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My pumpkin cream cheese muffins are super moist and fluffy and feature a cheesecake filling! Made with easy ingredients, they take just 25 minutes to bake.
Love pumpkin baked goods? Try my healthy pumpkin bread, pumpkin cake, healthy pumpkin muffins, and almond flour pumpkin muffins next.
The popular Starbucks pumpkin muffin inspired my pumpkin cheesecake muffins. After doing many taste tests and so much recipe testing, I’ve created an even better version that is deceptively easy to make and perfect for Fall… and so much cheaper too!
Table of Contents
Why I love this recipe
- Simple ingredients. Pumpkin, eggs, and some pantry staple ingredients are all you’ll need.
- Ready in under 25 minutes. From prep to plate, these take almost no time at all.
- Perfect for the holidays. These are the ultimate seasonal baked goods that are a must for the holiday season or when you want a little something between meals or after dinner.
- Amazing texture and flavor. Moist, fluffy, and tender on the outside with a creamy filling. It’s full of pumpkin flavor and the tang from the cream cheese makes it taste like cheesecake.
★★★★★ REVIEW
“These are Incredibly Good! They just made my permanent Holiday menu…” – John
Ingredients needed
- All-purpose flour. Simple and perfect for baking. I’ve also tried these muffins with wholewheat flour and it works well too. Just be wary that the muffins will be darker in color and a teensy bit more dense.
- Baking soda. Gives the muffins some rise and fluffiness.
- Salt. Just a pinch to balance out the sweet ingredients.
- Eggs. Room temperature.
- Pumpkin puree. Unsweetened pumpkin puree, not pumpkin pie filling.
- Maple syrup. Adds sweetness to the muffins. You can also use honey or agave nectar.
- Vanilla extract. A must for any good muffin.
- Coconut oil OR butter. I prefer using coconut oil, but melted butter also works. If you do go for the coconut option, opt for refined coconut oil, which has no coconut flavor.
- Sweet cream cheese filling. A combination of softened cream cheese and sugar. Do not use light or reduced-fat cream cheeses as they have added moisture, and the lack of fat will dry them out once completely baked.
- Streusel topping. Classic crumb ingredients like butter, brown sugar, flour, and a touch of cinnamon.
How to make pumpkin cream cheese muffins
I’ve included step-by-step photos below to make this recipe easy to follow at home. For the full printable recipe instructions and ingredient quantities, scroll to the recipe card at the bottom of this post.
Step 1- Make the muffin batter. Whisk together the dry ingredients in a large bowl. In a separate bowl, whisk together the wet ingredients. Combine the wet and dry ingredients until a smooth batter remains.
Step 2- Make the cheesecake filling. In a small bowl, stir together the cream cheese with sugar until combined.
Step 3- Make the streusel. Add the melted butter to a bowl, followed by the sugar, flour, and cinnamon.
Step 4- Bake. Assemble the muffins in muffin tins and bake for 20-25 minutes, or until baked.
Arman’s recipe tips
- Avoid overbaking the muffins, as they will continue to cook as they are cooling down.
- The streusel topping is completely optional, so feel free to omit if desired.
- If you’d like a sweeter muffin, you can use pumpkin pie filling instead.
- Use a small cookie scoop to portion out the muffin batter into the muffin pan.
- Add other spices like ground nutmeg, ground ginger, ground cloves, allspice, or pumpkin pie spice.
Storage instructions
To store: Leftover muffins can be stored at room temperature in a sealed container for up to five days. If you’d like them to keep longer, store them in the refrigerator for up to two weeks.
To freeze: Place the cooled muffins in a ziplock bag and store them in the freezer for up to 6 months.
Frequently asked questions
If you find your muffins are gummy, it is due to there not being enough batter covering the cream cheese filling. For the muffins to be super moist and fluffy, there needs to be ample muffin batter throughout.
When made with gluten-free flour, these muffins are suitable for those who are celiac.
More delicious muffin recipes
Pumpkin Cream Cheese Muffins
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 2 large eggs
- 1 cup pumpkin puree
- 1/2 cup maple syrup
- 1/2 cup coconut oil or butter, melted
- 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
For the cheesecake filling
- 8 ounces cream cheese softened
- 1/2 cup sugar
For the streusel topping
- 3 tablespoons butter melted
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1/2 cup all purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 180C/350F. Line a 12-count muffin tin with muffin liners.
- In a mixing bowl, whisk together the all-purpose flour, baking soda, and salt. In a separate bowl, combine the eggs, pumpkin puree, maple syrup, coconut oil, and vanilla extract until combined. Gently fold through the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients until combined.
- In a small bowl, mix together the cream cheese and sugar. In another bowl, combine the melted butter, sugar, flour, and cinnamon.
- Fill each muffin liner with 2/3 of the muffin batter. Drop spoonfuls of the cream cheese mixture into the center. Fill with the remaining 1/3 of muffin butter on top. Sprinkle the streusel topping on each one.
- Bake the muffins for 22-25 minutes, or until a skewer comes out mostly clean.
- Remove the muffins from the oven and let them cool in the muffin tin completely.
These are Incredibly Good! They just made my permanent Holiday menu…
Yummmm! It’s my new fall favorite!
Do u have the macros for these, they look to die for!! 😋
So fluffy and delicious! I only did the recipe with half of the ingredients because 13-15 muffins sounded like a lot for us and I ended up with 6 regular-size muffins, just perfect. I only had rolled oats available, so I threw 3/4 cup into to my food processor (they did not lower in volume after processing) and yes, just in case someone’s wondering, I did use half an egg (I cracked it and weighted it, it was exactly 60 grams, whipped it, measured 30 grams for this recipe and saved the other 30 to add to my breakfast tomorrow). Oh, I also enjoyed that the recipe is sweet, but not overtly sweet like a lot of desserts tend to be.
May I ask how many calories are in each muffin?
Hi Seaira! For sure- Check out myfitnesspal for a full breakdown 🙂
So I was a little concerned when you put coconut sugar in this recipe because it has the same amount of carbs as regular sugar and 0% greek yogurt is also full of sugar in fact most yogurt is full of sugar but the less fat the more sugar they add to make up for taste. I think I would use sour cream and stevia in place of the previous contents and make it even healthier, at least a full fat yogurt really is not the diary fats that a problem it’s your carbs and sugars that your enemy.
What can I use in place of the nut butter? All I keep in the house is peanut butter which is WAY to strong a taste for this, I don’t want to buy other nut/seed spreads, its expensive and I dont have time right now. Can I use more pumpkin instead?????
Hi Brittany! I totally hear you on the peanut butter! I haven’t tried it with more pumpkin, but let me know how it goes if you try it with that!
These are excellent. Loved them. I made 12 and they came out perfectly after 18 minutes.
Hi Stacey! I’m so glad you enjoyed them- Appreciate the feedback!
Do you have any advice for using Buckwheat Flour instead? (ie. less flour, or more milk). Buckwheat tends to dry out alot and is really dense. Just wondering if you had a patch solution for using it.
I’m so sorry but i’m not familiar with baking with buckwheat.