything, or maybe if I did know what it was but didn’t know how to get in there and fix it, I might have created a new database and reinstalled a new WordPress because I didn’t know any better; or maybe just cried and deleted the entire site, or paid some other asshole an arm & a leg to fix something that took me literally 2 minutes to do. So that’s basically whats been going on over here. Let’s talk about pumpkin muffinage, shall we?

So every fall, Starbucks & Dunkin’ Donuts have their pumpkin-flavored coffees & lattes, and some fall treats too. D+D (what Dunkin’ Donuts is referred to around here, for all you West-coasters or international visitors) has pumpkin muffins as well as pumpkin donuts. Now I myself have never had one of either item, but I see the muffins all the time & I think “I could make those.” They’re a pumpkin muffin topped with a streusel-y topping and then drizzled with a cream cheese icing. Are you drooling yet? No? Then look at this:

,…

Yes, I managed to tear myself away from Boardwalk Empire and thinking about how delicious Jimmy Darmody is for 5 minutes to make some pumpkin muffins in the style of those infamous ones from that popular donut chain. What can I tell you? I guess I’ve got a thing for guys with guns. And a thing for muffins.

I’ve made pumpkin muffins before, but not with an icing. I did make ones with rum recently, though. These, however were completely different. Rich, comforting, with great spices and the streusel with rolled oats was amazing. Talk about the perfect Thanksgiving morning breakfast treat. If you make these along with some cream cheese cinnamon rolls on Thanksgiving morning, your family will love you forever. Because they don’t really have to love you forever now, you know. You’ve gotta earn that. It’s true, I swear. Even I, who isn’t such a huge pumpkin fan, enjoyed these immensely.

(No clever name for these. What you see is what you get, here. Besides, I’ve seen a few blogs lately where the bloggers clearly desperately try to be funny with the titles, and my feeling is, if it’s overly cheesy or obvious you’re trying too hard, then it’s not funny. Not that I’m saying that I’ve never used a cheesy title- but there’s a thin line between outright cheesy and funny cheesy. Are you taking notes? Anyway speaking of cheese… let’s get on with the show…)

PUMPKIN STREUSEL MUFFINS WITH CREAM CHEESE ICING (adapted from Taste Of Home)

Ingredients:

• ¼ cup butter, softened
• ½ cup sugar
• ¼ cup packed brown sugar
• 2/3 cup canned pumpkin
• ½ cup buttermilk
• 2 eggs
• 2 tablespoons molasses
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• ½ teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• ¼ teaspoon ginger
• 1/8 teaspoon cloves
• 1/8 teaspoon grated nutmeg (I use whole and grate it myself)
• ¼ teaspoon salt

Streusel:

• 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
• 3 tablespoons brown sugar
• 2 tablespoons cold butter
• 2 tablespoons rolled oats (optional)

Cream cheese icing:

• 2 ounces cream cheese
• about 1 – 1 ½ cups confectioner’s sugar
• ¼ – ½ cup heavy cream

Directions:

1. Pre-heat oven to 375 degrees. Cream together butter and sugars until creamy. Beat in pumpkin, buttermilk, eggs, and molasses. Combine the dry ingredients in a small bowl and mix into the batter. Stir just until combined. Fill greased or paper-lined muffin tins 2/3 full of batter.
2. For topping: combine the flour and brown sugar and oats (if using)  in a small bowl. Cut in butter until the mixture is crumbly. Spoon streusel topping over the muffins and bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until a tester inserted in the center comes out clean. Remove from pans very gently using a large spoon & butter knife, being careful not to burn yourself. Place on wire rack.
3. For icing: beat cream cheese and heavy cream together until smooth. Add confectioner’s sugar a little at a time until desired consistency is reached. Add extra heavy cream if needed (consistency should be similar to a frosting, somewhat thick but not too thick). Drizzle over still-hot, right out of the oven cupcakes. It will melt and drip accordingly.

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So are you drooling now? You should be. Again, while I haven’t had the Dunkin’ Donuts muffins, I can pretty much bet that these are just as awesome, if not better, than they are. I have it on good authority from people who have indeed had those D+D muffins that these are way better. And that icing is like melty cheesecake. I was feeling lazy and used a sandwich bag with the corner cut off to drizzle the icing, but a pastry bag fitted with a small round tip or a disposable pastry bag with the tip cut off would work just as well.

These are best when eaten fairly warm, but just as good room temperature. I’m sure you could pop ’em in the microwave for a few seconds to heat them up though, if that’s how you prefer them. Just be careful- you don’t want the icing to get too melty in there… So make these, shove ’em in your face while watching your local Thanksgiving parade or as fuel before you start your Christmas shopping. I know there are some of you crazy people out there who already have gifts hidden in your house. You animals. Save some for the rest of us who shop on December 21st!