Pumpkin Cream Cheese Muffins
Better-than-Starbucks pumpkin cream cheese muffins! Made in your blender, these easy fall-spiced muffins are made with oats for a surprisingly nutritious fall treat. You’ll also love my pumpkin protein pancakes and gluten-free pumpkin bread.
Charlotte’s ⭐️ 5-star review — “So good!”
Better-Than-Starbucks Pumpkin Cream Cheese Muffins, Made With Oats
- Perfectly spiced. Sweet pumpkin muffins with the perfect hint of pumpkin spice, and a decadent cream cheese swirl. These tasty muffins are sure to satisfy your fall treat cravings.
- Made in your blender. Throw everything in a blender and top with a 3-ingredient cream cheese swirl. These muffins couldn’t be easier!
- Flourless and nutritious. You’d never know we swapped white flour for oats in this nutritionally balanced, higher fiber snack. Explore more high-fiber recipes or recipes with oats.
What makes these healthy? 🔎 This dietitian-made recipe is designed with less sugar, more fiber, and healthier fats than your typical bakery treat. We swap sugar and flour for wholesome ingredients like rolled oats, maple syrup, and olive oil for a nutritious boost.
Key Ingredient Notes
- Oats: This recipe uses oats instead of wheat flour for a more nutritious base. You’d never taste the difference, and the final muffins are surprisingly moist and light. Use rolled oats if you can, but you can swap quick oats if needed.
- Pumpkin puree: I use canned, but feel free to use homemade if needed. If you are using canned, make sure to grab pure pumpkin puree and not pumpkin pie filling.
- Maple syrup: Feel free to swap with honey if needed.
Scroll down to the recipe card for the full ingredients list and detailed recipe.
How to Make Oatmeal Pumpkin Cream Cheese Muffins
Step 1: Whisk cream cheese swirl in a bowl.
Step 2: Blend batter.
Step 3: Add batter to muffin pan and top with cream cheese filling.
Step 3: Swirl cream cheese with a sharp knife, and sprinkle with pumpkin seeds. Then bake!
Tips From My Test Kitchen
- Use a hand mixer for the cream cheese filling. You can use a manual whisk for this step, but a hand mixer is faster and makes a smoother filling.
- Stay away from “pumpkin pie filling”. Make sure you’re using canned pumpkin puree, and not pumpkin pie filling. Pie filling is sweetened and spiced, and will totally change the taste of your muffins. Pumpkin should be the only ingredient listed!
- Be mindful measuring the oats. Be careful not to over-fill your measuring cups when measuring the oats. If you add too many oats, the batter will be too thick.
- Blend the batter until totally smooth. Use a high-powered blender, and keep blending until your batter is completely smooth.
Need more healthy snack recipes? Try my protein dunkaroo dip, peanut butter baked oatmeal, no-bake trail mix bars, or cookie dough protein balls.
Common questions
Rolled oats is your best option to make sure you’re using accurate measurements. Use quick oats if you have to, but be super careful not to over-fill your measuring cup.
Yes, you can swap maple syrup for honey if needed. I prefer the maple flavor, but any liquid sweetener should work.
If you can’t find pumpkin pie spice, make your own blend with 1 tsp cinnamon, 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg, 1/2 tsp ground ginger, and 1/4 tsp ground cloves.
Yes, feel free to make these without the cream cheese if you’d prefer a dairy-free recipe!
More Healthy Muffin Recipes
Need more easy and healthy muffin recipes? Here are my favorites:
- Apple Cinnamon Oatmeal Muffins
- Blender Banana Muffins
- Chocolate Banana Muffins
- Honey Bran Muffins
- Savory McGriddle Muffins
If you tried these oatmeal pumpkin cream cheese muffins, leave a ⭐️ 5-star rating below and follow me on Instagram!
Pumpkin Cream Cheese Muffins
Ingredients
Cream Cheese Swirl
- 6 oz full fat cream cheese, softened to room temperature
- 3 Tbsp maple syrup
- 1 egg yolk
Batter
- 1 cup pumpkin puree, not pumpkin pie filling
- ¾ cup maple syrup
- ⅓ cup olive oil
- 2 large eggs
- 2 ¼ cups rolled oats
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp pumpkin pie spice
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- ½ tsp table salt
- ½ tsp baking soda
- ½ tsp cinnamon
Other Ingredients
- raw pumpkin seeds, for topping
Equipment
- hand mixer
- 3-Tbsp cookie scoop (optional)
Instructions
- Position oven rack to the middle and pre-heat to 350 F. Prepare a 12-cup muffin pan with liners and set aside.
- To a medium mixing bowl, add cream cheese, maple syrup, and egg yolk. Use your hand mixer to beat until combined and smooth, and set aside. If you don’t have a hand mixer, you can do this by hand with a wooden spoon or firm spatula – but it may take a few minutes.
- To a large blender, add all ingredients for the muffin batter. Blend until completely smooth, about 45-60 seconds.
- Transfer to your prepared muffin pan, filling each about 2/3 of the way to the top, until all batter is used up. I use a 3-Tbsp cookie scoop for this step.
- Spoon about 1-Tbsp of the cream cheese mixture on top of each muffin, making sure all of it gets used.
- Use a sharp knife to lightly swirl the cream cheese into the tops of each muffin.
- Sprinkle each muffin with a few pumpkin seeds.
- Transfer to the oven and bake for 18-23 minutes. The tops should look set and lightly cracked when they’re done.
- Let them cool in the pan for 5-minutes. Transfer to a wire rack to cool to room temperature, and enjoy!
Notes
- I use canned pumpkin puree, but homemade works too.
- Paper or silicone muffin liners work for this recipe.
So good!
YAY so glad you enjoyed!
If you love my gluten-free pumpkin bread or apple cinnamon oat muffins, you are going to be so obsessed with these oatmeal pumpkin cream cheese muffins! SO easy and better than Starbucks!