Pumpkin Muffins with Maple Cream Cheese-Fixate Cookbook

This recipe had me at "Pumpkin Muffins with Maple Cream Cheese."  I mean, seriously, how could this not be good? The fact that it's a 21 Day Fix approved recipe from the Fixate cookbook, was simply an added bonus.  I made this recipe and realized after it was already in the oven, there seemed to be some missing spices to make this feel like those delicious pumpkin treats we all look so forward to each fall.  Nonetheless, the recipe still turned out delicious and had more of an earthy flavor, not spicy.
I an somewhat confused as to how the container counts were determined for this recipe.  The book says that it makes 9 servings, which was true, but that each serving equals 1 purple and 1 orange.  I get the orange count, but because there is only 1 cup of pumpkin in the entire recipe, I'm not sure how each serving can count as 1 purple.  I did check the updates on the cookbook and there were no edits to this recipe.  If anyone understands how this equals 1 purple, please share in the comments.  I personally feel like this should count as 1 yellow since the ingredients are very similar to the treat recipes in the original 21 Day Fix guide.

Pumpkin Muffins with Maple Cream Cheese
Serves 9 (1 Muffin each)  Container Equivalents per serving: 1 purple, 1 orange

Pumpkin Muffins with Maple Cream Cheese
(minus 1 that I ate before I took a picture)

2 oz. cream cheese
1 Tbsp. pure maple syrup
1 large egg, lightly beaten
1 cup canned pumpkin puree
1 1/2 cups almond flour (see tip below to make your own or if you have nut allergies)
3/4 tsp baking soda
1 dash sea salt
2 Tbsp. raw pumpkin seeds. (I felt like this was a typo and they actually meant 2 tsp. based on how mine looked versus the picture in the cookbook.)

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees
2. Prepare 9 muffin cups by lining with muffin tin liners or coating with spray.  Set aside
3. Combine cream cheese and maple syrup in a small bowl; mix well.  Set aside.
4. Combine egg and pumpkin in a medium bowl; mix well. Set aside.
5. Combine almond flour, baking soda, and salt in a medium bowl: mix well.
6. Add almond meal mixture to egg mixture; mix until just blended.
7. Spoon batter into each prepared muffin cup, filing a little less than 1/2 full.
8. Spoon about 1 heaping teaspoon cream cheese mixture into the center of each muffin.  Evenly fill muffin cups 3/4 full with remaining batter.
9. Sprinkle muffins evenly with pumpkin seeds.
10. Bake 16 to 18 minutes, or until golden brown and toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
11. Transfer muffins to rack; cool.

Tip:  1 cup of slivered almonds ground in a high speed blender or a food processor will yield approximately 1 cup of almond flour. Pulse in 20 second intervals to avoid turning it into almond butter.
If you have nut allergies, Autumn suggests trying ground oat flour.  This is going to be the closest consistency to the almond flour.  You can make your own by grinding old fashion oats in the blender or food processor.
Whole wheat flour might be a trickier substitution and you may have to play with the moisture balance before getting it right.

I plan to make these again sometime this week and will be adding at least 1 tsp of good vanilla extract and some pumpkin pie spices.

Has anyone else tried these?  Did you add any spices or flavoring?  Share below!