Pumpkin and Cream Cheese Muffins with Pecan Streusel
Few things go together as well as pumpkin and cream cheese. Sure there’s peanut butter and jelly, as well as peanut butter and chocolate, but warm and spicy pumpkin baked goods paired with sweet cream cheese is a match made in fall-baking heaven. Add to these muffins a pecan streusel topping and you will be hard-pressed to find a better breakfast treat once the weather starts to cool down. These pumpkin-cream cheese muffins have become one of my very favorite fall breakfast items; they taste like part muffin, part pumpkin cupcake, part coffee cake… all wonderful things in my book!
These muffins use a neat little trick to make sure that there is a nice little pocket of cream cheese in the middle and that it doesn’t float or spread out inside the muffins. The cream cheese filling mixture is prepared, shaped into a log and frozen for a couple of hours. When you’re ready to make the muffins, you put a little bit of batter in the muffin cups, then cut the log into even pieces and add a piece of frozen cream cheese filling, then add the remainder of the batter to the muffin cups.
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These muffins, as far as I’m concerned, are truly perfect. The muffin itself is moist and tender – not too airy, not too dense or dry. The cream cheese filling is as perfect a complement as I could imagine, and the pecan streusel on top is the icing on the cake. The pecans add some crunch and the streusel delivers those amazing crumbs synonymous with muffin tops and crumb cake that I can never get enough of.
I can’t think of a more amazing fall and winter breakfast treat than these muffins. They’re indulgent, cozy, and utterly delicious.
Pumpkin and Cream Cheese Muffins with Pecan Streusel
Ingredients
For the Cream Cheese Filling:
- 4 ounces (113.4 g) cream cheese, softened to room temperature
- ½ cup (60 g) powdered sugar
- 1½ teaspoons (1.5 teaspoons) vanilla extract
For the Streusel:
- ½ cup (62.5 g) all-purpose flour
- ⅓ cup (66.67 g) granulated sugar
- ½ teaspoon (0.5 teaspoon) ground cinnamon
- ¼ cup (24.75 g) pecans, roughly chopped
- 3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
For the Muffins:
- 1½ cups (187.5 g) all-purpose flour
- 1½ teaspoons (1.5 teaspoons) ground cinnamon
- ¾ teaspoon (0.75 teaspoon) ground nutmeg
- ½ teaspoon (0.5 teaspoon) ground cloves
- ½ teaspoon (0.5 teaspoon) ground ginger
- ¼ teaspoon (0.25 teaspoon) ground allspice
- ½ teaspoon (0.5 teaspoon) baking soda
- ½ teaspoon (0.5 teaspoon) salt
- 1 cup (200 g) granulated sugar
- 1 cup (245 g) canned pumpkin
- 2 eggs
- ½ cup (109 ml) + 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
- ½ teaspoon (0.5 teaspoon) vanilla extract
Instructions
- Make the Cream Cheese Filling In a medium bowl, stir together the cream cheese and confectioners' sugar until smooth. Add the vanilla, and stir to combine. Form the mixture into a 12-inch log on a piece of plastic wrap, wrap it in the plastic wrap and then again in foil, and freeze for at least two hours, or until firm.
- Make the Streusel: In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar and cinnamon. Stir in the pecans, then use a fork to mix in the melted butter, ensuring that all of the ingredients are moistened. Refrigerate while you prepare the muffins.
- Make the Muffins: Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line a standard 12-cup muffin tin with paper liners; set aside.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, ginger, allspice, baking soda and salt.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the sugar, pumpkin, eggs, oil, and vanilla extract.
- Pour the pumpkin mixture over the dry ingredients. Use a rubber spatula to gently combine the batter, mixing just until the dry ingredients are moistened.
- Remove the cream cheese from the freezer, and divide it into 12 1-inch slices.
- Scoop 2 to 3 tablespoons of batter into the muffin cups. Place 1 slice of the cream cheese log in the center of each cup, then divide the remaining batter evenly between the muffin cups, ensuring that the cream cheese is completely covered.
