Cream Cheese Filled Pumpkin Muffins

If I could give this recipe more than 5 stars, I would, they are absolutely DELICIOUS! I made these exactly as written, except I topped mine with a walnut streusel topping before baking instead of just plain nuts. I loved how quick and easy these were to make too...just used a bowl and a whisk and they came together in a snap! I got 20 regular sized muffins out of the recipe and I baked them @ 325 for only 14 minutes (HOT oven). Laurrie, this recipe is PERFECT...Thanks for sharing. :)

I wrote the recipe and then, after reading everyone's reviews, promptly remade it. This time I used about 3 tablespoons of powdered sugar and a teaspoon of rum extract in the cream cheese and I made an almond struesel for the top. I agree with you all, it's way better with the cream cheese sweetened and flavored. Thanks for the feedback.

These were really good muffins. I added a little powdered sugar to the cream cheese. I found that it was easier to fill the muffin cups part way, add the cream cheese, and then put another spoon of the batter on top. This keeps your cream cheese at the center instead of at the top of your muffins. Next time I will double the cream cheese mixture so that I have more of it in the middle. Thanks for a great recipe!

I made these muffins because of the dark brown sugar and spice combination. The spices were great and the muffins super moist. However, I was confused by the use of baking soda and no baking powder. Baking soda requires an acid in the recipe to work properly and I didn't see an acid listed in these ingredients-so I used 3/4 teaspoon of baking powder (more is required because the leavening power of baking soda is much greater than baking powder)and added 1/4 teaspoon baking soda. I increased the cream cheese to about 6 tablespoons, adding 3 tablespoons powdered sugar and 1/2 teaspoon vanilla. I then put a very thin layer of batter into my muffin cups, added a dollop of the cream cheese, and covered with the rest of the batter-the filling stayed in the middle of the muffins this way. Finally, I added a streusel topping as others have suggested made with 1/3 cup brown sugar, 2 tablespoons flour, 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon, and 1 tablespoon butter because I wanted to add some more sweetness. I left off the sunflower seeds. The topping MADE the muffins and was definitely my favorite part. This produced 15, not 12, beautiful muffins, and, as I have found with all pumpkin bread recipes, the flavor improves the next day.

My husband loved these, but I feel that mine turned out a big gooey. And the cream cheese just sat right atop the muffin versus being concealed inside it. I'd like to mix the cream cheese with some spices or flavorings to give it more kick... it's a nice surprise as is, but could pack even more punch.

the batter for this recipe is nice and simple, but the cream cheese did need something, so i found another recipe just like this one that called for 8oz of cheese and 1 cup of powdered sugar mixed well and frozen for about two hours prior to use in a log form in plastic wrap and aluminum foil. I also omitted the sunflower seeds. I suppose if you wanted, you could add some flavoring to the cheese or use a fruit flavored cream cheese.

THESE. ARE. FABULOUS. Didn't have cardamom, but they turned out decadently wonderful! Loved Christine's suggestion for walnut streusel topping - yummy. Thanks for a terrific recipe!

These were good - I followed the recipe except for using pecans instead of sunflower seeds. I also replaced 1/2 of the oil with applesauce. These came out moist - my kids liked them but they were not overly excited about the cream cheese - I think I would have liked it better had I added a little sugar to the cream cheese.

Great muffin recipe ~ I followed the recipe exactly, other than making a crumb topping of 1/3 cup packed brown sugar, 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour, 1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon and 1 tablespoon butter. Not sure if these taste like those from Starbucks but they are totally delicious. Thank you for sharing.

Very good muffins. I added a little powdered sugar to the cream cheese and topped with pecans instead of sunflower seeds. I used pumpkin pie mix instead of all the spices and doubled the recipe. Will be my go to recipe from now on...

these are so good..taste like pumpkin bread with cream cheese spread. I sprinkled brown sugar on the top also as suggested. I also used brown sugar Splenda in the mix.

The best recipe ever. The muffins were so moist and the mix of spices was perfect. The only change I made was not to put cream cheese filling in the muffins. Instead, I made a cream cheese frosting to put over the muffins. This is the best recipe so far on this site that I have used. I doubled the batch and it made exactly 35 regular cupcake size muffins. My family loved these!!!!

