Chai-Spiced Cheesecake Muffins
Here's what you need: all-purpose flour, cinnamon, ground ginger, ground cardamom, nutmeg, baking soda, salt, applesauce, brown sugar, large egg, vanilla extract, vegetable oil, cream cheese, granulated sugar, vanilla extract, nonstick cooking spray
New fall favorite muffin recipe right there!
And I’ve got pumpkin fever. As in, give me all the pumpkin spice, savory pumpkin (or any squash, really) recipes, and all the pie, cupcakes and muffins you can find. I’ll take it all.
These pumpkin cheesecake muffins happen to be the newest addition to the party. They’re ridiculously perfect served with a warm mug of joe. Not too sweet, topped with cheesecake batter and tender on the inside. If there’s anything I love more than cake or muffins, it’s those same things topped with cheesecake!
A few weeks ago I ran a poll on Instagram asking if you guys would like to see a cheddar jalapeno bread on the blog or if you’d rather see chai spiced pumpkin cookies. And though these are indeed not the cookies I talked about, the flavors are the same — just in muffin form. And the fact that muffins are socially acceptable for dessert or even breakfast foods puts them just a hair above cookies in my book.
What can I say?! I like sweet stuff for breakfast sometimes!
Ingredients
MUFFINS
CHEESECAKE FILLING
Preparation
New fall favorite muffin recipe right there!
And I’ve got pumpkin fever. As in, give me all the pumpkin spice, savory pumpkin (or any squash, really) recipes, and all the pie, cupcakes and muffins you can find. I’ll take it all.
These pumpkin cheesecake muffins happen to be the newest addition to the party. They’re ridiculously perfect served with a warm mug of joe. Not too sweet, topped with cheesecake batter and tender on the inside. If there’s anything I love more than cake or muffins, it’s those same things topped with cheesecake!
A few weeks ago I ran a poll on Instagram asking if you guys would like to see a cheddar jalapeno bread on the blog or if you’d rather see chai spiced pumpkin cookies. And though these are indeed not the cookies I talked about, the flavors are the same — just in muffin form. And the fact that muffins are socially acceptable for dessert or even breakfast foods puts them just a hair above cookies in my book.
What can I say?! I like sweet stuff for breakfast sometimes!
Ingredients
MUFFINS
- 1 ¾ cups all-purpose flour (215 g)
- 2 teaspoons cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon ground ginger
- ½ teaspoon ground cardamom
- ½ teaspoon nutmeg
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 2 cups applesauce (520 g)
- 1 ¼ cups brown sugar (275 g)
- 2 large eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ½ cup vegetable oil
CHEESECAKE FILLING
- 8 oz cream cheese, room temperature (225 g)
- ¼ cup granulated sugar (50 g)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- nonstick cooking spray, for greasing
Preparation
- Preheat oven to 375˚F (190˚C).
- Make the muffin batter: In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, cinnamon, ginger, cardamom, nutmeg, baking soda, and salt with a fork.
- In a separate large bowl, combine the applesauce, brown sugar, eggs, vanilla, and vegetable oil. Mix with a fork, then gradually incorporate the dry ingredients until the batter is thick and smooth.
- Make the cheesecake filling: In a medium bowl, use a fork to mix together the cream cheese, sugar, and vanilla until fluffy and smooth.
- Grease a 2 12-cup muffin tin with nonstick spray.
- Scoop about ¼ cup (30 g) of muffin batter into each cup. Add a teaspoon of cheesecake filling to the center of each cup. Use a toothpick to swirl the cheesecake into the batter.
- Bake for 18 minutes, or until the muffins are springy and lightly browned around the edges.
- Let cool for 5 minutes before serving.
- Enjoy!