Jumbo Pumpkin Cream Cheese Muffins
Moist jumbo pumpkin muffins with sweet cream cheese filling and dotted with a soft cinnamon topping
A can of pumpkin creates so many baking opportunities, I can get overwhelmed. Okay, it’s time to focus: MUFFINS. I do not have even one muffin recipe in my roster as I write this! That has to change!
So, if you like Starbucks as much as I do, then you may be familiar with their seasonal Pumpkin Cream Cheese Muffins. They are just as it sounds: pumpkin muffins with a cream cheese filling. I felt like this can of pumpkin gave me a good opportunity to create my own version of this tasty fall treat!
A good thing about pumpkin is the moisture it contributes to baked goods. So I felt it unnecessary to add a ton of extra oil or butter to this. So I added a little bit of oil and a container of vanilla yogurt!
I did have to add all of the good spices that sometimes go along with pumpkin: cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, allspice, all the good smells!
I wanted these to be really big muffins, so I got out my trusty 6-Cup Jumbo Muffin Tin and coated it with nonstick spray (as I wanted to just easily turn them out of the pan without a huge mess of broken muffins!).
After I finished preparing my pumpkin batter and then my easy cream cheese filling, now was the time to construct these muffins and get them ready for the oven!
First, I filled each tin cavity about 1/4 to 1/3 full with pumpkin batter, and I made an indent in the center of each. Then I started building a “tower” of cream cheese in each center. After that, I was able to carefully enclose the cream cheese tower with the pumpkin batter (there’s a LOT of batter, so the tin will be very full!).
Even with the very full muffin tins, I felt these needed one last thing: a very light amount of streusel topping. I quickly threw together some melted butter, flour, cinnamon and brown sugar, and what I ended up with was a very soft, buttery topping. It wasn’t crumbly, but wet. So I basically “dotted” it on top of each muffin until I had distributed it all.
Then into the oven they went!
About 30 minutes later, they were done. About 15 minutes later, I decided to turn them out of their pan…. SUCCESS. They came out cleanly, without any falling apart!
These muffins are (no surprise) really big! They are heavy and dense with a moist bite and deliciously strong pumpkin flavor. The cream cheese filling is sweet and creamy, perfectly pairing with the fall spices. The soft streusel topping lends a nice touch to top it all off without overwhelming the already heavy muffin.
For a satisfying and filling sweet seasonal treat, try these delicious cream cheese filled pumpkin muffins!
Recipe:
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INGREDIENTS:
- 1 3/4 cups flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp ginger
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1/4 tsp nutmeg
- 1/4 tsp allspice
- 1 cup dark brown sugar
- 15oz canned pumpkin
- 2 eggs
- 1/4 cup oil
- 1/2 cup nonfat vanilla yogurt
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 4 ounces cream cheese, softened
- 1 egg yolk
- 1/4 cup white sugar
- 1 tsp cornstarch
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 3 TBS butter, melted
- 1/4 cup flour
- 3 TBS light brown sugar
- 1 tsp cinnamon
DIRECTIONS:
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
- Spray a 6-Cup jumbo muffin tin with cooking spray
- Stir together flour, baking powder, cinnamon, ginger, baking soda, salt, nutmeg and allspice; set aside.
- In a large bowl, mix together dark brown sugar, pumpkin, eggs, oil, yogurt and 1 tsp vanilla until thoroughly combined.
- Stir in flour mixture.
- Prepare the cream cheese filling by beating together the cream cheese, white sugar, cornstarch and 1 tsp vanilla until thoroughly combined.
- Fill muffin tins about 1/3 to 1/2 with pumpkin mixture.
- Make a small well in the center of the batter in each muffin tin
- Evenly divide the cream cheese mixture between the tins, in the center of the batter
- Try to build a small “tower” of cream cheese, then spoon the remaining pumpkin batter around the “tower” and over the top, completely enclosing the cream cheese (tins will be very full!)
- In a small bowl, stir together melted butter, 1/4 cup flour, 3 tablespoons brown sugar and cinnamon to create the streusel topping (this will be very soft and kinda greasy!).
- Evenly dot the muffins with the soft streusel topping.
- Bake for about 30-35 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center is no longer wet.
- Allow to cool for about 15 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack to cool completely.
NOTES:
- Make sure you’ve got a good nonstick 6-cup jumbo muffin pan for this recipe! I’ve never made this recipe in the standard size 12-cup muffin/cupcake tin, so I can’t speak to how well it would work out!
- Don’t worry if the batter seems like too much; you should be able to use all of it!
- I used a 6 ounce container of Kroger nonfat vanilla yogurt for this recipe, but any brand should work just fine!
