Pumpkin Cream Cheese Muffins
Our creamy spiced pumpkin cream cheese muffins are spiced and comforting, making them the perfect fall muffin to whip up for breakfast.
Servings: 20 muffins
Calories: 164kcal
Ingredients
Cream Cheese Filling
- 4 ounces block style cream cheese, room temperature
- 3 tablespoons powdered sugar
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
Pumpkin Muffins
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 tablespoon pumpkin pie spice blend
- 2 teaspoons cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 15 ounces 100% pure pumpkin puree (Libby’s brand used)
- ½ cup canola oil
- 2 large eggs, room temperature
- ¾ cup light brown sugar, packed
- ¼ cup granulated sugar
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Instructions
Cream Cheese Filling
- Beat together in a small bowl, the cream cheese, powdered sugar, and vanilla extract for 1-2 minutes or until smooth using a handheld mixer on medium-high speed. Place the bowl into the freezer for 10-15 minutes while preparing the remaining ingredients.
Pumpkin Muffins
- Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line two standard muffin tins with 20 parchment paper cups and set aside.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the all-purpose flour, pumpkin pie spice blend, cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.
- In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the 100% pure pumpkin puree, canola oil, eggs, light brown sugar, granulated sugar, and vanilla extract until fully combined and no lumps remain.
- Gently fold the dry ingredients into the bowl of wet ingredients, mixing just until combined and no dry streaks remain. Some small lumps in the batter are normal as you do not want to overmix the batter, potentially yielding a tough muffin texture when baked.
- Using a 2-inch (about a ¼-cup capacity) cookie scoop, fill all 20 muffin cups with a level scoop of batter. Each cup should be about ⅔ full.
- Remove the cream cheese mixture from the freezer, using a 1-inch cookie scoop (about a 1-teaspoon capacity), scoop out a level amount of the mixture and place onto the center of each pumpkin muffin.
- Using a clean finger, gently push the cream cheese dollop into the pumpkin muffin batter, being sure that the cream cheese is still visible on top. It should be lightly nestled into the batter and not fully submerged.
- Bake for 18-20 minutes or just until the cream cheese is set (it may be slightly puffed but will settle as it cools) and a toothpick inserted into the pumpkin portion of the muffin (not the cream cheese) comes out clean or with just a few moist crumbs.
- Allow the muffins to cool in the pan for 10 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely before serving.
Video
Notes
- Do not use pumpkin pie filling for this recipe. It contains added spices and sugars and will not yield the desired results for this recipe.
- Some brands of pure pumpkin puree that are either organic or generic (store brand) can be much lighter in color and a bit more watery in texture than the Libby’s brand used to develop this recipe. If an alternate brand of 100% pure pumpkin puree is used, you may not yield the same results for color of the muffin and the texture may be slightly different due to the differing moisture content.
- Any neutral oil (vegetable, avocado, melted coconut oil or light olive oil) can be substituted for the canola oil in this recipe.
- Full-fat block-style cream cheese is recommended for the best results for the cream cheese dollops.
Nutrition
Calories: 164kcal | Carbohydrates: 24g | Protein: 3g | Fat: 6g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 2g | Monounsaturated Fat: 4g | Trans Fat: 0.02g | Cholesterol: 19mg | Sodium: 136mg | Potassium: 115mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 13g | Vitamin A: 3340IU | Vitamin C: 1mg | Calcium: 50mg | Iron: 1mg