YUM! I omitted the sunflower seeds, since I didn't have any on hand, and have made this again omitting the cream cheese. GREAT mix of spices that really taste like fall. I am going to try sprinkling just a little bit of brown sugar on the top next time to get a little more crunch. One more modification - I cooked my second batch a little hotter (around 400F) to see if that would crisp them up too, and it seems to have worked well. The original recipe worked though, too, I'm just offering up my tweaks to get people thinking! Thanks!

These were amazing!!! Tons of flavor. You should definitely make these!!! The only modification I made was at the suggestion of another reviewer. I beat softened cream cheese with equal parts powdered sugar, then rolled the mixture up in plastic wrap (in the shape of a log), wrapped that in foil and freezed it for 2 hours before making the muffins. Then I took it out, cut it up and stuck pieces of it in the muffin before baking. Came out amazing! I also caution you that this recipe makes more dough than it says. I filled my muffin cups to 3/4 full and still got 5 extra muffins.

These were amazing! I added 3 T powdered sugar and 1/2 tsp almond extract to the cream cheese, then used a small melon scooper to scoop the cream cheese into mini muffin tins, then froze them for about 30 minutes. They were so easy to put in between the muffin mix when they were partially frozen. So good! I will be making these again!

I too am a huge fan of Starbucks pumpkin cream cheese muffins. However, they are rather costly. To make these more healthy I used freshly ground soft whole wheat flour in place of most of the AP flour. You could not tell at all since the pumpkin flavor overwhelms the wheat. Also, I followed the advice of another reviewer and froze the cream cheese filling. I simply used my cookie scoop and dropped the cream cheese filling on a plate and froze it. Wonderful! I had perfect cream cheese centers! Also, remembering not to beat the cream cheese until it is soup makes all the difference. It should keep its form when scooped otherwise you beat it too long! Wonderful muffins, thank you for sharing!!!

Truly outstanding--a huge hit with everyone. Except for the cardamom, which I didn't have and didn't want to spend $ on, I followed recipe exactly. It was perfectly spiced without it. Tips: 1. I knew before I read the reviews that the cream cheese needed doctoring. I added 1/4 cup powdered sugar and 1/2 tsp almond extra as others suggested. Superb. 2. The muffin texture is lovely with moisture, but at first touch you can feel the oiliness--next time I will reduce the total oil by 2 tablespoons. 3. The streusel topping written up by TheBritishBaker (reviewer) gives a nice crispy texture to the top: 1/3 cup brown sugar; 2 tablespoons flour; 1/8 tsp cinnamon; 1 tablespoon butter. I put it in a food processor. Quick and perfectly blended, then just sprinkle over top before baking. Makes the muffins pretty too. 4. Can't remember who suggested it, but the notion of rolling the cream cheese/sugar/extract into a slender log and freezing it 30 mins works very well. I cut the log into 12 identical blobs and quickly rolled them into little balls (the powdered sugar makes this possible). I pressed a little ball into the half-filled muffin cup, giving it a tiny shove to push it down a bit, then covered it with more muffin batter. This method turned out 12 identical muffins, generously sized, and the cream cheese center was beautifully round shaped and perfectly centered. I used standard muffin cups, not the really big or really small ones. This is definitely a keeper. We love them!

I like these using pumpkin pie filling!

This will be a family favorite for years to come.I did change it up some by adding 1 cup cranberries and chopped pecans.As for the cream cheese I added powdered sugar as suggested with added cinnamon/sugar. I filled all the cups 1/2 full added the cream cheese mixture and came back and added the rest of the pumpkin mixture.Although it would taste great even without the cream cheese and I didn't have the spice cardamom.

So delicious! Definitely a new favorite recipe I plan to make many times a year!!! I made a few modifications based on some other reviews and some of my own. I substituted the vege oil for natural applesauce, I used 3/4 cup (lightly packed) brown sugar I substituted baking soda for 1.5 tsps of baking powder, I also have a gluten allergy and used brown rice flour. For the cream cheese filling I used 8 ozs(I wanted more than a tsp of cream cheese filling), I sweetened it with 2 tsps of confectioners sugar and 1/2 tsp vanilla. I filled regular size muffin cups a little less than half way, then I added the cream cheese, I then added more pumpkin mixture on top until muffin cup was filled. I opted to use crushed pecans, brown sugar (btwn 1/4-1/3 cup of each) and butter (about 1 tbsp, melted))mixed together with my fingers for my topping. Mine only took about 18 minutes to bake. I got 14 muffins out of the mixture.The minute they can out of the oven both my husband and I enjoyed one :)

I just made these today - I didn't have dark brown sugar, so I added 1 tblsp molasses. I also put in some raisins, that I re-hydrated first. I added 1 C of powdered sugar to the cream cheese and that was it. These muffins were the best I have ever had!!! - the cake is so moist and delicious. I would make these again even if I didn't have the cream cheese filling - SUPER RECIPE. A definite keeper. Thanks so much for sharing.

