These Pumpkin Cream Cheese Muffins are perfectly soft and moist and loaded with sweet cream cheese! They taste just like Starbucks Pumpkin Cream Cheese Muffins but better! The perfect Fall breakfast or dessert!
If you love easy muffin recipes as much as I do, try my Double Chocolate Muffins or my Blueberry Streusel Muffins!
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Pumpkin Cream Cheese Muffins
You guys have been going crazy for my Pumpkin Cream Cheese Bread! It’s not surprising why it’s super moist, perfectly spiced and swirled with sweet cream cheese throughout the loaf. I had a couple readers ask about making it into muffins so I went ahead and adapted the recipe to make pumpkin cream cheese muffins!
I have to say these pumpkin muffins do not disappoint! We love how the muffins look at Starbucks so instead of swirling the cream cheese into the batter (like I do with my loaf) I pipe the filling in the center instead. You can absolutely do either!
Ingredients for Pumpkin Cream Cheese Muffins
For the Muffins
- Pumpkin Puree- Canned pumpkin puree or homemade pumpkin puree from fresh pumpkins will work great in this recipe. Make sure it is pumpkin puree and not pumpkin pie filling which has added sugar and spices.
- Eggs- Are added for stability and help the muffins to rise.
- Brown Sugar- Brown sugar adds some caramel flavor notes and works well with the pumpkin to add sweetness.
- Oil- You will need a neutral oil like vegetable or canola oil.
- Sour Cream- Adds moisture and a hint of tartness to the muffins.
- Pumpkin Pie Spice- If you have pumpkin pie spice, use that. If not, you can use a combination of cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, & ginger.
- Flour- All purpose flour is used however you can substitute white whole wheat flour to add some extra nutrition to these muffins.
- Baking Powder, Baking Soda, & Salt- For rise and flavor!
For the Cream Cheese Topping
- Egg- The egg in the cream cheese mixture will make the cream cheese set instead of melt.
- Cream Cheese- Make sure it’s softened or the mixture will be lumpy. Here’s my favorite way to quickly soften cream cheese.
- Granulated Sugar- Adds a hint of sweetness to the cream cheese filling.
- Vanilla- A little bit of vanilla is added for flavor.
how to make pumpkin cream cheese muffins
- Prep and Combine Wet Ingredients: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F and grease a muffin tin with non-stick cooking spray. In a bowl, combine the pumpkin puree, eggs, sugar, oil, sour cream, & vanilla.
- Combine Wet & Dry Ingredients: In small bowl, combine the dry ingredients: flour, pumpkin pie spice, baking powder, baking soda, & salt. Then fold in the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients until just combined.
- Make Cream Cheese Filling: Combine the cream cheese, egg, sugar and vanilla in a medium bowl and whisk until lump free. Place into a piping bag.
- Assemble: Fill the muffin tins about 3/4 of the way full with the pumpkin muffin mixture. Then, pipe about one tablespoon of the cream cheese mixture into the muffin.
- Bake: The pumpkin cream cheese muffins for about 15-20 minutes or until the muffins look set and no longer jiggly. Allow them to cool for 5 minutes and then transfer them to a cooling rack to cook completely.
Tips for Success
- Don’t over mix once you add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients! This can cause a tough muffin.
- If you want these muffins to be extra sweet, add some chocolate chips into the pumpkin muffin batter!
- If you prefer, you can substitute the sour cream for greek yogurt!
- Freeze the leftover muffins (if you have any), for up to 3 months in an airtight container. Thaw completely in the fridge before eating.
- To get extra fancy top muffins with pumpkin seeds aka pepitas! They add a nice crunch and look so pretty on top!
More Muffin Recipes to Try
- Flourless Peanut Butter Banana Muffins
- Morning Glory Muffins
- Corn Muffins
- Chocolate Chip Muffins
- Best Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins
Pumpkin Cream Cheese Muffins
These Pumpkin Cream Cheese Muffins are perfectly soft and moist and loaded with sweet cream cheese! They taste just like Starbucks Pumpkin Cream Cheese Muffins but better! The perfect Fall breakfast or dessert!
Ingredients
- 15 ounce can pumpkin puree
- 2 large eggs
- 1 1/2 cups light brown sugar
- 1/2 cup oil
- 3/4 cup sour cream
- 1 tbsp vanilla extract
- 1 tbsp pumpkin pie spice
- 2 cups all purpose flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp salt
Cream Cheese Filling
- 1 large egg
- 8 ounces cream cheese, softened
- 1/4 cup granulated sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a muffin tin with non stick cooking spray.In a large bowl combine pumpkin puree, eggs sugar, oil, sour cream and vanilla.
