Last of the Pumpkin...for now, at least!

After a few heart-wrenching days, I came home from my grandma's funeral today and just needed to bake.  Just having that smell in the air, and being able to feed my family something I made was really important at that moment.  So, after a quick glance in the fridge, I decided that the last bit of pumpkin leftover from making Thanksgiving desserts would work well.  I decided to use a cake mix as my base because, although I was ready to bake, I wasn't entirely ready for all the clean up and steps.  Baby steps here.  So I used a yellow cake mix, added in the pureed pumpkin (about a cup or so) and 3 eggs.  Mixed it together, put it in muffin tins and was just about ready to put in the oven (at 350) when the combo of cream cheese and pumpkin started calling my name.  So, I set the tins aside and went to work making a bit of a cheesecake filling; 8 oz of softened cream cheese, 1/4 cup sugar and about 2 tablespoons of flour.  I creamed it together and put a dollop on each muffin and then swirled it.  Then, I finally put in the oven!  The next 25 minutes of the house smelling festive again were wonderful.  I took them out and tried to let them cool but couldn't resist popping one out hot and eating it.  It was just what I needed. 

Sometimes, you just gotta bake!