We love these muffins! I have to say that if this is the best of your ability, Wow! I used fresh pumpkin the first time that I made them, which I think, makes all pumpkin recipes better. I had to go out and find the cardamom, which I had never used before, and now is one of my favorites to use in different recipes. I wouldn't want to make these without the cardamom though. My husband and my children love these too.

Very Very Good!

Over 100 employees and most of them were left. Sorry, not a hit at work.

Delicious. I also added scant 1/4 cup of sugar to cream cheese. Left out nuts but they prob would have been better with some texture and crunch. Will def make again.

Fantastic recipe - Thank you for sharing!! I used coconut oil instead of vegetable oil as I gave up vegetable oil a couple of years ago. Also my spice cabinet isn't very extensive so replaced the following with 2 tsp pumpkin pie spice: 1/4 tsp ground cloves 1 tsp pumpkin pie spice 1/4 tsp ground cardamom 1/2 tsp ground ginger My boyfriend doesn't like sweets as a rule and he LOVED them! The spices tasted great and my whole house smelled amazing while they were cooking and for hours after.

We really enjoyed these muffins. I did make a few changes just based on the ingredients that I had and our personal preferences. I do not have any cardamom, so I just left that out. Also, I wasn't sure about a sunflower topping, so I made a streusel topping with flour, brown sugar, a little butter and cinnamon. This worked well with the muffins. Thanks for a great autumn muffin recipe.

I followed the recipe exactly, except sprinkled more brown sugar on top instead of sunflower seeds. The streusel topping would be good too. I thought these were very good. The only reason I am not giving them 5 stars is I thought the cream cheese filling could use a little sugar to be just a tad sweet. I will try that next time. These are a keeper!

I added some pumpkin pie spice and cinnamon to the cream cheese (wish I added powdered sugar). I didn't have any cardamon sadly. These turned out good though and my family is enjoying them.

Very good. I have made several times since i found this recipe a few weeks ago. I make a cream cheese icing to drizzle on top of part of the batch for those that want something sweeter.

Oh my heavens!!!! Thank you thank you!

Made these today. They have a good flavor and very moist. They did not rise well though.

They were so moist and spicy. I wish I was more generous with the cream cheese because I did cut it down a tad.

I entered these in a local (for fun) muffin baking contest and won 1st place. My husband said these are the best thing I ever baked and I bake a lot. Enjoy

Very good. Looked exactly like the picture.

I haven't made them try but my mouth is watering already! I used to get these from my favorite coffee stand when i was preggo with my first son, (I craved pumpkin like crazy with him!) I am so excited to try my own, wish me luck!

So delightful! I made my filling more like a cream cheese frosting- half cream cheese, half butter, about 4 tbs of sugar (I didn't have powdered at the moment, but granulated was fine) and a sprinkle each of cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, allspice. I feel like this is more like the recipe a certain coffee shop uses, their cream cheese filling is definitely flavored. I filled each muffin cup about 1/3 of the way, then added the cream cheese frosting (it was runny) and then topped off with more muffin batter. The cream cheese baked in and had a good, cake-like texture (not runny or gummy). I also added a bit more baking soda, as the recipe just seemed a little short of leavening to me. They turned out absolutely delicious! The muffins themselves are not super sweet, which is perfect (it's a muffin, not a cupcake!) and made the flavored cream cheese/frosting filling a nice sweet surprise in the center. A great recipe, and very seasonal!