- Sprinkle the pecan streusel on top of each muffin. Press on the streusel lightly to make sure it adheres to the batter.
- Bake until golden, about 20 to 25 minutes. Cool in the pan for about 5 minutes, and then remove muffins to a cooling rack to cool completely. Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 4 days. Let them come to room temperature before serving, or warm briefly in the microwave to take the chill off. The muffins can be wrapped in plastic wrap and frozen for up to 2 months.
Notes
Did you make this recipe?
Leave a review below, then snap a picture and tag @thebrowneyedbaker on Instagram so I can see it!
[Recipe originally published in October 2010]
Holy heavenly! Cream cheese and pumpkin, plus streusel…this just speaks to my heart. I’ll be making these ASAP. Thank you!!
It can out bad I fallowd it perfectley but it came out waterey what do I do ?
I can never find canned pumpkin near me in the uk! Thank goodness its halloween! May have to fight a few party people for the pumpkin though!
Looks delicious!
Pumpkin and cream cheese are definitely a perfect fall match! These look amazing, I love the pecan streusel topping!
what a fantastic surprise inside!
Do you think gluten free flour would work in this recipe? They look delicious!
Hi Aditi, I don’t have any experience using gluten-free flours, so I couldn’t say for sure. If you try it, please stop back and let me know how it turned out!
My gosh these look yummy….. I’m out of cream cheese….do you think these would work with mascarpone ??
thanks
Hi Abby, I haven’t tried it, but it would probably work!
Is it wrong that my mouth is watering reading about them when I’m enjoying the Apple Cheesecake Crumb bars from last week with my morning coffee? The guys I work with love that I recently lost 15 pounds and don’t want to put it back on so they reap the rewards of my baking and they help me by taking away the temptation of just one more piece :) Can’t wait to make these for my family and friends.
These muffins look like perfection!! The one with the bite taken out is so tempting!
Okay, I want this. Pumpkin+CreamCheese+Pecans+Streusel? It has my name written all over it :P I’m salivating as I stare at the photos…
Um Michelle, when you said ‘make the cream cheese filling’ you put ‘for the cream cheese filling’ too.
Just curious. Why do you use both pumpkin pie spice and also all the component spices that are already in pumpkin pie spice? Why not use one or the other?
Can you use canned pumpkin purée?
Hi Cathy, I believe that canned pumpkin and canned pumpkin puree are the same thing; just don’t use pumpkin pie filling.
Nevermind! After searching for a few minutes, I found a recipe that’s almost the same, recommending 15oz canned Pumpkin. Thanks!
Oh no! I don’t know what size can of pumpkin to use?!?! I have a 15oz and a 29oz. I purchased both, just in case. Could someone let me know please?
These muffins were absolutely amazing. I went looking for a pumpkin chocolate chip muffin recipe and stumbled across this, and decided this sounded better.
I had trouble with my cream cheese log though. It became runny after mixing the powdered sugar and vanilla in. I left it to freeze overnight in the freezer but it never did solidify. I went ahead and used it anyways and had a little cream cheese seepage on a couple of the muffins but why wouldn’t my mixture freeze ?? Why did the cream cheese get so runny ? It was runny before even adding the vanilla ???
Hi Joe, Did you use low-fat cream cheese by any chance? If so, that could definitely be it; low-fat cream cheese has a much higher water content than its full-fat counterpart and can cause runny mixtures, especially fillings and frostings.
I made these for Thanksgiving morning last year and had some difficulties with shaping and cutting the cream cheese “log”. I was wondering this year if I could partition the cream cheese mixture out and freeze it in an ice cube tray? I don’t know if making the cream cheese thicker would affect thawing and last year none of us could wait for them to cool to get our hands on them!
Hi Vanessa, I think that would be fine, if it’s easier for you. Enjoy!
Can the pumpkin cream cheese muffins be frozen. Love these
Hi Della, Yes, you can freeze these!
