Cream Cheese Rippled Pumpkin Bread

The mellow sweetness of pumpkin pie off a prison spoon is something you will never forget.

--Mitchell Burgess

It's funny . . . you grow up, and the cooking increases. By like a lot. Especially over fabulous family holidays like Thanksgiving. Oh gee and golly.

Before, holiday cooking was just clean-up duty after mom magically whipped up deliciousness with delightful ease.
Then some guy put a ring on my finger, and next thing I know I'm covered in flour, sugar, and unidentifiable stickiness. Oh, and there's no child to do clean-up duty. Instead, all I have are cats who want to get into the butter and a kitchen that looks like it survived a nuclear warhead. Yeah, no. Oh, and the best part? I have no idea what I'm making. Yup. It took me over a week to decide on what to cook for Thanksgiving.
Salad? Hm . . . No,  Mom will be bringing that . . .
Fruit dip?  . . . Nope, Chris's aunt always brings fruit dip . . .
Cupcakes? Julie has that covered . . . crap . . .
Green bean casserole? Aw crud, my aunt brings that . . .
Mashed taters? No . . . Chris's family doesn't usually do mashed taters for Thanksgiving (This was an alien concept to my poor sheltered little brain--I went into mild shock when I heard the news).

So what did I decide on? After all these days of bewilderment and googling?  Pumpkin bread. Yes, I know it doesn't sound exciting, but this not just any pumpkin bread, m'dears, oh no. Cream cheese rippled pumpkin bread. Um. Yum? If there was ever divine culinary matrimony, twas betwixt pumpkin bread and cream cheese, I kid you not.

Yes, I'm proud to say it was a hit. And it's pretty! I hardly ever make "pretty" food, but, golly, this was easy on the eyes and the tastebuds!

Ingredients: 

Cream Cheese Filling

• 2 - 8 oz packages cream cheese, room temperature
• 1 cup granulated white sugar
• 4 large eggs
• 3 Tbsp all purpose flour

Pumpkin Bread

• 3 1/2 cups all purpose flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 2 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1 tsp ground nutmeg
• 4 large eggs
• 1 heaping cup of granulated white sugar
• 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, melted and cooled
• 1 – 15 oz can pure pumpkin
• 1/2 cup  water
• 2 tsp pure vanilla extract

Directions

1. For the Cream Cheese Filling:
   
   1. Beat the cream cheese just until smooth in a stand mixer or food processor. 
   2. Add the sugar and process just until smooth and creamy. 
   3. Add the eggs, one at a time, processing just until incorporated. Do not over process. 
   4. Stir in the flour. Set aside.
    
2. For the Pumpkin Bread:
   
   1. Sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg in a large bowl and set aside. 
   2. In another large bowl, whisk together the eggs until lightly beaten. Whisk in the sugar and melted butter, then stir in the pumpkin, water, and vanilla extract.
   3. Stir the flour mixture into the pumpkin mixture, being careful not to overmix. A few streaks of flour are fine. 
   
   Now at this point, you, my dears, get to make a choice: Do you want LOAVES or do you want MUFFINS? I've made both, and I love both, but I do find muffins much easier and equally as attractive. Plus, let's face it, it's going to taste FANTASTIC either way.
   
   For loaves, follow these directions:
   
   1.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
   2. Butter and flour or use nonstick spray in pans so the baked bread doesn't stick.
   3. Divide the batter in half. Take one half and divide it between the two pans. Pour half of the cream cheese filling into each pan, then top with the remaining half of batter. (These were the directions in the original recipe, but I just eyeballed it because I didn't have enough mixing bowls lol--most of my cream cheese filling ended up swirled at the top of the bread, which was fine, but, if you want it in the EXACT middle, follow the listed directions).
   4. Smooth the tops and bake an hour or until a toothpick comes out clean.
   5. Cool pans on a wire rack until room temperature then turn out.  
   • This recipe makes  two 9"x5" loaves 
   
   For muffins, follow these directions:
    
   1.  Preheat oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit
      You can probably do it at 350 and cook it for longer, but I was in a hurry . . .
   2. Fill muffin pan with paper liners or use a nonstick spray so the muffins don't stick to the tin 
   3. In each muffin pocket, put a scoop of pumpkin, two scoops cream cheese mixture, and another scoop of pumpkin
      Scoop size to your discretion--I found that, starting with large bottom scoops of pumpkin, I was scraping every morsel of pumpkin from the bowl to properly fill the last tins. There was more than enough cream cheese mixture--I'm pretty sure its baked ratio to baked pumpkin was equal to if not greater than the pumpkin.  Don't skimp on the cream cheese--there' PLENTY.
   4.   Bake for 20-25 minutes until toothpick comes out clean OR you begin to notice the tops of your muffins turning a wee bit brown (don't want them burnt!)
   5. Remove muffins from tins and allow to cool before eating 
   • This recipe makes  roughly 24 LARGE muffins
   
   If you'd like to visit the original recipe, click here! It's a fantastic cooking blog called "17 and Baking." Check her out!
   
   
   Happy Thanksgiving, Everyone!