Pumpkin Surprise Muffins

2 cups flour

1 Tb baking powder

1 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp ground nutmeg

1/2 tsp ground ginger

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 cup vegetable oil

1/2 cup sour cream

1/2 cup sugar

1 cup pumpkin

2 eggs

1 package cream cheese

1 small jar apricot jam

almonds (optional) and coarse sugar

Preheat oven to 400 degrees and grease a muffin pan.

Mix dry ingredients together well. Add everything else and mix well until smooth. (Simple, huh?)

Spoon a large spoonful of batter into the bottom of each muffin cup.

Cut about tablespoon-sized chunks of cream cheese for each muffin cup, and press them into the batter just a bit. Just eyeball it, precision measuring is not important here! (I adore cream cheese, so I put a LOT in these!!)

Spoon about a teaspoon of jam on top of each cream cheese chunk.

Divide the rest of the batter among all cups, to cover filling. Gently spread the top batter just a bit to make sure it meets the bottom batter around the edges (so the filling isn't exposed). Sprinkle sugar on top (my mom used to top these with sliced almonds too, but my boys aren't fans)

Bake for 25-30 minutes. Wait a few minutes for them to cool a bit, or the filling will be HOT!!