The weather has turned slightly cooler here on the Eastern side of the country, okay okay, it may have only been cool outside for a couple of days but those day snapped me right in to fall. As soon as I woke up to a rainy cold morning I instantly wanted some sort of pumpkiney baked good and a bowl of chili. Thanks to my often hectic work schedule I wasn’t able to get either of them immediately, but I just turned the AC in the house down a couple notches and pretended the weather still justified my fall food cravings. I have been eying these Pumpkin Cream Cheese Muffins since last year and was finally able to move them from my “must try” to my “tried & loved” bookmarks. I won’t try and fool you into believing these are any kind of healthy, but man are they yummy!
These Pumpkin Cream Cheese Muffins are amazingly light, moist, and flavorful so I will definitely be keeping this recipe for my go to pumpkin bread/muffin. The original recipe did call for a streusel topping which I skipped (don’t get me wrong I love streusel, but I wasn’t feeling THAT unhealthy), but you may want to check it out if you are interested. Next time I think I will throw some toasted pumpkin seeds on top of them before baking to add a healthy crunch. In my opinion, these are best served slightly warmed and with a cup of hot coffee, which actually sounds pretty great right now. 🙂 Enjoy!
Pumpkin Cream Cheese Muffins
Ingredients
Filling:
- 8 oz cream cheese, softened (I used light)
- 1 cup confectioners’ sugar
Muffins:
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1 teaspoon ground cloves
- 1 Tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 4 large eggs
- 2 cups sugar
- 2 cups pumpkin puree
- 1¼ cups vegetable oil (or applesauce, I used half of each)
Instructions
- To prepare the filling, combine the cream cheese and confectioners’ sugar in a medium bowl and mix well until blended and smooth. Refrigerate the mixture while you make the muffins to allow it to cool and thicken slightly.
- Preheat your oven to 350Ëš F and line or spray your muffin pans. In a medium bowl, combine the flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, pumpkin pie spice, salt and baking soda then whisk to blend. In a large bowl using an electric mixer on medium-low speed combine the eggs, sugar, pumpkin puree and oil until blended. Turn the mixer to low and add in the dry ingredients, mix just until incorporated.
- Fill each muffin pan with just enough batter to cover the bottom of each well (about 1-2 tablespoons). Scoop a small amount of the cream cheese mixture into each muffin well, then top each with the remaining batter, covering the cream cheese completely.
- Bake for 20-25 minutes (30-35 for large muffins). Transfer to a wire rack and let cool completely before serving. It may be tempting to eat them hot from the oven, but the cream cheese will be extremely hot, patience is a virtue.
Slightly adapted from: Annie’s Eats
Oh wow, these looks so great! I have been looking for a version of the famous Starbucks pumpkin cream cheese muffins to make at home. These just might be them!
Oh my goodness!! I FINALLY figured out how to bake using my toaster oven so I made pumpkin spice muffins last weekend!
These pumpkin muffins with the cheesecake look heavenly!!
Give credit where due. These are more than slightly adapted from Annie's page. You only omitted the topping! These muffins are fabulous and will not disappoint.
Krissy, the slight changes I made were with the flour (white-wheat), apple sauce in place of the oil, and yes omitting the topping. Also, the preperation of the cream cheese, skipping the freezing and slicing, is different. "Slightly adapted from" means that slight changes were made from the original source, it does not imply significant changes to the recipe. I adore Annie's blog and would never take credit for something that was not mine, but thank you for your concern.
@Krissy Wow Krisy I write a fashion article and a food blog and in the blogging community it is seen as a compliment for someone to share your recipes, that is what blogging is about. You need to learn your terminology before you go calling someone out like that, she did the proper citing in this case. Cyber bullying is frowned upon among bloggers, and what you said was rude. If I was her I would delete your comment.
Try adding some orange zest to the cream cheese mixture…yum!
Yum these look so delish 🙂 Love your blog!
My muffins are actually in the oven right now and they look delightful! I am trying to heed your advice about not trying it too soon because of the cream cheese being hot.. but man, it's hard having to wait for these babies.
@GypsyLove I hope they turned out amazing! I threw the extras in the freezer and I heated one up this morning, it was just as great as when I made them a couple of weeks ago!
Thanks for reading & commenting everyone!
These look fantastic! I love the idea of the cream cheese center, I do wonder though, do you think the confectioners sugar is necessary, or is it there to act as a sweetener?
