Cream Cheese Pumpkin Muffins are moist and perfectly spiced! A delicious fall breakfast made with canned pumpkin, pumpkin spice, and a cream cheese swirl topping.
Cream Cheese Pumpkin Muffins
Since these Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Muffins are always a hit on my blog, I knew I had to share this cream cheese swirl version. These easy Pumpkin Muffins with Cream Cheese taste and smell like fall! Now that the weather’s getting cooler, they are perfect for making on a lazy Sunday morning and take less than 30 minutes to bake. And if you’re not aware, I have a TON of pumpkin recipes you’ll love if you’re a sucker for pumpkin. Don’t miss these Pumpkin Baked Oatmeal, Pumpkin Muffins or this Pumpkin Bread.
Pumpkin Cream Cheese Muffin Ingredients
- Flour: White whole wheat and all-purpose flours
- Sugar: I used raw sugar, but any kind will work.
- Baking Soda helps the muffins rise.
- Spices: Pumpkin pie spice, nutmeg, cinnamon
- Salt balances the sweetness.
- Pumpkin: Buy canned pumpkin puree, not pumpkin pie filling.
- Oil: I used coconut oil, but you can use any kind, like canola, vegetable, or olive oil.
- Vanilla Extract for flavor
- Cream Cheese Topping: 1/3-less fat cream cheese, sugar, egg yolk, vanilla
How to Make Pumpkin Muffins with Cream Cheese
- Prep: Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line a muffin tin with paper liners and lightly spray them with oil for easy removal.
- Dry Ingredients: Whisk the flours, sugar, baking soda, spices, and salt in a medium bowl.
- Wet Ingredients: In a large bowl, beat the pumpkin, oil, egg, and vanilla at medium speed with a hand mixer. Once thick, scrape down the sides of a bowl.
- Add the flour mixture to the pumpkin mixture and blend at low speed until combined. Be careful not to over-mix.
- Cream Cheese Topping: Beat the cream cheese until smooth, and slowly mix in the sugar, egg yolk, and vanilla.
- How to Put Cream Cheese Filling in Muffins: Pour the batter into the prepared muffin tin, and drop one tablespoon of cream cheese on the tops of each muffin. Gently swirl the frosting with the toothpick from the edge to the center of the batter.
- Bake the pumpkin cream cheese muffins on the center rack for 24 to 26 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Let them cool before serving.
Pumpkin Muffin Variations
- Sugar: Swap raw sugar for granulated or brown sugar.
- Flour: Use all white whole wheat or all-purpose flour, depending on what you have.
- Gluten-Free Pumpkin Muffins: I haven’t tried it, but if you’re gluten-free, use a GF flour, like Cup4Cup. If you try it, comment below to let me know how they turned out!
- Spices: If you’re out of pumpkin spice but have the individual components, add more cinnamon and nutmeg along with ginger, cloves, and allspice.
- Oil: Sub coconut oil for whatever kind you have available.
- Pumpkin Bread: To make these muffins into a quick bread, pour the batter into a loaf pan and increase the baking time to about 50 minutes. To test for readiness, insert a toothpick in the center – when it comes out clean, remove the pan from the oven.
- Mini Pumpkin Muffins: Pour the batter into a mini muffin tin and top with one teaspoon of cream cheese. Bake at 350°F for approximately 20 minutes, checking them with a toothpick.
How To Store These Healthy Pumpkin Muffins
- It’s best to refrigerate the pumpkin muffins you don’t eat because of the cream cheese swirl. You can freeze them, but I personally think they taste better fresh or refrigerated. They will keep for up to five days.
- Freeze the leftovers in a resealable plastic bag, label it with the name and date, and freeze for up to three months. Let them thaw to room temperature before eating.
FAQs
The best part about these healthy pumpkin cream cheese muffins is that they are under 200 calories! They are so much lighter than any bakery or Starbucks muffins. Most pumpkin recipes use at least a half cup of butter or oil, but these only use two tablespoons for the whole batch. Thanks to the canned pumpkin, they are so moist yet still light.
1. Ingredients: Even though they don’t have much added oil, the pumpkin, egg, and cream cheese all prevent these pumpkin muffins from being dry.
2. Don’t overmix: When stirring the flour mixture into the pumpkin, mix them just enough to combine everything. Gluten activation begins when the wet and dry ingredients combine, and over-mixing will produce too much gluten, causing the muffins’ texture to be tough.
3. Set a timer: Over-baking will result in dry muffins. Set a timer so you don’t forget about them, and check them with a toothpick at 24 minutes. If your oven runs hot, check on them a few minutes before.
Weight Watchers Pumpkin Muffins
If you’re on Weight Watchers and want to lower the points, you can swap the sugar for equal amounts of monk fruit sweetener. That will drop the WW Points to 4 WW Points each.
More Pumpkin Breakfast Recipes You’ll Love
- Pumpkin Baked Oatmeal Cups
- Pumpkin Banana Bread
- Pumpkin Spiced Quinoa Breakfast Cookies
- Pumpkin Spice Pancakes with Pumpkin Butter
- Pumpkin Oatmeal Smoothie
Cream Cheese Pumpkin Muffin Recipe
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup white whole wheat flour, King Arthur
- 3/4 cups unbleached all purpose flour, King Arthur
- 3/4 cup raw sugar
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
- 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
- 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 1/2 cups canned pumpkin, not pumpkin pie filling
- 2 tbsp coconut oil
- 1 large egg
- 1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- baking spray
CREAM CHEESE TOPPING (makes 3/4 cup)
- 5 oz 1/3 less fat cream cheese
- 2 tablespoons raw sugar
- 1 large egg yolk
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350F. Line a muffin tin with paper liners and lightly spray liners with oil for easy removal.
- In a medium bowl, combine flours, sugar, baking soda, pumpkin spice, nutmeg, cinnamon, and salt with a wire whisk. Set aside.
- In a large bowl mix pumpkin puree, oil, egg and vanilla; beat at medium speed until thick. Scrape down sides of the bowl.
- Add flour mixture to the wet mixture, then blend at low speed until combined; do not over mix.
- In a large bowl, beat the cream cheese until smooth. Slowly beat in the sugar, egg yolk and vanilla extract until combined.
- Pour batter into prepared muffin tin. Drop about 1 tablespoon of the cream cheeseto the tops of each muffin. Using a toothpick gently swirl the frosting from the edge to the center into the batter.
- Bake on the center rack for 24 to 26 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
- Let them cool before serving.