- In a small bowl combine flour, pumpkin pie spice, baking powder, baking soda and salt.Fold in dry ingredients to wet ingredients and mix just until combined.
- Scoop muffin batter into the prepared muffin tin. Fill 3/4 of the way full.Add cream cheese filling to a piping bag and pipe about 1 tablespoon of cream cheese filling into each muffin.
- Bake for 15-20 minutes or until the muffins look set and no longer jiggly.Allow the muffins to cool for 5 minutes then transfer them to a cooling rack to cool completely.
Cream Cheese Filling
- Add all of the ingredients to a medium bowl. Whisk until smooth and lump free. Set aside.
Nutrition Information
Calories: 273kcalCarbohydrates: 35gProtein: 4gFat: 13gSaturated Fat: 4gPolyunsaturated Fat: 2gMonounsaturated Fat: 6gTrans Fat: 0.03gCholesterol: 49mgSodium: 187mgPotassium: 154mgFiber: 1gSugar: 22gVitamin A: 3951IUVitamin C: 1mgCalcium: 62mgIron: 1mg
Did you make this?
I’d love to hear your feedback! Leave a review and make sure to share your pictures on social media! Don’t forget to follow @thechefsavvy.
Steph
We made these over the weekend and my kids went crazy for them! Made them into minis too and they were so good
Grammy
These muffins baked up high and moist.
I don’t make any changes to the recipe other than mixing all ingredients into the same bowl rather than separating wet and dry as recommend.They were delicious and not too sweet. It recommend this recipe as it is easy to follow!
Su
Love these muffins! For my variation, I substituted half of the flour with oat bran and added 1 tbsp of golden flax which gave it a nuttier taste and a little more texture. Also, sprinkled a few chopped walnuts to the top before baking. My bake time was 25 minutes.
A ziploc bag worked great for a pastry bag.
Kelley Simmons
I love your substitutions! Golden flax and oat bran sound great!
Missy mcsheehy
Can you freeze these?
Kelley Simmons
Yes! They freeze really well and keep for up to 3 months in an airtight container in the freezer!
Helen
Not a big fan of pumpkin but these muffins are very good
Annabee
Super yummy. Did a little tweaking. Since I got 29 Oz cans of Libby’s pumpkin I did 14.5 oz instead, protein yogurt instead of sour cream, light cream cheese ( I used a little more, I used the entire small tub so no left overs), and Splenda (to replace granulated sugar). These are so good! I ended up being able to make 24 muffins with this and turned out to be 181 kcal’s each. Super great treat to have in the morning with my coffee. I love that I can freeze them as well.
*Notes I would say. Because I have a 6 piece muffin tin I did these in batches. I found that they would rise if left for a bit! So when I tried to do that for the last 12 they were fluffier!
Just Jodes
Nice pumpkin flavor, cream cheese makes these extra delish! Made them gluten free with no issue. Enjoy!
Jan
These were really good. I did not pipe in the filling, I spooned some of the pumpkin batter into my muffin papers, then spooned 1 Tbl of the cream cheese filling into the middle, then carefully added more pumpkin batter around the cream cheese with a small spoon. I also substituted coconut oil for the oil and used a bit less, and only added 1 cup of sugar to the batter, and only 1/8 cup of sugar to the cream cheese. Still plenty sweet. This was a soft, moist muffin. The cream cheese looked a bit yellowish after adding the egg, next time I might just add 2 egg whites. Loved this recipe! Thanks. I will use it again with my own variations. A great one to have in my baking toolbox! Well done, Chef Savvy! Jan.
Kelley Simmons
Yah so glad you enjoyed this!
Dawn
The flavor is great, but the middles of my muffins sank. The cream cheese fell to the bottom and left a hole in the top of the muffin. I tried the recipe a second time and had the same thing happen again. Not sure what is going wrong. I followed the directions exactly as they are written.
Kelley Simmons
Hi!
I am so sorry to hear that! The only thing I can think of is if they are underbaked they will sink when they cool. I would give them a little longer in the oven next time. Also when I pipe the cream cheese in I try to bring the cream cheese mixture to the top of the muffin so there shouldn’t be a gap at the top.
Hope this helps!
Kelley
L Settle
Very good. Toddler grandson likes minimuffins as they fit his hand. Made 48 + a little so made myself 2 muffin tops without the cream cheese. I wasn’t sure about filling the minis but not a problem. Thanks for this one. (Used 2scoops vanilla whey protein to boost protein and still very moist.!)
Kelley Simmons
Yah so happy to hear you and your grandson enjoyed these!!