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.
Save This Recipe
Enter your email address, and we'll send it straight to your inbox!
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]
I feel that is among the most significant information for me. And i am satisfied reading your article. However want to statement on some general things, The website taste is wonderful, the articles is in reality great : D. Just right activity, cheers
you’re actually a just right webmaster. The website loading pace is incredible. It sort of feels that you are doing any unique trick. Also, The contents are masterpiece. you’ve performed a fantastic task on this matter!
I’m just commenting to make you know of the exceptional experience my friend’s princess had checking yuor web blog. She discovered several details, most notably how it is like to possess an excellent teaching spirit to make other individuals easily thoroughly grasp specific specialized subject matter. You undoubtedly surpassed her expectations. Thank you for presenting the invaluable, trustworthy, informative and even easy tips about that topic to Emily.
Excellent blog right here! Also your web site loads up very fast! What web host are you using? Can I am getting your associate hyperlink to your host? I want my web site loaded up as fast as yours lol
I’ve been exploring for a bit for any high quality articles or blog posts on this kind of area . Exploring in Yahoo I at last stumbled upon this web site. Reading this information So i am happy to convey that I have an incredibly good uncanny feeling I discovered exactly what I needed. I most certainly will make sure to do not forget this web site and give it a glance on a constant basis.
One of the best muffins I have ever made!!! So moist and tasty.
Hellllooo :) i have made these a few times in the past they are top notch amazinggg !!! I want to make them again, I noticed you wrote u changed the recipe .. May i ask what u changed on them ? Thanks for all your recipes ❤️💕💕🍪🍰🧁
These are absolutely wonderful! Thank you so much!
I made these this morning. Followed the recipe but cut the sugar by a little. Very very good. Thanks for another great recipe. You are my go to for recipes.
I love this recipe. I have made it as-is a number of times. When short on time, I skip the chilled cream cheese log and simply spoon it in, and it works… but the chilled log is less messy for sure! I sometimes use only the muffin base for plain pumpkin muffins. Sometimes I use half whole wheat flour and half the sugar if I am craving a heartier, less-sweet mid day snack. No matter what, it’s always perfect. Thanks!
wow, i’m really surprised this is sooooo yummy. i must confess i’ve made a double batch and reduced a lot of sugar, and made changes with things i had at home ( i actually made my own cream cheese with sour cream- just draining it above the sink for couple of hours with a bit of salt, and made carrot puree since i didn’t have pumpkin by shredding it- put it in the microwave for 3 min and then blended the 2 cups with 125 ml heavy cream) delicious! thanks so much for sharing! i think it’s the best muffin i’ve ever made by far! so moist and so much flavor awesome.
Delicious muffins, but have you figured out why there is an air pocket around the cream cheese mixture after baking?
Melissa, it’s because the cream cheese puffs up when baked and deflates when cool, creating an air pocket
These muffins are awesome! They take more time to make than most muffins but my kids and grandkids love them which makes it all worth it!
I don’t bake often, but these muffins may cause me to fire up the oven more than it’s accustomed to. They are delicious! Even my almost husband, who is not a fan of pumpkin, loved them. For anyone struggling with the cream cheese “log”, I made a trough of foil, laid the saran wrap over it, then filled it and wrapped.
This is the second time I have made these. They came out beautiful with no revisions in the recipe. I did double it, only had the filling in the freezer while I was making the streusel and muffins and had no problem with oozing. When I taste tested a warm one , there was a definite center of cream cheese… and FYI … a perfect amount of streusel (in my opinion you can never have too many crumbs.)
Thanks for this recipe ( and many more). They might not make it to the church social tomorrow😉
Could I substitute pumpkin pie spice somehow? How much would I use – like 1/4 tsp?
Hi Nelya, Yes you can, but you would need to use about 2 teaspoons and use it in place of the cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, cloves and allspice.
These are AMAZING!
What size can of pumpkin?
Sorry. Thought it said one can but it’s one cup. Trying now. Can’t wait!!!
Just made your cream cheese stuffed pumpkin streusel muffins. So good
I´ve done these muffins yesterday, they are delicious. I only have 2 suggetions: 1- Ether press the frozen cream cheese slightly to the bottom when added or add less batter in the base, I think I added 2 or maybe less Tbsp of the batter before adding the frozen cream cheese pieces (less than the 2 to 3 in the recipe), I covered all with remaining batter but after baking the cream cheese poped up in the surface a bit, it was just a little, but they were not in the center as the image shows in this page.
2- Either make less Streusel or add enough to cover muffins and eat the rest. I found the streusel was too much to cover all the muffin surfaces and even pressing lightly to make it stick to the batter, adding all the streusel will make it spread and stay around the muffin tin.
Other than that a good recipe and I liked the idea of freezing the filling, I had even less luck with these fillings in other cream cheese muffins recipes
My cream cheese has been in the freezer for 7 hours and still not frozen. What is wrong? Did not use reduced fat or fat free cream cheese. Thanks.
Hi Carol, It doesn’t not need to be frozen solid, but rather firm.
hi i have a questin, i am from lima Peru, and here we don’t have can pumpkin, i really wanted to make this recipe, you could tell me how to do it with natural pumpkin from scratch, thanks
Hi Maria, I don’t have a tutorial here on the site, but Alton Brown has one!
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/pumpkin-puree-recipe.html
I’m so glad you got the recipe out from the archive. This is a precious recipe. The muffins look so delicious and perfect to bake this season. I can’t wait to try them!!
Can’t tell you how much I enjoyed this recipe. I googled “cream cheese filled pumpkin muffins” last night in the baking aisle at Target. Found you. HUGE hit at work today.
Someone asked if I’d make a batch for their Super Bowl Party. (I declined)
Shared the recipe, though.
I’ll be back for more.
Thanks!
I made these for the first time a couple of days ago and they are delicious! Everyone is wanting more
Hello,
I baked these last night and they didn’t quite turn out the same way as yours. Mine were more dense and gooey, almost like a muffin-pie. I think it’s because I used a HUGE can of pumpkin puree. Could you please tell me the size of the “can” of canned pumpkin please?
Although they didn’t turn out as nicely as yours, everyone in the office LOVED my muffin-pie…that’s what they’re all calling it now! haha
Hi Crystal, The recipe actually calls for 1 CUP of canned pumpkin, not an entire can. That would definitely be the problem.
I make these several times a year. My family loves them. I usually leave off the topping, because though it’s delicious, they have enough going on to be fabulous without it. I also cut the sugar in half. I’ve made them with half of the flour whole wheat, and that works, too. I always make a double batch and freeze half of them. Thanks for the great recipe!
I’ve made these muffins before and they were a hit! Can I use this recipe, but make one loaf of bread?
Hi Gemma, I have never tried to convert this to bread, so I’m unsure what size loaf you would need or how long to bake. You could certainly give it a go, though!
I’m thinking of making the cream cheese the night before I make the muffins. Do you think it would be okay to freeze the cream cheese mixture overnight?
Hi Jessica, Yes, you could definitely freeze overnight.
I’m not a big fan of pecans. Do you think it would be okay to omit the pecans from the streusel or would it mess it up?
Hi Jessica, You could definitely omit the pecans, no problem. Enjoy!
I just made these this weekend and they’re delicious! I brought some into work this morning and my co-workers love them and have asked for the recipe.