• Preheat your oven to 425 degrees F. Take out your cream cheese to soften at room temperature.

Pumpkin Batter

• In a large mixing bowl, add the wet ingredients and brown sugar. Mix together until the sugar is dissolved.
• In a medium size bowl, add in the dry ingredients and the pumpkin spice mix, leaving out the chocolate chips. Mix the dry ingredients together with the spices, then add this dry mixture to the wet ingredients. Mix together until well combined. Set this aside.

Cream Cheese Filling

• In a small bowl, mix together all the ingredients for the cream cheese filling until smooth. Use an electric beater or a whisk to get out any lumps.

Crunchy Cinnamon Streusel Topping

• In a small bowl, mix together all the ingredients for the cinnamon streusel topping. Do not leave out the egg white as this is what makes this streusel crunchy and prevents it from melting into the muffin.

Fill the Muffin Pan

• Save about ⅔ cup of chocolate chips for placing on top of the muffins. Grease your muffin pan with butter and fill your muffin pan with alternating layers of the pumpkin batter, chocolate chips, and cream cheese filling. Break apart varying size pieces of the streusel topping and pile them on top of the muffins. Press the remaining chocolate chips on top of the streusel.
• Bake them at 425 degrees F for the first 6 - 7 minutes. Then lower the temperature to 350 degrees F and bake them for 13 - 14 more minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean and the streusel topping is a golden brown color.