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Pumpkin Cream Cheese Muffins

These pumpkin cream cheese muffins use canned pumpkin, warm fall spices, and a simple sweetened cream cheese center to make 12 moist, bakery-style muffins in about 42 minutes.

By Tyla

Prep

20 min

Cook

22 min

Total

42 min

Servings

12 muffins

Ingredients

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Instructions

  1. 1

    Preheat the oven to 425°F and line a 12-cup muffin pan with paper liners (about 5 minutes). It's ready when the oven has reached 425°F and all 12 muffin cups are lined.

  2. 2

    In a medium bowl, beat the softened cream cheese, powdered sugar, and 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract with an electric mixer on medium speed for 1–2 minutes until smooth. Transfer to a piping bag or set aside with a small spoon. It's ready when the filling is smooth, creamy, and free of visible cream cheese lumps.

  3. 3

    In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and pumpkin pie spice (about 3 minutes). It's ready when the spices and leavening agents are evenly distributed throughout the flour.

  4. 4

    In a second bowl, whisk the eggs, brown sugar, granulated sugar, pumpkin puree, vegetable oil, milk, and remaining 1 teaspoon vanilla extract until smooth (about 4 minutes). It's ready when the pumpkin mixture is evenly blended with no streaks of egg or separated oil.

  5. 5

    Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and fold gently with a rubber spatula just until combined. Do not overmix; a few small lumps are fine (about 2 minutes). It's ready when no large pockets of dry flour remain and the batter is thick and evenly moistened.

  6. 6

    Divide the batter among the 12 lined muffin cups, filling each about two-thirds full. Add approximately 1 teaspoon of cream cheese filling to the center of each muffin, gently pressing it just below the surface without mixing it into the batter (about 2 minutes). It's ready when every muffin has an even amount of batter and a centered cream cheese portion that is mostly covered.

  7. 7

    Bake at 425°F for 5 minutes, then reduce the oven temperature to 350°F without opening the oven door and continue baking for 17 minutes. It's ready when the muffin tops are domed and spring back lightly when touched near the edge, and a toothpick inserted into the pumpkin portion comes out with a few moist crumbs. Avoid testing directly through the cream cheese center.

  8. 8

    Cool the muffins in the pan for 5 minutes, then carefully transfer them to a wire rack to finish cooling. It's ready when the muffins are firm enough to lift without breaking.

Used in this recipe: 12-Cup Muffin Pan Piping Bags And Tips Set (Amazon, affiliate links)

Notes

Tips for Success

  • Keep the cream cheese filling concentrated in the center rather than stirring it into the pumpkin batter. This creates a distinct tangy, cheesecake-like middle while preserving the soft pumpkin muffin texture. Starting the bake at 425°F and lowering it to 350°F helps create taller muffin tops.
  • Fold the wet and dry ingredients together only until the flour disappears, and use approximately 1 teaspoon of filling per muffin. Keep the filling centered and mostly covered by batter. If the batter looks unusually thin, check that the pumpkin puree is plain puree rather than pumpkin pie filling.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

  • Overmixing the pumpkin batter or adding too much cream cheese filling can produce dense muffins, uneven rising, or filling that spills over the tops.

Nutrition (per serving)

290 kcal

Calories

4g

Protein

38g

Carbs

14g

Fat

1g

Fiber

270mg

Sodium