Pumpkin muffins with a sweet cheesecake center and topped with cinnamon streusel. These pumpkin cream cheese streusel muffins will be one of the best pumpkin muffins you ever make.
PUMPKIN CREAM CHEESE STREUSEL MUFFIN RECIPE
This recipe was posted over two years ago and it continues to be so popular every Fall. I figured it was about time to update it with new pictures, tips, and helpful hints. Enjoy friends and thank YOU so much for visiting.
I’m officially addicted to all thing Fall & Pumpkin Spice!! I went grocery shopping the other day and could not pass by anything labeled ‘pumpkin spice’ and not put it in my cart; I have no self-control when it comes to the pumpkin spice stuff.
There a few extra steps with these muffins; the cinnamon streusel, the cream cheese center, and of course the pumpkin muffins. They’re not easy mix and dump type muffins, but trust me, these muffins will be worth the extra steps.
The pumpkin muffin is so soft and full of pumpkin flavor and warm pumpkin spices. The inside is a creamy and sweet cheesecake mixture, and the tops are sprinkled with an easy cinnamon streusel. There is NO way I can ever eat just one!
How to make Pumpkin Cream Cheese Streusel Muffins
First you want to make the cream cheese center as it has to sit in the freezer while you make the muffins and streusel. It’s a simple mixture of cream cheese and powdered sugar. Be sure your cream cheese is softened so there are no lumps in it when you blend it with the sugar.
Put that in the fridge and start on your pumpkin muffins.
Combine all your dry ingredients into a mixing bowl and stir with a wire whisk. And yes, it is 1 tablespoon pumpkin pie spice + the other spices. Trust me. It’s delicious.
In a bowl of a stand mixer, or use a handheld beater in a mixing bowl, beat together the eggs, sugar, oil, and pure pumpkin. Once that is smooth and combined, add the dry ingredients and mix just until there are no flour streaks or pockets remaining.
Fill each muffin cup 1/3 full and then place a dollop of cream cheese on top. Cover the cream cheese with some more pumpkin muffin batter (see above picture for how to). Each muffin cup will be nearly to the top. It should not be overflowing, just slightly below the tops of the muffin liners.
Prepare the streusel. It’s easiest to use your clean hands to mix it. Sprinkle that on top of each muffin and bake!
These muffins bake up so nicely in the oven with a nice rounded top. I am betting that they would also be really good without the streusel topping, if you are short on time or whatever. But, you should probably just make the streusel cause it’s to die for.
The recipe calls for 2 cups of pure pumpkin NOT the pumpkin pie filling. You just want the 100% pure pumpkin. I always buy the Libby’s brand. One 15 oz can will not be enough so you will have to break out the larger can. With the pumpkin leftovers make these honey wheat pumpkin muffins. Don’t be fooled by the title, they are surprisingly so good and easily one of my favorite versions of a pumpkin muffin.
I had to send these in with my husband to work because like I mentioned earlier, I have zero self-control when it comes to pumpkin. My husband is an engineer for a construction company and the guys he works with loved these muffins. I always find it funny to think about all these big, hard-working, construction engineer guys sitting around the office eating pumpkin muffins.
More pumpkin recipe have already been requested by his office so I’ll be busy. People who love pumpkin treats as much as me are my favorite kinds of people 🙂
Tips for making Pumpkin Cream Cheese Streusel Muffins
- Just mix the muffin batter until no flor pockets or streaks remain. You want to make sure it’s mixed but take care not to over mix as that can sometimes result in more dense muffins. But, with all the pumpkin & oil and goodness in these, you’ll probably be fine.
- Be sure to make the cream cheese filling first. It does need to sit in the freezer to get cold as you prepare the muffins. I’ll admit, I forgot to make it first one time and just made it right before I added it to the muffins, and it was fine. It spreads slightly more if it’s not cold, but nothing that makes the muffins not turn out.
- I would highly recommend using regular, full-fat cream cheese. The 1/3 less fat and fat free stuff is more watery which tends to make the cream cheese center not as thick and delicious.
- I have never tried making these muffins with whole wheat flour and I would not recommend it. Whole wheat flour lends to a more dense tasting muffin, almost dry like, so I would stick with the all-purpose flour.
- I like to lightly spray the lined muffin cups before adding the batter, just to make sure that there is no sticking.
- I’ve never tried freezing these muffins so I can’t say for sure if you can freeze them. I would imagine they would freeze just fine, so it’s worth a try.
- Store these muffins covered in the fridge. Or if you’re like my house, they’ll be gone in no time and you won’t have to worry about storing them 🙂
Try these other family favorite Pumpkin Recipes
- Pumpkin Pie Pecan Cobbler
- Pumpkin Pie Crumble Bars
- Cinnamon Streusel Pumpkin Cake
- Pumpkin Sugar Cookies
- Pumpkin Cheesecake Whoopie Pies
Watch the recipe video to see how to make these Pumpkin Muffins
Pumpkin muffins with a sweet cheesecake center and topped with cinnamon streusel. These pumpkin cream cheese streusel muffins will be one of the best pumpkin muffins you ever make.
- 1 bar (8 oz) cream cheese, softened
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon nutmeg
- 1 teaspoon cloves
- 1 tablespoon pumpkin pie spice
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 4 large eggs
- 2 cups granulated sugar
- 2 cups pure pumpkin (from a 28 oz can)
- 1 1/4 cup canola or vegetable oil
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 5 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 4 tablespoons cold butter, cubed small
-
Preheat oven to 350. Line two muffin tins with paper liners.
-
Make the cream cheese filling. Beat together the cream cheese and powdered sugar until well blended in a small bowl. Put it in the freezer to chill while you prepare the muffins.
