These Pumpkin Cream Cheese Muffins are moist spiced pumpkin muffins topped with sweet cream cheese that melts into them as they bake. Bonus: they only take 30 minutes! If you are looking for the best pumpkin muffins ever, get yourself ready, because these Pumpkin Cream Cheese Muffins are going to make you fall in love.
The base of these muffins is an extra moist pumpkin muffin that uses an entire can of pumpkin puree. I hate when recipes only use half a can of pumpkin and I have leftover. So, I always make sure to try to use the whole can!
Then we top those glorious pumpkin muffins with thick swirls of sweet cream cheese that melt right into the top as they bake. These muffins are almost like a cupcake that frosts itself! You might want to make a double batch, because these pumpkin cream cheese muffins tend to disappear FAST! I’m lucky if they last 24 hours in my house.
INGREDIENTS
MUFFIN:
1 3/4 cups all purpose flour
1 tablespoon pumpkin spice
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 (15 oz) can pumpkin (pure pumpkin puree)
1 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
2 large eggs
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
CREAM CHEESE SWIRL:
8 oz cream cheese
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg yolk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
INSTRUCTIONS
Preheat oven to 375°F. Place paper baking cups into muffin pan. Set aside.
In a medium bowl, whisk flour, pumpkin spice, baking soda and salt until well combined. Set aside.
In large bowl, whisk together pumpkin, sugar and brown sugar.
Beat in eggs, vegetable oil and vanilla extract. Slowly whisk in the flour mixture, until there are no lumps. Fill muffin tins 3/4 full.
In a medium bowl, beat cream cheese until smooth. Add in sugar, egg yolk and vanilla extract and beat until well combined.
Top each muffin with about 1 tablespoon of cream cheese mixture and use a toothpick to swirl it into the batter. This will not look smooth, but it will bake up much prettier. (You can see exactly how I did this in the video above.)
Bake muffins for 18-20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
I liked these best at room temperature or even slightly chilled! Store in an airtight container in the fridge.