Pumpkin Cream Cheese Muffins

Pumpkin spice lattes? Pumpkin pie? Pumpkin carving? Pumpkin cream cheese muffins!

Fall season invites a barrage of pumpkin-everything, and though some have been tagged as “basic,” pumpkin on its own has its merits. These pumpkin cream cheese muffins shine through the pumpkin — no, not the canned ones or the dried-packaged powders — but the real stuff: old fashioned, straight out of the patch pumpkin. Twelve muffins consume 2.5 lbs (!!) of fresh pumpkin, but that’s how they take on a rich, natural sweetness and beautiful golden shade. Even if you don’t make these, the one takeaway is that in whatever fall pumpkin goods you consider making, use fresh pumpkin!

In all seriousness, these muffins will find you friends who appreciate you for a fresh take (get it?) on an admittedly-worn out trend. They are insanely tender due to the moisture from the pumpkin and the scant amount of sour cream. The center hides a surprise as the tangy-ness of the cream cheese cuts the pumpkin and warm spices. All around a versatile and straightforward recipe, these muffins can be made into pumpkin bread (simple use a loaf tin and perhaps swirl the cream cheese in for a marble effect) and really should become your fall staple.

Ingredients:

Pumpkin Puree:

2.5lb of fresh pumpkin

Muffins:

125g all-purpose flour

1tsp cinnamon powder

1tsp cardamon powder

1/2tsp ginger powder

1/4tsp all spice

1/4tsp nutmeg

1/2tsp salt

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp baking powder

1 egg, room temperature

80g unsalted butter, softened

50g brown sugar

20g white sugar

60g sour cream

230g pumpkin puree (condensed from 2.5lbs of roasted pumpkin) 

Cream Cheese Filling:

200g cream cheese

1tbsp sugar

¼ tsp corn starch

¼ tsp vanilla extract

Turbinado sugar, for garnish

Steps:

Make the pumpkin puree:

1. Slice pumpkin into 1/2 inch chunks, pare off the skin and roasted in the oven at 350F for about 40 mins (until soft and tender).

2. Remove and let cool completely. Purée in a food processor until mushy.

3. Transfer into a sauce pan and further condense the puree on low heat until it becomes very thick and coagulated.

Make the muffins:

1. Preheat the oven to 350º F and line a muffin tin with baking paper cups. This will make around 12 muffins.

2. Sift the flour with all the dry ingredients (excluding sugar) and mix together.

3. Cream sugar and butter using a mixer for 3 minutes until fluffy and you can’t feel the sugar granules when you squish the mixture with your fingers. Add the egg and beat for 1 minute (it’s okay if it looks a little curdled and separated.) Whip in your sour cream, and then mix the pumpkin puree in until well incorporated.

4. Pour flour mixture in and mix on low speed until just incorporated.

5. In a separate bowl, beat the cream cheese until fluffy. Then beat in sugar, corn starch, and vanilla extract.

6. Fill the bottom of each muffin cup with a thin layer of muffin batter (being stingy is key here), dollop 1tsp of cream cheese filling in the center, and fill the muffin cup ¾ of the way full with muffin batter. Sprinkle turbinado sugar on top of the muffins.

7. Bake for 15 minutes. Remove and enjoy warm!