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Pumpkin Spice Muffins with Cream Cheese

Pumpkin Spice Muffins with Cream Cheese
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These Pumpkin Spice Muffins with Cream Cheese offer a warm, moist, and tender autumn-inspired treat featuring a luscious cream cheese filling. Perfect for cozy breakfasts, brunches, or snacks, they blend rich pumpkin flavor with seasonal spices and a tangy sweet center, delivering a bakery-quality delight that’s easy to make and customize.

Ingredients

Scale

Muffin Batter

  • 1 ¾ cups all-purpose flour (or gluten-free flour blend)
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • ½ teaspoon baking soda
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • 1 ½ teaspoons cinnamon
  • ½ teaspoon ground nutmeg
  • ¼ teaspoon ground cloves
  • 1 cup pumpkin puree (canned or homemade)
  • ⅔ cup granulated sugar
  • ⅓ cup vegetable oil
  • 2 large eggs (or flax eggs for vegan alternative)
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Cream Cheese Filling

  • 4 ounces cream cheese, softened (or vegan cream cheese)
  • ¼ cup granulated sugar
  • ½ teaspoon vanilla extract

Instructions

  1. Prepare the Cream Cheese Filling: Beat the cream cheese with sugar and vanilla extract until smooth and creamy. Set this aside as the luscious filling for your muffins.
  2. Mix the Dry Ingredients: In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves. This thorough blend ensures every bite has consistent flavor.
  3. Combine the Wet Ingredients: In another bowl, mix pumpkin puree, sugar, vegetable oil, eggs, and vanilla extract until fully combined and smooth. This creates the moist base for the muffin batter.
  4. Incorporate Dry Ingredients into Wet: Gradually fold the dry mixture into the wet mixture, stirring gently just until combined to keep muffins tender and soft. Avoid overmixing.
  5. Fill Muffin Tins: Line your muffin tin with paper liners. Spoon a bit of batter into each cup, add a dollop of the cream cheese filling in the center, then cover with more batter until the cups are about 3/4 full.
  6. Bake to Perfection: Place the tray in a preheated oven at 350°F (175°C) for 20-25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted near the edge (not through the cream cheese center) comes out clean.
  7. Cool and Enjoy: Allow the muffins to cool in the tin for 10 minutes before transferring them to a wire rack to cool completely. This helps them set perfectly without breaking apart.

Notes

  • Use room temperature cream cheese and eggs for smoother mixing and creamier filling.
  • Do not overmix the batter to keep muffins light and fluffy.
  • Use freshly ground spices for the best flavor.
  • Fill muffin cups evenly to ensure uniform baking and avoid overflow.
  • Test doneness by inserting a toothpick near the edge, avoiding the cream cheese center for accurate results.
  • For variations, add nuts, chocolate chips or swap to vegan/gluten-free alternatives as desired.
  • Cool muffins properly to prevent breaking when removing from pan.

Nutrition

Keywords: pumpkin spice muffins, cream cheese muffins, autumn muffins, pumpkin muffins, breakfast muffins, seasonal baking, gluten-free muffins, cozy recipes

Find it online: https://cherrycooks.com/pumpkin-spice-muffins-with-cream-cheese/