The title’s a mouthful but this recipe has enough flavor to excuse all those adjectives!  It’s a little time-consuming – you have to make three separate batters and layer them together – but the end result is totally worth it.  These are muffins and not cupcakes, no frosting and the texture is more muffin than cakey, but they still work perfectly for dessert.  Adapted from Rachael Ray’s Cheesecake-Filled Pumpkin Cupcakes and Food Network’s Chocolate Chip Muffins.

Yield: 30 muffins; Prep Time: 1 hour; Cook Time: 23 minutes

Instructions

For this recipe you’ll need to prepare the pumpkin batter, chocolate batter, and cheesecake filling separately and then layer them together into the muffin tins.  Preheat your oven to 375 degrees Farenheit.  Line muffin tins with baking liners then set aside.  You’ll need to prepare the batters in separate bowls but the prep time will go more quickly if you work on both simultaneously (i.e. measure all your flour at once, all your eggs at once, and so on).

for pumpkin batter

• 1 cup canned pumpkin puree
• 2 large eggs
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup canola oil
• 2 tsp vanilla
• 1.5 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
• 1.5 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt

Combine pumpkin, eggs, sugar, oil, and vanilla in a large bowl.  Beat until well-combined.  In another bowl, whisk together dry ingredients (flour through salt).  Working in small batches, whisk dry ingredients into wet.

for double chocolate chip batter

• 1.75 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 Tbsp cocoa powder
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1 cup semi-sweet mini chocolate chips
• 1 cup skim milk
• 1/3 cup canola oil
• 1 large egg
• 1 tsp vanilla

Place dry ingredients (flour through mini chips) in a large bowl.  In another bowl whisk together milk, oil, egg, and vanilla.  Pour wet into dry and carefully fold together, taking care not to overmix.

for cheesecake filling

• (2) 8oz packages 1/3 reduced fat cream cheese
• 1 cup confectioners sugar
• 2 egg whites
• 1 tsp vanilla

Use electric beaters to cream together cream cheese and sugar for 3 minutes.  Beat egg whites and vanilla into the mixture.

muffin instructions

Place approximately 1.5 Tbsp of pumpkin batter in the bottom of a muffin liner.  Top with 1.5 Tbsp cheesecake filling, placing filling as close to the center of the cup as possible.  Top with 1.5 Tbsp chocolate batter.  Repeat process with remaining batters until all of the tins are full (you will most likely have a little bit of chocolate and cheesecake remaining when the pumpkin runs out, but 30 muffins are plenty).  You may wish to alternate which batters are the top and bottom layers, I did half of each.  Carefully use a toothpick or chop stick to swirl around the edge of each tin, ideally mixing the batters a bit but not moving the cheesecake filling.  Bake at 375* for 20-23 minutes, until muffin tops are firm and an inserted knife comes out clean.