Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Cream Cheese Muffins are the perfect coffee shop or bakery style treat you’ll love all year round, full of tangy, sweet and warm flavors.
Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Cream Cheese Muffins are kid sister to the Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Cream Cheese Bread I posted on Saturday. Why am I making this a separate post you ask?
A: Different quantity of ingredients unless you want 48 cupcakes! B: Different method of assembly and mixing of batters. C: Different baking times.
That Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Cream Cheese Bread has been a recipe I’ve been wanting to make for quite some time. Last year I made my Cheesecake Filled Pumpkin Bread Bars and my Chocolate Pumpkin Bread, but the delicious cream cheese, pumpkin and chocolate combo of this recipe is just irresistible. 
Basically hey these muffins are a different animal to the bread. These beauties are quicker, more portable, able to be served to large crowds easily and oh, by the way they freeze amazingly. Plus can you really tell me if you were offered one of these delicious muffins you would turn them down? 
Tools Used in the Making of These Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Cream Cheese Muffins:
Ice Cream Scoop: Perfect for portioning the muffins and quickly scooping without blending the batter too much.
Mini Chocolate Chips: The mini chips are the perfect size for these cupcakes, they don’t overwhelm the top and perfectly dot throughout the middle.
Canned Pumpkin: Different than your pumpkin pie filling, this is pure pumpkin.
AllSpice Spice Rack: I use this spice rack and fill up the bottles with freshly purchased spices. PS, we’re talking a huge difference, last week I bought nutmeg in bulk (enough to fill the bottle) for under a dollar and the bottled variety in the store was almost seven dollars.
Foil Baking Cups: These are double lined. So if you bake them in the foil/liner cup and decide you would rather ditch the foil, you can peel the foil off and have a neutral colored liner.
Ingredients
- 1 3/4 cups flour
- 1 teaspoons baking soda
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
- 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 8 ounces canned pure pumpkin
- 1/2 cup dark brown sugar
- 1/4 cup granulated sugar
- 1/2 cup vegetable oil
- 2 large eggs
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1 cup Mini Chocolate Chips (divided)
- 8 oz cream cheese , room temperature
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 1 egg
- 1 tablespoon milk
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
- In a large bowl add the pumpkin, brown sugar, granulated sugar, vegetable oil, eggs, vanilla and ½ cup of the chocolate chips to the bowl and whisk until completely combined.
- Add the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger, cloves and nutmeg into the bowl and whisk until just combined.
- To make the cream cheese layers, add the cream cheese, sugar, egg, milk and vanilla.
- Add the cream cheese layer to the bowl of pumpkin batter in spoonfuls and mix just a tiny bit, just enough so the clumps are slightly connected.
- With an ice cream scoop add the batter to your muffin liners
- Sprinkle the tops of the muffins with the remaining chocolate chips.
- Bake for 18-20 minutes or until a toothpick or knife comes out clean
Notes
Nutrition
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One last bite shot… because…
Can you make these muffins in a mini muffin pan? If so, how long would you bake them for?
You could. I haven’t tested them in a mini muffin pan so perhaps watch them carefully and when the muffin begins to pull away from the edge of the muffin tins use the toothpick method to ensure they are done. Let us know if you try them!
My muffins didn’t rose either – my question is are you sure it’s baking soda and not baking powder that we’re supposed to use?
Just made these and had one oh goodness so delicious ? . Followed directions as written accept didn’t have mini chocolate chips used regular. Definitely a keeper
Hi, do you have to put cloves in this recipe?
It says graduated sugar in one spot and just sugar in another.. is it really that amount in the mixture AND the cream cheese layer or just 1/4 cup split between the two
Sorry about the typo! I see how that could be confusing, its 1/4 each, not split between the two.
My family loved these! I used fresh ginger about 2 tbsp and added chopped pecans, to muffin batter and I added orange zest to cream cheese mixture.
Definitely a keeper!
My cream cheese mixture was runny as well. I followed the directions. Not sure what I could do differently.
I am just seeing this tonight. I am sure the recipe has long been cooked/or not but I still want to try to help.
1 tablespoon of flour could help it firm up more. I will retest the recipe, I can see a few people have had this issue. I suspect the flour would firm it up or just skipping the milk. I’m so sorry for the issues.
Do you mean 8oz as in a cup of pumpkin? Or do you mean 15oz. I’ve never seen an 8oz can of pumpkin
You only need 8 oz for this recipe. 🙂
I have fell in love with this recipe!!! It is absolutely perfect for the fall. I’m entering a muffin making contest for my local fair, and hopefully I’ll win with this delicious recipe.
Good luck!!
These look amazing! Going to attempt them this Friday to take to a friends for the weekend. Do any left overs need to be put in the fridge or freezer or can they be left at room temperature?
I’d keep them in the refrigerator.
I don’t know what happened but mine didn’t rise at all ?
My first guess is probably the baking soda may have been older and not good anymore. If you try it again, use fresh baking soda and you could add up to a 1/2 tsp more.
