Inspired by Starbuck’s pumpkin cream cheese muffins, these fluffy and flavor-packed muffins are easy to make, even though they look impressive! Make sure to use 100% pumpkin puree and not pumpkin pie filling. And use room temperature cream cheese for the cream cheese filling, as cold cream cheese will be lumpy. Microwave the cream cheese in 10 second bursts if you want to warm it up quickly from the fridge. Do take note that this muffin starts out with a high bake temperature of 450°F but you immediately lower the temperature to 350°F once you’ve placed the muffins in the oven. For more information about why this is, see the section above.
2teaspoonspumpkin spicesee section above for substitutions
1teaspoonvanilla extract
Topping (optional)
2tablespoonpumpkin seeds
2teaspoonsturbinado sugaror white sugar
1/4teaspoonflaky saltlike Maldon or kosher
Cream cheese filling
4ouncessoftened cream cheese1/2 brick
2tablespoonswhite sugar
1tablespoonall-purpose flour
1teaspoonvanilla extract
Instructions
Preheat the oven to 450°F and make a mental note that you will be lowering the temperature of the oven when you place the muffins in the oven. Generously spray or brush a standard 12-tin muffin pan with cooking oil.Make the muffin batter by placing the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a large bowl. Use a balloon whisk and stir vigorously until the dry ingredients are blended.Place the pumpkin puree, brown and white sugar, cooking oil, eggs, pumpkin spice and vanilla extract in a different bowl. Whisk together until smooth.
Pour the wet ingredients into the bowl of the dry ingredients. Using a large rubber or silicon spatula fold the ingredients together, bringing the spatula up from the bottom of the bowl and folding over the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients. Keep doing this until most of the dry ingredients are absorbed. Do not overmix though. A few dry spots are ok.
Evenly divide the batter into the muffin tin. I use a standard ice cream scoop to do this, but you can just spoon them in. The batter should fill and come mostly to the top of each cup.If you are using them, sprinkle the topping ingredients of the pumpkin seeds, turbinado sugar and salt around the edge of each muffin batter tin, leaving the center empty. Don’t worry too much if you get a few seeds or some sprinkles of salt in the center. Just try to keep most of it on the edge of the circle.
Make the cream cheese filling by combining the cream cheese, sugar, flour and vanilla in a small bowl. Stir with a fork until smooth.
Spoon about a teaspoon of cream cheese filling into the middle of each muffin center, pushing a little bit into the batter to make sure the filling is nestled in. You can also pipe it into the center if you wish with a frosting bag and a plain tip but I’m not fussy so I found a spoon worked for me.Place the muffin tin in the oven and immediately lower the oven temperature to 350°F. Bake for 20 to 23 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the pumpkin part of the muffin comes out clean. Let cool in the pan for 10 minutes before removing them and let them cool completely on a wire rack.