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Bakery-Style Pumpkin Cream Cheese Muffins with Cinnamon Sugar Tops

Bakery-style pumpkin cream cheese muffins with a sweet cheesecake center and crunchy cinnamon sugar tops. Baked at 375°F for domed, moist muffins that stay tender and freeze well.
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Prep Time 20 minutes
Cook Time 22 minutes
Total Time 42 minutes
Servings: 12 servings
Course: Breakfast, Snack
Cuisine: American
Calories: 360
Ingredients Equipment Method Notes

Ingredients
  

cream cheese filling
  • 8 oz cream cheese softened
  • 0.3333333333 cup powdered sugar
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
muffins
  • 1 cup pumpkin puree
  • 0.5 cup vegetable oil
  • 0.75 cup light brown sugar packed
  • 0.25 cup granulated sugar
  • 2 eggs room temperature
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1.75 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 tsp baking soda
  • 0.5 tsp baking powder
  • 0.5 tsp salt
  • 2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
  • 1 tsp ground cinnamon
topping
  • 2 tbsp granulated sugar
  • 0.5 tsp ground cinnamon
  • 2 tbsp pepitas optional

Equipment

  • 1 sheet pan

Method
 

Preheat and prep liners
  1. Preheat the oven to 375°F and line a 12-cup muffin tin with paper liners.
Make the cream cheese filling
  1. Stir the cream cheese, powdered sugar, and vanilla extract until completely smooth.
  2. Refrigerate the filling while you mix the muffin batter.
Mix the pumpkin muffin batter
  1. Whisk the pumpkin puree, vegetable oil, both sugars, eggs, and vanilla extract in a large bowl until smooth.
  2. Add the all-purpose flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, pumpkin pie spice, and ground cinnamon, then stir just until no dry streaks remain.
Fill and top
  1. Fill each liner about one-third full with batter.
  2. Add a heaping tablespoon of the cream cheese filling to the center of each muffin.
  3. Cover with the remaining batter so the cups are about three-quarters full.
  4. Sprinkle the tops with the cinnamon sugar and pepitas, if using.
Bake and cool
  1. Bake at 375°F for 20–23 minutes, until domed and a toothpick inserted into the muffin part (not the filling) comes out clean.
  2. Cool in the pan for 5 minutes, then move to a wire rack to finish cooling.
  3. Serve slightly warm or at room temperature, and refrigerate leftovers.

Notes

For clean filling, test doneness with a toothpick aimed at the muffin portion, not the center cheesecake. Storage: refrigerate in an airtight container up to 4 days. Freeze baked muffins (wrapped) up to 2 months, thaw overnight in the fridge and warm as desired. For a lower-fat option, use reduced-fat cream cheese and reduce the powdered sugar in the filling by 1–2 tbsp.