Lately I’ve been enjoying the pumpkin spice muffins from Tim Horton’s a little too much. So I decided to make my own (healthier) version!

Cream Cheese Mixture

1 pkg light cream cheese, softened
1 cup (or less) icing sugar

Muffin Batter

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
1tsp cinnamon
1tsp nutmeg
1tsp freshly ground cloves (my secret ingredient!)
3tsp pumpkin pie spice (see below for my recipe)
1tsp baking soda
1tsp (or less) salt
4 eggs
2/3 cup canola oil
2/3 cup unsweetened applesauce
1 3/4 cup sugar
2 cups fresh pumpkin purée (see below for instructions)

Fresh Pumpkin Purée

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Cut the top off of your pumpkin just below the stem. Then, cut your pumpkin in half and scoop out all the seeds.

2. Lines baking sheet with tin foil and place your pumpkin halves cut-side up. Pierce each half with a fork several times (similar to what you would do for a baked potato). Bake for about 45 minutes, or until soft when pierced with a fork. Larger pumpkins may require more time.

3. Let pumpkin cool until you are able to touch it comfortably without burning your hands. Using a spoon, scoop out the fleshy pumpkin from the outer shell into a large bowl. Throw out the shell when finished.

4. Using an electric mixer, add about half a cup of water to your pumpkin and mix on high. You want the pumpkin to be smooth and not stringy. Add more water as needed (typically need to at least double the amount initially added). Add the water in increments as you are mixing to make sure you don’t add too much water.

Set aside – your pumpkin purée is ready to be used!

Cream Cheese Frosting

1. Soften one package of cream cheese. While softening, add the icing sugar to a medium bowl. Once softened, add cream cheese and beat until smooth. Set aside to cool.

2. Once cool enough, pour into an icing bag to pipe into the muffins. If you don’t have one, that’s okay. I will provide an alternative below.

Muffin Batter

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a medium bowl, combine flours, spices (see below for pumpkin pie spice recipe), salt and baking soda. Set aside.

2. In a large bowl, combine eggs, oil, applesauce, sugar, and pumpkin purée. Gradually beat in the flour mixture, adding a little, combining, then adding a little more and combining until everything is fully combined.

3. Line two muffin trays with muffins liners and spray lightly with cooking spray. Fill each muffin cup halfway with batter. Using your icing bag, push the tip into the batter and squeeze about a tablespoon or less of icing (if you have extra icing at the end you can always add more at the end). If you don’t have an icing bag, take a spoon of icing and with your spare hand, make a little hole in the batter (not too deep, you don’t want to go all the way to the bottom). Spoon the frosting into your hole. Continue for each muffin.

4. Add remaining batter to tops of muffin cups, filling to top.

5. Bake for 20-25 minutes until golden.

Pumpkin Pie Spice

1 1/4tsp ground ginger
1 1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp cloves

Bon appetit!