Name: Sourdough Pumpkin Muffins With Cream Cheese Filling
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 25 min
Ingredients: 8 oz cream cheese; 1 cup powdered sugar; 4 large eggs; 2 cups sugar; 2 cups pumpkin puree; 1 cup melted fat - butter, beef tallow or oil (can also use applesauce as an oil replacement); 3 cups flour; 1 tsp cinnamon; 1 tsp nutmeg; 1 tsp cloves; 1 1/2 Tbl pumpkin pie spice; 1 tsp salt; 1 tsp baking soda; 1 cup sourdough discard; 1/2 cup sugar; 1/4 cup flour; 1 1/2 tsp cinnamon; 4 Tbl cold butter

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I’ve been making these sourdough pumpkin muffins with cream cheese filling for many years now. We especially enjoy these during the fall season when we harvest the sugar pie pumpkins from the garden. They are also a staple snack during calving season in the springtime, when I always make a big batch of them to send to the barn for overnight snacks while we’re busy calving cows. You’ll love the comforting flavor of the pumpkin spice, combined with the delicious cream cheese filling, and crunchy cinnamon topping on these muffins.

We love sourdough muffins and whenever I make them they never last long. We eat them with fruit and yogurt for an easy breakfast, or as a dessert for any other meal. These pumpkin muffins are moist and fluffy thanks to the pumpkin and sourdough. The batter can also be made ahead of time if you want the health benefits from the long fermentation of the sourdough. This is a great way to turn leftover sourdough discard, along with a few other simple ingredients into a great snack.

sourdough pumpkin muffins fresh from the oven

Ingredients

Cream Cheese Filling

Cream cheese – I like to make homemade cream cheese by straining homemade yogurt for 12 to 24 hours until it’s nice and thick. Makes the perfect cream cheese for these muffins or to put on sourdough bagels.
Powdered sugar – I usually keep powdered sugar stocked in bulk in my homestead pantry, but you can also make your own powdered sugar by blending regular sugar until it’s really fine.

Muffin Batter

Flour – I like to buy unbleached all-purpose flour from Azure Standard. If you want to use whole wheat flour, I suggest making these with half whole wheat and half all-purpose flour so they don’t get too dense.
Cinnamon
Nutmeg
Cloves
Pumpkin Pie Spice – you can easily mix up your own pumpkin pie spice out of cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, allspice and cloves.
Salt – redmond salt is the healthiest because it contains a lot of natural minerals. Salt actually brings out the sweet rich flavor in baked goods.
Sugar – you can use regular white sugar, brown sugar or if you want a healthier option try this cane sugar from Azure Standard
Baking Soda – since we are using sourdough discard for these muffins, we have to add some kind of leavening agent to help them rise.
Fat – you can use any kind of oil, butter, melted coconut oil or beef tallow, or to make these oil free use applesauce instead of the oil.
Pumpkin puree – I like to bake a fresh pumpkin and make my own homemade pumpkin puree, but use whatever you have. If all you have is canned pumpkin pie filling, just leave out the pumpkin pie spice and it will be just fine.
Eggs – best if they are at room temperature
Sourdough discard – I like to make these muffins with sourdough discard because it’s usually what I have in my refrigerator. You can also make them with active starter. As long as you’re adding some kind of sourdough starter, you’ll get a good result.

Crumble Topping

Sugar – you can use regular white sugar, brown sugar or if you want a healthier option try this cane sugar from Azure Standard
Flour
Cinnamon
Cold Butter – this will make the crumble topping come together nicely.

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Tools

Stand mixer or a large mixing bowl – my absolute favorite stand mixer is a bosch mixer. I’ve used it almost everyday for years and it has served me so well including in the summertime when we bake almost 100 loaves of bread for farmers market each week. I know several people that have had bosch mixers for over 30 years and they are still running strong. Getting a bosch mixer is one of the best investments you can make for your kitchen. Get an extra $20 off when ordering from nutrimill.com/wagonwheel.
Cookie Paddles – if you get the bosch mixer, I highly recommend you get the cookie paddles which is what I use for making these muffins in the video below. You will need the metal top for the cookie paddles. I also highly recommend getting the cake paddles as well. I use all of them all the time.
If you don’t have a stand mixer, you could use a large bowl and a hand mixer or large wooden spoon.
Muffin tin – I really like this 24 cup tin, it allows me to make a bunch of muffins all at once. If you don’t have a muffin tin, just set your paper muffin liners inside narrow mouth rings (like you would use for canning) and place them on a parchment-lined baking sheet. This will keep the muffin liners upright until the muffins are baked.
Muffin liners – this saves on dishes and you won’t have to grease your muffin tin
Plastic wrap – for making the log of cream cheese filling
Ice Cream Scoop
Measuring Cups and Spoons

Favorite Sourdough Recipes:

How to Make The Best Pumpkin Sourdough Muffins

A few hours before you want to bake these muffins, combine the cream cheese and powdered sugar in a small bowl. Mix with a hand-held mixer to incorporate the sugar into the cream cheese fully.

mixing up cream cheese for pumpkin muffins

Place the cream cheese mixture into a piece of plastic wrap that is at least 12 inches long.