Don't know what I did wrong and I'll certainly try again and amend rating. Made exactly as directed with only exception being to use home made pumpkin (but I was careful to weigh exactly 15oz before using). I wasn't sure what size muffin tin to use - people had commented that the made around 20 regular cupcake size muffins so I assumed the original recipe was for the larger muffin tins. Which I used. I came out with 9 muffins that were so dense and compact they were virtually inedible. I tested my baking soda as a precaution (although I regularly change it) and it was fine, so that wasn't the problem. The only thing I can think of was the size of the pan (although I wouldn't think that would make that much of a difference. I did increase baking time to about 32 minutes. So, in summary, I don't know if it was a) homemade pumpkin vs canned or b) using larger size tins vs regular or c) just one of those bad baking days.

the flavor of the muffins was good but did not care for the glob of cream cheese in the centre...next time I will try another recipe that has a better idea for the filling.

Delicious! After reading a few of the reviews I decided to sweeten the cream cheese. I added 1/2 cup powdered sugar to 4 oz of the cream cheese. I filled the cupcake tin 1/2 full of pumpkin mixture, added 1/2 tbs. of cream cheese and added topped it with more pumpkin mixture to cover the cream cheese. I'm not a fan of sunflower seeds, so I made a streusel topping of 1/2 cup of flower, 1/4 cup packed brown sugar, 1/2 tsp. cinnamon, and 1/2 stick of softened butter. I combined them with my fingers and crumbled the mixture on top of the cupcake. Bake for 25 minutes at 350 and they came out perfect! Not too gooey, but dry enough to be considered a muffin and not a cupcake.

Try to sweeten the cream cheese then freeze it! It was strange eating a sweet muffin and biting into warm cheese!

Fantastic muffins!! I added sugar and vanilla to the cream cheese, added a brown sugar topping, and used 2 t. baking powder instead of the soda for a puffier muffin. These are wonderful!!

Excellent! Instead of oil I used 1/2 cup of apple sauce. I added 2 tbsp crystallized ginger to the batter. Added powdered sugar and almond extract to Neufchatel. Topped it off with streusel and walnuts.

delicious. i just mixed some powdered sugar and cinnamon into the cream cheese

Great recipe! I subbed homemade apple sauce for oil, took out half sugar and added a bit of almond milk...turned out fantastic!

Loved it but found it made 16-18 reg sized muffins! I tried without flavouring the cream cheese and it was much better with the added icing/powdered sugar. Melted cream cheese, added 2-3 tbsp icing sugar and mixed - tasted more like icing vs cream cheese... Yummy!

WOW! WOW! WOW! So incredibly good! This recipe made 12 muffins, but the muffin cups were very full and when they baked, they puffed right up and over the edge. Perfect! Just like the ones at coffee shops! I did sweeten the cream cheese as some have suggested. For the spices, all I had was cinnamon, nutmeg and ginger, so I used a tablespoon of cinnamon and 1/2 t. each of nutmeg and ginger. Texture was perfect! Not gummy at all. Beautiful crumb. Just delicious!

Excellent! All my grandchildren loved them.

I used coconut oil for the muffins and added some powdered sugar to the cream cheese mixture.

These were no good.... for my waistline! So delicious. I had two and was contemplating a third. I left off the sunflower seeds, but the flavor is just incredible. I also sweetened the cream cheese with a bit of confectioners sugar and a splash of vanilla. Awesome. Thanks for sharing your recipe witchywoman.

Yummy! I searched for a recipe that included cardamom and found this one. I thought the addition of cream cheese would be wonderful and it is. I love the mixture of spices and tanginess of the cream cheese. These are worth making again.

Deserves 6 stars! Like others, made as listed, but made a crumble top. Buried the cream cheese in batter, then topped with 1/2 c. packed brown sugar, 3 T. flour, 1/4 t. cinnamon, 2 T. cold butter crumbled. Fantastic! Make sure to bake long enough. The cream cheese slows down the baking of the batter, I think.

These were very good. Not fluffy, didn't rise much. Need to really submerge the cream cheese in order for it to be in the center of the muffin. Will make again!

Where's the sweetness?? These turned out good, but I'd prefer them to be sweeter. And now reading through the reviews, sweetening the cream cheese would have been better too. So next round, I'll be adding regular sugar to the recipe and sweetening up the cream cheese as well.

Love This Recipe! I made it in an 8x8 in square pan (put most batter in, dollop in cream cheese, then dollop over with remaining batter) . As other reviewers, I used 8 oz cream cheese and 1 c powdered sugar. Also used about 1/3 of flour as whole wheat flour. When I make again I might try adding some egg to the cream cheese to lighten it, but might not. Its really good and just as good a few days later. We use it for breakfast or wrap and take for snack at work. If you like pumpkin pie you will Love this.