-
Make the pumpkin muffins. In a medium bowl whisk together the flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, pumpkin pie spice, salt, and baking soda. Set aside.
-
In a large bowl with handheld beater, or the bowl of a stand mixer, beat together the eggs, sugar, pumpkin, and oil until combined. Add the dry ingredients and mix until just combined.
-
Fill each muffin cup 1/3 full of pumpkin muffin batter. Top with a heaping tablespoon of the cream cheese mixture. Fill the remaining of the muffin cup with more pumpkin batter. It should be almost to the top. Make sure that the muffin batter on top covers the cream cheese center.
-
Make the cinnamon streusel. Combine the sugar, flour, cinnamon, and cold cubed butter in a small bowl. Use your hands or a pastry cutter to mix together until it resembles coarse crumbs. Sprinkle some on top of each muffin.
-
Bake 20-25 minutes or until the muffins have formed a nice peak and spring back when touched lightly. Remove and let cool before serving or eat one warm.
A small 15-ounce can of pure pumpkin will not be enough for 2 cups of pumpkin called for in the recipe. You will need to buy the larger 28-ounce can of pure pumpkin and measure out 2 cups.
To soften the cream cheese, unwrap it and put it on a microwave-safe plate. Microwave for 25-30 seconds. This will help eliminate lumps in the cream cheese mixture.
This recipe was originally published September 2016. It has been republished and updated September 2018.
Save the recipe and PIN IT to Pinterest ♥ ♥
23 Comments
Cinnamon
December 17, 2016 at 11:28 pm Should these muffins be kept refrigerated?Together As Family
December 18, 2016 at 8:08 pm Technically they should be because of the cream cheese in the center. I actually prefer these cold from the fridge. So, I would say yes keep them in the fridge and then if you prefer them room temperature, just let them sit out on the counter for a short bit before serving. Hopefully that helps!Betty
August 21, 2017 at 5:21 pm Does it make 24 muffinsTogether As Family
August 22, 2017 at 11:21 pm 18-24 muffins. I will add that into the recipe. Thanks!Lynn
August 30, 2017 at 12:23 pm Just made these.....they are wonderful had on iFit out of the oven!!!Together As Family
September 1, 2017 at 4:53 pm Awesome! You can't go wrong with cheesecake and pumpkin :)Christina Garcia
September 22, 2017 at 12:57 pm Does it really call for 2 cups of sugar????Together As Family
September 22, 2017 at 3:57 pm Yes it does :) The recipe makes quite a bit so just don't eat all the muffins.Renuka
September 25, 2017 at 1:58 pm Tried this the other day. I didn't have pumpkin pie spice. I had a pumpkin pie spice extract so I used a couple dashes of that instead. These muffins turned out to be absolutely amazing! I will definitely make these again. Thanks for a great recipe!Together As Family
September 27, 2017 at 12:33 pm Awesome! Good to now the pumpkin pie extract works in this recipe. I have actually never seen that at my grocery store! So glad you loved them and thanks for coming back to let me know.Ellen lutz
October 10, 2017 at 1:42 pm What size cans of pumpkin purée did you use?Together As Family
October 10, 2017 at 8:38 pm I just measure out 2 cups from a large can (28 oz) of pure pumpkin. A 15 oz can is about 1 3/4 + 2 tablespoons cup of pumpkin. I hope that makes sense, haha :) Let me know if you have more questions. I have a friend who has made this recipe with just the 15 oz can and it's worked fine.Melissa
October 13, 2017 at 3:10 pm Do you know if these freeze well? They sound great, but I will keep eating them if they are there!Together As Family
October 14, 2017 at 1:19 pm haha, I know what you mean :) I've never tried freezing them but I think that would work just fine. Let one sit out at room temperature for a bit or warm it in the microwave. It should work well.Taryn
October 14, 2017 at 12:09 am I just made these, and they're AWESOME! My family LOVED them. Thank you so much for sharing! :) (I don't know if I did something differently, but I was able to get 36 muffins out of your recipe instead of 24. Worked out for me! :P )Together As Family
October 14, 2017 at 1:15 pm Yay! So happy to hear they are a hit. I might have indicated the wrong yield from the recipe, not sure? I'll just have to make these again to get the accurate count, haha :) I know the recipe makes a lot of batter so it's very possible 36 is the amount of muffins. Thanks for coming back to comment.Robin Martin
October 17, 2017 at 11:27 am My daughter just made these and they are "The Bomb". They are so good and moist. We loved them and will definitely make again and again.Kent
October 19, 2017 at 8:08 am Can you make Texas size with this recipe if so how long would you cook for?Together As Family
October 23, 2017 at 5:07 pm I would set the timer for the time on the recipe and then maybe check them every few minutes after that. I am not sure of the exact size of Texas sized muffins, but I am assuming an extra 5-10 minutes may be plenty of time.Teri
November 6, 2017 at 8:30 pm I made these and cut the sugar in half and replaced it with honey and then replaced half of the oil wth applesauce. I left out the streusel part just because I didn’t want more sugar. They turned it great and my kids loved them too. Will for sure make it again!Together As Family
November 13, 2017 at 12:12 pm So good to hear! That's good to know that you can replace some of the oil with applesauce and reduce the sugar. Thank you!Twila
March 24, 2019 at 9:30 pm I make double batches of these puppies and stick them in the freezer. I believe that makes them even moister (is that a word??)!! They are delicious! I have my Mom hooked! Thank you so much for the recipe!!Together As Family
March 26, 2019 at 2:00 pm I think it's a word! Moister :) I love it and yes it perfectly describes these muffins. So glad you and your mom love this recipe.