Easiest Pumpkin Muffins Ever

I wasn't sure if I should title this "Easiest" or "Most Delicious"...but easy catches my attention these days.

We had an Open House this weekend for our house that is currently on the market.  In an effort to make my house more appealing, I whipped up these little babies and had trouble not eating them all before our guests arrived.

Now, when I went searching for a recipe I googled "muffins".  And these are titled "muffins".  But really, I think they're cupcakes.  I know they are...especially since I carried on and added cream cheese icing to the tops.  However, in the morning when I'm looking for something to eat...I go back to calling them muffins.

Here's what you'll need-

For the muffins-
1 yellow cake mix
1 (15 oz.)  can pumpkin puree
1 t. cinnamon
1/2 t. nutmeg
1/4 t. ground cloves

For the icing-
1 8 oz. block of cream cheese (softened)
1/2 c. unsalted butter (1 stick) (room temperature)
2 t. vanilla
5 - 6 c. powdered sugar

The cake recipe came from allrecipes.com.  Click here to see it in full.

Here are ALL the ingredients needed for the muffins.  Amazing...it hardly make a mess at all!

Now, while your helpers are finding the measuring spoons, preheat your oven to 350 and grease a standard 12 muffin pan.  (I used a silicon pan, sprayed it with conola oil, and my muffins jumped right out.)

Mix together the cake mix, pumpkin, and spices until smooth.  Clinton loved helping with this one because it was as easy as him dumping in the whole cake, spooning out the whole can of pumpkin, and adding the spices as I handed them to him.  No arguing over who was going to break the eggs, pour the oil, slowly add the flour, etc....it was nice.

Divide the batter evenly among the 12 muffin cups.

Bake for 20-25 minutes.  When done, a toothpick should come out clean when inserted in the middle of a "muffin".

These little treats were quite delicious straight out of the oven, but they were quite delectable once they were topped with the cream cheese icing.  The icing is as simple as the cake.

Mix the cream cheese, butter, and vanilla until smooth.  Slowly add in the powdered sugar until it reaches your desired consistency.  Now, if you can resist diving into the bowl just to eat the icing, then you can spread the top of each muffin with some of this heavenly mixture.

Remember--it's cream cheese, so they have to be refrigerated if not eaten right away.  They're best at room temp, but I haven't had any trouble eating the cold ones!

**NOTE:  I made two batches of "muffins" and was able to top them all with one batch of icing.**

5 pounds heavier,