Very good, next time I think I will fill with cream cheese icing instead of plain cream cheese!

Phenomenal! I absolutely loved these and was so sad to see them disappear over the course of the week! Just amazing! Thanks for sharing!

I thought these muffins were really good. The only things I changed about the recipe is I used 1/4 c plain Greek yogurt instead of oil. Also as suggested by another reviewer, I just used pumpkin pie spice (1 tbsp)and I mixed 2 packets of Stevia with the cream cheese. Turned out good for me.

These tasted good. Not amazing. The picture is deceiving, there are not crumbles on top, you'd have to add that part on your own. Also, next time I'll make a cream cheese frosting of some sort to put inside, rather than just a spoonful of straight cream cheese. With the crumbles on top & the cream cheese modification, I think they'd be much better.

I added mini chocolate chips on top instead of sunflower seeds.

Best ever muffin for me. Will make new batch tomorrow and not give so many away! Instead of sunflower seeds I topped with chopped honey roasted mixed nuts.

I loved the heavy spice blend in these, but the chewy gummy texture was less than desirable

These are great!! We like using as little sugar as possible, so here are the changes I made.... 2/3 cup sugar only, & cut the oil to 1 cup. I added 1 tsp of vanilla to the cream cheese. We are touchy with some spices so I used the pumpkin pie spice, 1/2 the cinnamon, and just a pinch of clove. Many of the other spices in the recipe are already in the pumpkin pie spice, so I omitted them.

I loved the flavor and texture of these muffins. Since I have some folks who aren't a fan of cream cheese I used chocolate as the filling in half the batch. I also opted to top with Chia seeds instead of sunflower - mild flavor and crunch. Both (fillings) turned out great! I ended up with 16 muffins both times I've made them.

fantastic will make again for sure

First I would like to say I really appreciate all the comments, I found them very helpful when making these. The only changes I made is using un-sweetened applesauce instead of oil, added 1 cup of raisins and used a pecan and brown sugar topping. After seeing all of the comments about the cream cheese filling, I used the following for mine: 8 oz cream cheese, 2 tsp. vanilla, 1 egg yolk and 1/4 cup of white sugar. They turned out absolutely delicious! Thank you so much for posting this yummy recipe!

Too much spice and not sweet enough. More of a healthier snack than comfort food.

Wow, my family loved these muffins! The filling was a glorious surprise for them. Made per directions and put a glaze on because there must be frosting or the troops think it's too healthy.

I made this to bring to colleagues at a meeting. Amazing and very well received! My husband and I own a spice store so I had fresh, high quality spices, which everyone should use. For the cream cheese filling I found a honey pecan cream cheese at the store and it was amazing! Thanks for the recipe! I got to be a rock star!

As many others recommended, I added a couple of tablespoons of powdered sugar to the cream cheese, and then also added the zest of one orange before filling the muffins .... it was a nice combination! The muffins looked a bit plain so I added some chopped walnuts to the top before baking and this really helped.

Everyone loved these muffins! I will definitely be using this recipe again! I did substitute 1 cup butter for the oil. I used chopped frozen cranberries, which always add moistness to everything they’re baked in. I also added ( 2 squares) white almond bark (shredded). And topped them with a strudel made of oats, pecans, brown sugar and coconut. The cream cheese I mixed with 1/4 c white sugar, almond extract and a splash of southern comfort. I had leftover ingredients from Christmas baking, so I used some of them up. Thank you for sharing the original recipe and to everyone who left reviews an suggestions. I look forward to doing this again and going for a healthier option.

As I was gathering the dry ingredients I realized it had no baking powder, so I added 1 1\2 tsp . Don't know if she forgot it or what but they turned out well and my husband said they were very good . I also noticed that the cream cheese just stayed pretty much on top not in the middle as pictured but was still very good . Maybe I didn't push it far enough down in the batter.

absolutely dissapointed, i made these using the exact measurements and ingredients only to get a dry overly spiced muffin, maybe change the spice measurments because all that i tasted was spice, and maybe do this with a cream cheese frosting instead.

I made it twice, the first time following the original recipe, the the second time I made the changes as suggested by the contributor. It really earned the five stars with the sweetened and rum flavored cream cheese!

I omitted the seeds and I whipped the cream cheese with cinnamon and sugar before stuffing the muffins. Very moist and delicious!