Description
These Pumpkin Cream Cheese Muffins combine moist pumpkin spice batter with a luscious cream cheese center. Perfectly spiced and irresistibly soft, they’re an easy fall treat that feels like a mini cheesecake inside a muffin.
Ingredients
- For the muffin batter:
- 1 ½ cups (360 ml) pure pumpkin puree
- ½ cup (110 g) packed light brown sugar
- ½ cup + 2 tbsp (125 g) granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs, at room temperature
- ½ cup (120 ml) sunflower or vegetable oil
- 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
- 2 cups (284 g) all-purpose flour
- 1 ½ tsp pumpkin pie spice
- ½ tsp ground cinnamon
- 1 tsp baking powder
- ¾ tsp baking soda
- ½ tsp salt
- ⅓ cup (80 ml) whole milk
- For the cream cheese filling:
- 5 oz (142 g) cream cheese, softened
- 2 ½ tbsp (32 g) granulated sugar
- 1 tsp all-purpose flour
- ½ tsp pure vanilla extract
- 2 tsp (10 ml) whole milk
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 425°F (220°C) and line a 12-cup muffin tin with paper liners.
- In a large bowl, whisk pumpkin puree, sugars, eggs, oil, and vanilla until smooth.
- In another bowl, whisk together flour, pumpkin pie spice, cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Gradually add to the wet ingredients and stir just to combine. Fold in the milk until batter is evenly moistened.
- In a separate bowl, beat cream cheese, sugar, flour, vanilla, and milk until smooth and creamy.
- Fill each muffin liner about ⅔ full with pumpkin batter. Drop ½–1 tbsp of cream cheese filling into the center of each muffin, then swirl or top with a little more batter if desired.
- Bake at 425°F for 5 minutes, then reduce temperature to 350°F (175°C) and bake for another 12–15 minutes or until a toothpick (not in center) comes out clean.
- Cool muffins in the tin for a few minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
Notes
- Use pure pumpkin puree, not pumpkin pie filling.
- For gluten-free, substitute flour with a GF baking blend.
- Lightly spray liners for easy removal if needed.
- Add-ins like chocolate chips or nuts can enhance texture.
- Freeze muffins individually for up to 2 months.
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 20 minutes
- Category: Breakfast
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 muffin
- Calories: 260
- Sugar: 20g
- Sodium: 270mg
- Fat: 13g
- Saturated Fat: 4g
- Unsaturated Fat: 8g
- Trans Fat: 0g
- Carbohydrates: 33g
- Fiber: 1g
- Protein: 4g
- Cholesterol: 45mg