Is step 3 a separate bowl from step 2? I want to be accurate and ensure a fantastic dessert…. practicing this recipe for tomorrow since we are celebrating thanksgiving on Friday at my sister’s house!
It’s the same bowl from step 2. In the end, you’ll have one bowl with the pumpkin mixture and another for the cream cheese mixture. Hope this clears up any confusion! Enjoy!!
I’m looking forward to making this today, looks so delish! My only question, the vanilla is listed twice, was that typo or the amount it should be? Thanks!
Yes, those are the amounts you’ll use. The first teaspoon is for the pumpkin mixture and the second teaspoon is for the cream cheese layer. Sorry if that was confusing. I hope you enjoy them!!
If you make these again, a video would be very helpful, or at least a more specific explanation on how you got the cream cheese to stay in “blobs.” I made these last night for a co-worker’s birthday, and the cream cheese was pretty much completely mixed in with the pumpkin batter, because I had to keep mixing the batter to make sure the cream cheese was spread throughout. They still turned out really good, but I really wanted the taste of the cream cheese separated from the pumpkin, like your photos.
That’s a bummer but I’m glad they still tasted very good! Next time when you’re putting the cream cheese mixture in with the pumpkin mixture, try spooning it in and then taking a toothpick to swirl to mix. That should allow it to mix without loosing the difference between the two mixtures. Also, make sure to use an ice cream scoop to fill the muffin tin. That’ll help the mixture from moving around too much as well. I hope this helps!
I also encountered this. I did the cream cheese mixture in a separate bowl (couldn’t tell for certain by the directions) them added it to the pumpkin mixture. The cream cheese mixture was runny after it was mixed. I used the exact amounts called for. But that is why it didn’t blob. I am not sure how to overcome this except by leaving some of the liquid out? I don’t normally struggle with recipes so I am not sure what I am doing wrong.
I’m so sorry to hear that. It’s hard to know why it was runny, I haven’t had that happen before, feel free to email me to troubleshoot [email protected]
I also had the cream cheese mixture be very runny and did exactly how you said. I don’t understand putting the cream cheese on the batter either. Mine would not “clump” at all either because it was very runny. The recipe was delicious but I don’t understand some of the instructions and I usually have no problem with that.
The thickness of the cream cheese filling is similar to a cheesecake recipe, so it should be about that thick. Just spoon the remaining batter over the cheesecake layer and it’ll be a beautiful result. The cream cheese filling should bake up with structural integrity as a cheesecake would, so the baking process should go well.
I had the same issue — runny cream cheese mixture and so didn’t get blobs. The recipe as written was a tad confusing, but it sounds like we both followed it correctly (I’m a long-time baker as well)…did you ever try it again with greater success? Would be curious to know what you did differently.
Hmm, not sure why it would be runny. There isn’t much liquid to cause that. Was your cream cheese at room temperature?
How would this turn out in mini muffin form?
Awesome idea though you’ll want to cut back the bake time to 13-15 minutes. Enjoy!!
Hi Karen, Just wondering if you made them into mini muffins? And if so how did they come out?
Definitely 5 stars! I make this for my family for road trips and they are always raved over. SOO delicious and incredibly easy for how amazing they turn out. =D Thanks ever so much! About to make them again for our next trip through Canada. 🙂
Thank you so much for the 5 stars! I’m so glad you all enjoy them.
Just to be sure, are these regular sized muffins or mini muffins? Can you explain foil liners? Still need to use muffin tin? Thanks, they sound delicious!
Regular sized muffins. Yes, use the muffin tin because the foil can’t hold the weight of the batter. I hope you love the muffins!
It’s a very interesting fall recipe, I liked it. I also love the idea of using ice cream spoon. Thank you!
You’re welcome! I hope you enjoy them!
What is the last vanilla? Vanilla extract? I would love to make these but I don’t understand what vanilla is.
Thank you so much for catching that! It should read pure vanilla extract. I edited it to show correctly now. So sorry about that.
Hi! I’m confused about the cream cheese amount. Do you use 8oz of cream cheese or two packages of cream cheese (which come in 8oz portions)? Just want to make sure I use the right amount since I’m thinking I’d love to try these. Thanks!
So sorry about that. It is supposed to read 8 oz of cream cheese at room temperature. I edited the ingredient list to reflect the correct amount. Thank you so much for catching that! Hope you enjoy them!!
Are you using Plain flour or Self-rising flour?
All-purpose flour 🙂
I could use a batch of these right now!
I need to make these very soon!
I’m not usually a baker because I hate the mess. These were worth it! I will be pinning and making again soon.
Thanks, Jayne! I’m so glad you thought my recipe was worth the cleanup!
Oh yum! This is my kind of breakfast! Chocolate for breakfast is awesome!!
These are absolutely gorgeous! I love the flavors here (chocolate and pumpkin and cream cheese?! The trifecta for sure)!
These sound dreamy! I need to bake them up!
oh, Oh, OH that looks good!
I can’t even begin to tell you how badly I want one of those muffins right now! The chocolate, the pumpkin and the cream cheese…heaven!