Hi! Do you think these would work as mini muffins?
I do! Just remember to reduce the amount of filling.
Just finished baking these muffins! They smell amazing. I froze the log for 2 hours, probably needed more time, but I wanted to get to the baking. Some of the muffins have a bit of cream cheese leakage…which I’m sure won’t affect their taste. The only thing I will mention is that there is way too much streusel topping. Can’t wait to taste! Thanks for the recipe.
Just made these and they’re amazing! My dad says they’re the best muffins he’s ever eaten! I used some kabocha squash we had frozen rather than pumpkin and walnut rather than pecan in the streusel and they worked just as well as I’m sure the original does. I did put a little too much batter in the bottoms before adding the cream cheese so it poked out the top a tiny bit on one or two of the muffins, but for next time ( and there WILL be a next time) I’ll know better.
This recipe looks great! Can you make any of it the day before? Like the filling, mix together the dry ingredients, and/or maybe the streusel topping? Thanks!
Hi Sarah, You could do all of those ahead of time. Enjoy the muffins!
Thanks! One question, do you fill the cups all the way to the top?
Hi Sarah, I just divide the batter evenly between the 12 cups; I don’t remember off the top of my head how far up the batter went.
We made those yesterday. I was surprised that none of the reviewers mentioned the problem we had: after mixing the cream cheese with powdered sugar, the mixture turned runny! There was no way to shape it into a log, because it looked like pancake batter! I had to freeze it for 2.5 hours in a plastic bowl before it thickened enough to hold its shape (the log was still flat and unshapely). There was no time to make the muffins after that, so we had to split the work into two days. The next day the cream cheese was well-frozen and could be cut into pieces, and the muffin dough turned out all right. But there was waaay too much streusel! We covered every muffin thoroughly, pressed it into the batter and we still had about 1/3 of the crumbs left. How on Earth do you fit all that streusel into 12 muffin cups? Mine would probably overspill if I tried.
I have so much confidence in you that I made a double batch the first time! They were delicious. I froze them for 2 hours but I think it still wasn’t long enough as there was some leakage at the top. By the end, I was hoping they wouldn’t be super amazing because I didn’t want to do all that work again. Unfortunately, they were worth every bit of the effort and I will have to make them again. At least 3 more times this year:)
Do these have to be refrigerated? If I make them the day before serving, how can I retain their moisture?
Hi Sara, No, I keep these at room temperature in an airtight container and they stay perfectly moist.
I made a lowfat version of these which, more often than not, results in substandard flavor – but I have to say, these turned out great! I substituted unsweetened applesauce for the oil, used wheat flour and lowfat cream cheese and they were very tasty. I can only imagine how yummy the full fat recipe is. I will definitely make these again.
Michelle, I looked back to the recipes from which this recipe was adapted. Noticed that baking powder was included. When you made the adaptation, did you purposely omit the baking powder? I’m making these for church so want to make sure to include the correct ingredients. I’m guessing from the rave reviews that the recipe is correct as written. Thanks so much.
Hi Gwen, Yes, no baking powder was used, just the baking soda. Enjoy the muffins!
I just tried this recipe. They look good. I didn’t put enough streusel on each muffin but I think it will be ok. Were making them for a school so if I don’t hear anything back then I will know I need to try again.
just finished making these. and i must say they are delicious. my mom used to make me a very similiar muffin when i was in college for my breakfast in the mornings. they remind me so much of the ones she made. so glad i stumbled upon your site!
Just made these and they are delicious! I used 2/3 whole wheat flour (“soft” wheat–equivalent of w.w. pastry flour, I think!) and walnuts and they taste great. The cream cheese did come through the top of a few of them, but I think that is because those bits weren’t completely frozen, as mentioned above. I guess I should have put it in my deep-freeze instead of my frig freezer (’cause I left it overnight so it should have been fine!). Definitely recommended, and worth the little bit of extra work.