These pumpkin cream cheese muffins combine pumpkin, fall spices, and a cream cheese swirl for one delicious bite. They’re perfect for a grab and go breakfast, a pumpkin dessert, or brunch.
Fall Breakfast
Yesterday it was like 90 degrees and today it’s rainy and 60. Almost like the world is saying hey it’s the first day of school and time for fall!
And I say to that – bring in all the fall recipes starting with these pumpkin muffins with cream cheese filling. Then if you want more pumpkin – try this pumpkin crunch cake, these pumpkin cheesecake bars, or even these pumpkin chocolate chip cookies!
There’s a secret to these muffins – they’re even better a day or two after you make them. Chill them in the refrigerator and that cream cheese filling tastes almost like cheesecake, not just cream cheese.
And right now, I think we could all use a little cheesecake for breakfast.
You’ll love these muffins because
- They use ingredients you likely already have in your pantry (other than maybe the pumpkin).
- The cream cheese filling just gets better as it sits and chills, so they’re great for making once and eating all week.
- They’re super moist and flavorful!
Ingredients
Ingredient Notes
- Pumpkin Puree – this is the same thing as just regular canned pumpkin.
- Yogurt – any kind of regular yogurt or Greek yogurt works, just make sure it’s plain, not the flavored kind.
Instructions
Once you see how easy these are to make, you’re going to want to go make them right away! I know I did!
1 – Prep
Before you get started making the muffins, preheat the oven and either spray a muffin tin or add cupcake wrappers to a muffin tin.
I love using these silicone cupcake liners because the muffins come out of them so easy. Plus, you can just wash them quickly and reuse again!
They’re great for everything from these breakfast muffins to mini calzones.
2 – Make your batter
While the oven is preheating, it’s time to make the muffin batter. Combine all the dry ingredients (flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and pumpkin pie spice) together in a large bowl.
In another bowl, combine the wet ingredients – pumpkin puree, butter, yogurt, vanilla, and egg.
Then make a well in the center of the wet ingredients and add the bowl of dry ingredients to the wet. Stir together until completely combined.
3 – Make The Filling
Combine cream cheese, vanilla, flour, sugar, and milk in a bowl and beat until smooth to make the filling.
4 – Assemble
Fill the muffin tin about a third full with batter. Add 1 TBS cream cheese mixture on top of the batter then cover with the remaining batter.
Take a toothpick and swirl the batter and cream cheese together.
Once they’re all done, bake. Allow the muffins to cool completely before removing from the muffin tins.
Enjoy either cooled or even better, chilled in the refrigerator, so that cream cheese has a chance to set and turn into that cheesecake like filling.
Expert Tips
Don’t over mix the batter, just mix until the wet and dry ingredients are well combined.
Soften the cream cheese by taking it out of the fridge about an hour before you’re ready to make these muffins. If it’s still cold, you’ll end up with cream cheese chunks instead of a smooth filling.
Only fill the muffin tin about 1/3 full the first time you add batter. If you do much more, the muffins will end up being huge and overflowing. They’ll taste fine, but you won’t get as many muffins.
When you’re adding the second half the batter, you want to fill the muffin tins only to about 3/4 full. This will keep them from overflowing.
Recipe FAQs
No, you don’t want to freeze these pumpkin muffins because of the cream cheese filling. It won’t thaw the same way the muffins do. If you want to make them without the filling, they would freeze fine.
Yes, you should refrigerate these pumpkin muffins in an airtight container. These will last for up to a week in an airtight container.
Pumpkin muffins use regular all-purpose flour. You can use either regular or an organic variety.
If you use my tip and only fill the muffin tins about 3/4 full, this recipe should make about 18 muffins.
More Easy Breakfast Recipes
- Chocolate chip zucchini bread
- Cinnamon streusel coffee cake
- French toast casserole
- Breakfast casserole with bread
- Breakfast cookies
Easy Pumpkin Cream Cheese Muffins
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 3/4 cup sugar
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
- 15 ounces canned pumpkin puree
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter melted and cooled
- 1/2 cup plain yogurt
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 egg lightly beaten
Cream Cheese Filling
- 8 ounces cream cheese softened
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 2 tsp all-purpose flour
- 5 TBS sugar
- 2 tsp milk
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Spray a muffin pan generously with baking spray or insert liners in the sections, set aside
- In a large bowl whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and pumpkin pie spice, set aside
- In a large bowl whisk together the pumpkin puree, butter, yogurt, vanilla, and egg
- Make a well in the middle of the dry ingredients and add the wet ingredients to the dry. Stir everything together until combined and there are no more dry spots, set aside.
- In a medium-sized bowl add the cream cheese, vanilla, flour, sugar, and milk. With a hand mixer on medium-speed mix until smooth and combined.
- Fill the muffin tin 1/3 up with muffin batter. Add 1 TBS cream cheese mixture on top. Top with batter until about 3/4 full.
- Take a toothpick and swirl the tops with the cream cheese and batter together.
- Bake for 22-25 minutes until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
- Let the muffins cool in the tin for 10 minutes, invert the tin and let the muffins cool completely on a wired rack.
Lisalia says
Delicious! My kids loved swirling the cream cheese into the batter. Great baking time with the little ones.