Carefully roll the plastic wrap up around the cream cheese and shape it into a log that is about 1 1/2 inches in diameter, closing the ends as much as possible.

Place in the freezer to chill for at least 2 hours.

If you plan to bake the muffins right away, preheat your oven to 350 degrees. *Otherwise, for the most sourdough health benefits you can mix the batter up a few hours ahead of time and allow it to ferment at room temperature.

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Grease muffin cups well or add paper liners to a 24 cup muffin tin.

In the bowl of your stand mixer or a large mixing bowl, mix together all the wet ingredients. Pumpkin, sourdough discard, oil or applesauce, sugar and eggs.

Then add all the dry ingredients. Flour, salt, baking soda & spices. Mix just until combined.

*If you want this recipe to have long fermented digestive and health benefits, you can leave it out on the counter for up to twelve hours or overnight.

To Assemble Muffins

Use an ice cream scoop to spoon a small amount of batter into each muffin cup (just enough to cover the bottom of each cup, usually a couple Tablespoons).

Slice the chilled log of cream cheese filling into 24 equal pieces and place a slice of the cream cheese mixture into each muffin cup.

Divide the remaining batter among the muffin cups, carefully covering the cream cheese.

using ice cream scoop to assemble pumpkin muffins

Mix up the topping ingredients and sprinkle a small amount of the mixture over each of the muffins.

adding crumble topping to pumpkin muffins

Bake in your preheated oven for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the muffins comes out clean. They will be a light golden brown. Don’t overbake.

For best results, allow to cool completely on a wire rack before storing in an airtight container in the refrigerator.

Best if eaten within 3-5 days, or store in the freezer for an easy breakfast or dessert later on. If you plan to freeze them for a long time, you might want to wrap them in plastic wrap first. To thaw, allow to sit out for a few hours at room temperature.

If you try this recipe and love it, please come back and give it 5 stars! Tag me on Instagram @wagonwheelhomestead21. I can’t wait to see what all you make!

Tips

They can be mixed up the night before and allowed to sit out at room temperature to long ferment which increases the health benefits and digestibility
Mixing them up the night before also allows you to serve them hot and fresh for breakfast without taking up much time in your morning
To bake a fresh pumpkin, just put the whole pumpkin on a baking sheet in the oven at 400 degrees and roast until soft, usually about 45 minutes. Allow to cool, and then peel off the skin and separate the pumpkin flesh from the seeds. Blend the pumpkin flesh into puree using a blender or food processor. Store in the refrigerator for up to one week, or freezer for 3 months.
A great way to use up extra sourdough starter. You can also use active sourdough starter if you don’t have any discard in your refrigerator
I like to use paper muffin cups when baking these. It makes them easier to eat on the go.
If you’re looking for a more natural sweetener, try this cane sugar from Azure Standard.
You can use any kind of fat – oil, melted butter, beef tallow, coconut oil, or if you want to make these oil-free you can substitute applesauce for the oil
I like to use homemade cream cheese whenever I possible. Just make homemade yogurt and allow it to strain through a cheesecloth for 12 to 24 hours and you’ll have a delicious spreadable cream cheese that works perfect in this recipe.
You can also make these into mini muffins by baking them in a mini muffin pan. These are really great for small children to have as a snack especially in school lunches.
For an extra delicious twist, try adding in some chocolate chips to the muffin batter.

FAQ

Don’t overmix the batter as it will develop the gluten in the flour making the muffins tough.

Don’t overbake the muffins. The temperature of your oven may be a little different than mine, so are on the side of less when baking. The muffins will be done when a knife or toothpick inserted into the muffins comes out clean.

Sourdough starter discard is fermented flour and water that has to be removed or discarded from your sourdough starter before you can feed your starter more flour and water. Sourdough Discard should never actually be thrown out (or discarded) though, because it can be used in hundreds of different recipes. I always try to keep a fair amount of sourdough discard in a jar in my refrigerator. That way anytime I want to make these sourdough discard muffins or any other discard recipe, I can do so quickly. Most recipes that call for sourdough discard rely on something else to actually “raise” the end product if applicable. In this case, we’re using baking soda as the leavening agent to make light and fluffy muffins.

If you’re looking for another way to use up some of your sourdough discard, check out all of my favorite sourdough recipes here.

Anytime you add a fermented element like sourdough to a recipe, it becomes more nutritious because it contains live probiotics and good bacteria that help with gut health and digestion. Gluten and phytic acid are naturally present in wheat, and are usually what is to blame for people not being able to digest gluten well. When the grain is fermented through the sourdough process, the gluten and phytic acid are broken down, making it easier to digest. A lot of people that struggle with gluten intolerance (not people with celiac), can digest food made with sourdough without any issue, especially if the recipe is allowed to sit out for a few hours and “long ferment”.

In addition, phytic acid is an anti-nutrient that blocks absorption of the nutrients found in wheat. During the sourdough fermentation process, the phytic acid gets broken down and the nutrients are more bio-available to the body. This is why baking with sourdough is so important for our health.

Yes, just use dairy-free cream cheese and butter.

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