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These Naturally Sweetened Pumpkin Cream Cheese Muffins are very soft, made with whole wheat flour and sweetened with Medjool dates. The light cream cheese filling, rich pumpkin flavor and crunchy pepita topping makes these make these better than any bakery style whole wheat muffins out there.
Hi everyone, Happy Wednesday! Am I a little too late with another pumpkin recipe? Aren’t we supposed to get all crazy about the coming Holidays and bake Christmas cookies, Cranberry muffins and add peppermint flavor to pretty much anything?
These pumpkin cream cheese muffins are extremely delicious and can be made any time throughout the year, since I use canned pumpkin. They are pretty healthy, but not vegan. I used 100% whole wheat flour, all sugars were substituted with dates and agave nectar and I also used organic low fat cream cheese and yogurt.
I adapted the recipe from iFoodReal. I’ve wanted to try some of her recipes for a while now, but was always short on time and finally got to try these. And I’m glad I did. You can find a lot of simple and clean recipes there.
I’ve been a little obsessed with making sweet treats using Medjool dates lately, but never baked with these. After using them in this recipe, I’m very excited to experiment with some other naturally sweetened baked goods.
Using pumpkin pure in these muffins creates a lot of moisture, so I did not use any oil in them. The cream cheese filling (which actually stays on top and can be called topping) brings just the needed creaminess in these and they have fiber from the whole wheat flour and the pepitas.
These whole wheat naturally sweetened pumpkin cream cheese muffins are great for a clean, healthy breakfast or snack, especially now before the holidays. They can be kept in the fridge in air-tight container for up to a week or frozen up to 3 months.
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Naturally Sweetened Pumpkin Cream Cheese Muffins
Video
Ingredients
Muffins:
Wet ingredients:
- 1 1/4 cup pumpkin pure
- 2 large eggs
- 1/2 cup plain Greek yogurt
- 12 Medjool dates
- 1 tsp vanilla
Dry ingredients:
- 2 cups whole wheat flour
- 2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 2 tsp baking powder
Cream Cheese Filling:
- 6 oz light cream cheese
- 2 tbsp Agave nectar
Pepita Topping:
- 1/4 cup raw pepias
- 1 tbsp Agave nectar
- 1 tbsp coconut oil
- 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1/4 tsp salt
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 F (177C) and generously spray muffin tin with cooking spray. Line with baking cups (optional). Set a side.
- In a food processor/powerful blender, process wet ingredients until smooth.
- In a large bowl whisk dry ingredients. Slowly add wet ingredients from the blender and mix until just combined. Do not over mix.
- In a separate bowl combine cream cheese and Agave nectar and mix well.
- In a small bowl combine ingredients for pepita topping and mix to combine.
- Fill each tin (paper cups are optional, but since there is no oil in the batter, I recommend using them) almost full with batter. I used an ice cream scoop.
- Make a small dollop in the middle of each muffin and add 1 tsp cream cheese filling. Top with pepita topping.
- Bake on 350 F (177 C) for 25 minutes, until toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
- Let muffins cool in the pan for 5 minutes, then transfer to a cooling rack to cool to room temperature.
Notes
Baking time may vary depending on the type of ingredients, oven and baking tin used.
I recommend that you generously grease muffin tin before you fill with batter, otherwise muffins will stick.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
oh girl these look SO yummy! 😉 I absolutely love how soft the inside of these look!
How did I miss this one?? I can’t believe this is naturally sweetened! And I really love the photos you’ve taken of this one Mira!!