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Pumpkin Cream Cheese Muffins are everything I love about fall, in muffin form. They’re perfect for breakfast with a mug of your favorite coffee, or a sweet ending to a cozy dinner.
Okay, so do you remember when I was complaining last week that it was too warm outside and that I totally felt like I was being cheated out on fall weather?
If you caught my post for Frosted Maple Pecan Marshmallow Treats you were probably giving me major side-eye as I whined that is was almost 80 degrees and my sweet babe was still rocking her favorite summer dress in October.
I’m giving myself the side-eye now because it’s freezing in Ohio. As a matter of fact, it was SNOWING a few days ago. So now we’ve pretty much skipped over fall and are headed directly into winter.
Which, by the way has prompted me to take down all of our fall decorations and start decorating for Christmas. And we may or may not already have some of our Christmas lights hanging outside.
Before you judge me and tell me it’s too early, know that we won’t flip the switch any sooner than Thanksgiving. Okay, maybe a day or two sooner.
Seriously though, I’m not trying to rush Christmas, but I just love how cozy our house feels with garland, warm white lights, and pretty flocked trees. If I’m being honest, a month just isn’t long enough for us, so we’re decking our halls ultra early and I’m not one bit sorry about it.
Now that the weather has flipped, I’m totally in the comfort food mindset and have a huge list of recipes that I want to share with you in the coming months. Some are sweet, some are savory, but they’re all incredibly delicious and perfect for the holiday season.
If you’ve been around My Baking Addiction for quite some time, these pumpkin cream cheese muffins may look a little familiar to you. That’s because I originally posted them way back in 2012 and I’ve been obsessed with them ever since.
Aside from pumpkin bread, pumpkin roll and pumpkin cheesecake, these little pumpkin cream cheese muffins are one of my absolute favorite fall recipes to make and share. I mean, who can resist pumpkin, cream cheese and a streusel topping? Not this girl.
The recipe makes about two dozen muffins, so they’re perfect for baking up and sharing with neighbors, coworkers, teachers, and of course family!
Package them up in a bakery box with some twine and a cute tag and you have a beautiful and delicious hostess gift for any fall occasion.
Toasted up in the oven a day or two later, they might almost be better than fresh out of the oven. Almost.
You know what I’m thinking? I’m thinking Thanksgiving morning breakfast! How about you?
Pumpkin Cream Cheese Muffins
Ingredients:
For the Filling
- 1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, slightly softened
- 1 large egg
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 3 tablespoons light brown sugar
For the Streusel Topping
- 4 1/2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 5 tablespoons granulated sugar
- 3/4 teaspoon homemade pumpkin pie spice
- 1/4 cup chopped pecans
- 3 tablespoons unsalted butter, slightly softened and diced
For the Muffin Batter
- 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 cups granulated sugar
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 2 1/2 teaspoons homemade pumpkin pie spice
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 2 large eggs
- 1 1/3 cups canned pumpkin
- 1/3 cup vegetable oil
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
For the Optional Glaze
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 to 2 tablespoons milk
Directions:
- Preheat oven to 375°F. Spray muffin tins with nonstick cooking spray or line with paper muffin liners.
- Prepare the Filling: In a medium bowl, with an electric mixer, beat cream cheese until soft; about 3 minutes. Add egg, vanilla and brown sugar. Beat until pretty smooth - there may be some cream cheese chunks, that's perfectly fine. Set aside.
- Prepare the Streusel Topping: In a medium bowl, mix flour, sugar, pumpkin pie spice and pecans. Add butter and cut it in with a fork until crumbly. Set aside.
- Prepare the Muffin Batter: In a large bowl, sift together flour, sugar, baking powder, pumpkin pie spice and salt. Add eggs, pumpkin, oil and vanilla. Beat with an electric mixer until just combined and smooth - do not overbeat .
- Using a large scoop, evenly distribute the muffin batter between 24 muffin wells. Add one tablespoon of the cream cheese mixture into the center of the batter of each muffin. Try to keep cream cheese from touching the paper cup. Sprinkle on the streusel topping.
- Bake in preheated over for 20 to 25 minutes. Remove muffin pans to cooling racks and allow the muffins to cool completely before serving.
- Optional Glaze: Once the muffins are cool, stir together the powdered sugar, vanilla and 1 teaspoon of milk at a time until you reach the desired consistency. You want the glaze to be just thin enough to drizzle over the muffins.
Notes:
Pumpkin Cream Cheese Muffins are best served the day they are made; however, they will keep in an airtight container within the refrigerator for up to 2 days.Follow Jamie on Instagram. We love to see what you're baking from MBA! Be sure to tag @jamiemba and use the hashtag #mbarecipes!
The best pumpkin muffin I have made by far, love this recipe, they were extra good warm, one of the best thing about this recipe is that all of the ingredience are things that are always in my kitchen.
So happy to hear you enjoyed the recipe! Thanks so much for stopping by! Happy Baking!
-Jamie
I loved your recipe! I’m doing a little cakes and muffins, and I did not even know a pumpkin recipe. Your pumpkin seasoning recipe is wonderful, thank you for sharing.
So happy to hear you enjoyed the recipes, Marian! Thanks so much for stopping back to leave your feedback!
-Jamie
Would like more of a breakfast muffin and less of a dessert muffin – what is the impact of decreasing the sugar in the batter from 2 cups to 1 cup?
Hi, Michael! If you would like to decrease the amount of sugar in the batter, give it a taste to see if it’s to your liking. You can probably add some more sugar bit by bit until it’s the sweetness you desire. I hope this helps!
I made these and everyone at the office loved them. My one comment would be that with just putting the streusel topping on top of the cream cheese part, the muffin tops were swirled with cream cheese but the muffin bottom was just a regular pumpkin muffin. Don’t get me wrong, they were awesome. Would it work better next time if I put the cream cheese in the middle and then put more batter on top before the streusel topping?
Hi, Amanda! I think your idea would work beautifully. Let me know how they turn out!
So this is definitely going to be made for breakfast next month.
Do it! They are sooooo good! :)
Just want to let you know I baked this recipe last night for my office friends. It came out perfect and is a definite keeper! A wonderful recipe which I will make again and again, thanks!
Vickie-
I’m so glad you had success with the recipe. Thanks for visiting.
-Jamie
This sounds wonderful, but if I don’t want to make a “batch” of pumpkin pie spice, how much of the individual spices do I use for the cupcakes????????
Hi! Could you make the batter, filling & streusel ahead of time and then bake the next morning? I want to take them to work, but don’t want to wake up SUPER early :)
Ashley-
I think that would be perfectly fine! Enjoy – your co-workers are going to love you forever.
-Jamie
Most of my family is not a fan of cream cheese and as much as I’d like to hoard these for myself, I do have to share. I’m new to baking so hopefully this isn’t too dumb of a question… will these stay moist if I leave out the filling?
They should still be moist. Thanks for stopping by.
-Jamie
I have them in my oven right now, they smell amazing! Quick question, any idea if they should be refrigerated because of the cream cheese filling or is it okay since it’s been baked???