Anyway, I'm definitely trying these! 🙂
@emilialiveslife I think the only purpose would be to sweeten it and also to thin it a little. I almost cut the powdered sugar because I like that it is less sweet and of course that would help reduce calories, but I was worried I would end up with a filling that was too thick. The next time I make the muffins I plan to make them without the filling, but I will do a couple filled with plain cream cheese just to see how they turn out. I'll let you know what happens when i do!
I made these cupcakes last night as an experiment and they turned out great! I used half applesauce and half oil like you recommended, delicious! I added some vanilla to the cream cheese mixture and threw in a tsp of cardamom to the muffin mixture, my friends all loved them! Thanks for the recipe, I'll definitely make these again.
~Ashley
Made these a few weeks ago- Soo good and addictive. Even the non-sweet lovers in my family loved them!
So I tried making these with cream cheese without the powdered sugar mixed in and it's definitely added for consistency reasons. When I baked them with just straight up cream cheese the cheese got kind of thick and cracked looking. It didn't taste bad, but it wasn't creamy like it should be.
I can't wait to make these!!! I want them now!! LOL 🙂
These were awesome, thanks for sharing!
So glad you liked them Kelli, they are one of my faves!!
I just made these and they are AMAZING! I was worried because I didn't read carefully and mixed in the oil at the end, but they still turned out perfect! Thanks so much for sharing!
Just found this on Pinterest…..and I can't wait to make them. Seeing as how it's 95 degrees out right now I might need to wait til it's a little cooler to heat up my oven. They look and sound delicious!
Is pumpkin puree the same as canned pumpkin? You're not talking about solid pack, corrrect?
Yes, it's the same as canned pumpkin, as long as it's the plain pumpkin puree. Just don't get the "pumpkin pie filling" because that already has the spices in it, but if that's all you have to work with you could use it just reduces the spices and sugar so it's not overpowering.
I want to take these to work in the morning. Should I refridgerate or put in a container on the counter?
Michele, I did not refrigerate them, they should stay good for several days at room temperature in an air tight container. Any more then that and I would just throw them in the freezer. 🙂
I springled them w pecans and used applesauce instead of oil. Delicious.
do you have any nutrition facts for these?
HI Brooke! I did this recipe this weekend and it was a success on my family! will definitely do them again!
Greetings from Barcelona!
I place these in the category of don't even want to know 🙂 but there are websites that you can input the ingredients and servings to figure it out. Thanks for reading!
So glad you and your family enjoyed them Laura!
Hah I kinda figured so 😉
I cut a little sugar from the cream cheese and added vanilla. cut a little sugar from the overall recipe and used spelt flour and got about 150 calories each and they were a success!!!!
oh I also used applesauce instead of oil
if you look at the ingredients it will just say "pumpkin"
If you use about half oil and half applesauce… 226 for the small muffins with the recipe as is.
Can you use pumpkin pie mix from store?
Hi Brooke! I just made these & <3 them! I followed the directions, exactly & came out w/3 dozen regular muffins! There wasn't enough batter to cover the last 3 though, so I used the leftover cream cheese mix to top them & they were divine! Sooo creamy 🙂 I might have to make 1/2 of them like that NEXT TIME! Yes, yes, I will sooo be using this recipe again. Thanks for sharing with us… I posted pics on my FB & shared your recipe through the link provided. Thanks again!
So glad you loved them Amber and thanks for sharing it on Facebook!
If it's all you've got then yes, the issue there is the pumpkin pie mix is pre seasoned, so you would want to cut the spices way down or omit them completely or it will be overpowering. Hope it works out!
I had these today for the first time….they were great. I plan on having someone make these for me again soon……
These muffins are amazing and I love that the ingredients are healthy!! This recipe literally makes the most perfect muffin! Do you have other muffin recipes similar to this one or any tips on how I can adapt this?
Tina, I do have several other muffin recipes on the blog, if you look under recipes then breads & muffins you will find them there! The blueberry muffins are perfection!!
Should these be stored in the fridge? Love this recipe they came out great!
Yes, they should be stored in the refrigerator; I would take them out about 20 minutes before serving though. So glad you loved them!!
I make these regularly. I have had several people ask for your recipe. I like to add a tsp of maple flavor to the cream cheese.
That sounds delicious!! Glad you love them!