Sourdough Pumpkin Muffins with Cream Cheese Filling

Fall is the season of pumpkin everything, which is why I’m currently eating these sourdough pumpkin muffins with cream cheese filling non stop. They are a sweet treat that always hits the spot. Full of warm spices and tangy cream cheese filling, there’s everything to love about these quick discard muffins!

Alright, have I mentioned I love this recipe? It’s a family favorite, and you’ll definitely see it in our house often in the fall. I love growing pumpkins in the garden and turning them into a fresh pumpkin pie with sourdough crust, or some yummy pumpkin cookies. Whenever I’m in the mood for a pick me up, something pumpkin does the trick!

Sourdough Pumpkin Muffins

These sourdough pumpkin muffins with cream cheese filling are a great discard recipe to whip up in the fall. You can ferment them for 6 hours, or a full overnight and bake them for a brunch snack. They are easy to make and always a crowd pleaser. Here is what you will need to make them.

Cream Cheese Filling

• Cream Cheese: Room temperature so it’s easier to cream.
• Powdered Sugar: Also called confectioners sugar.

Muffin Batter

• Oil: I prefer to use a neutral oil like avocado oil in these sourdough pumpkin muffins.
• Sugar: I like using raw turbinado sugar.
• Eggs: Large grade A eggs.
• Sourdough Starter: This starter can be fed or unfed, I pulled my starter right out of the fridge for this one!
• Pumpkin Puree: You can make your own by roasting and food processing a pumpkin, or use a can.
• Cinnamon, Nutmeg, Clove, Salt, Baking Soda
• Flour: All purpose is the easiest to work with

Streusel Topping

• Sugar
• Flour
• Cinnamon
• Butter: Keep it cold, and use unsalted. It is easier to control the amount of salt in the sourdough pumpkin muffins that way.

Sourdough Pumpkin Muffins Recipe

Day 1

1. Add cream cheese and powdered sugar to a medium bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer. Using a hand mixer, cream together until fully combined.
2. Remove cream cheese mixture from bowl onto a piece of plastic wrap. Shape into a 12 inch long log and cover in plastic wrap and place in freezer to chill.
3. In the same bowl, cream together sugar and oil. Add eggs to the bowl and mix until combined.
4. Add starter to the bowl and combine. Then add pumpkin puree and combine.
5. In a small bowl, combine your spices. Add the spices to your flour and mix to combine. Then add your flour mixture to your batter and mix until fully incorporated.
6. Cover sourdough pumpkin muffin batter with plastic wrap and allow to ferment on the counter for 6 hours or overnight.

Day 2

1. Remove cream cheese log out of freezer to relax.
2. Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Grease a muffin pan.
3. In a small bowl, combine the sugar crumble ingredients, being careful to not melt the butter with your hands.
4. Add your batter to the muffin pan (24 total), filling each until about 2/3 full.
5. Slice your cream cheese log into 24 slices. Push the cream cheese filling down into the center of the batter of each muffin. Sprinkle about a tablespoon of the streusel topping on top of each muffin.
6. Bake sourdough pumpkin muffins for 18-20 minutes. Enjoy!

Tips for Making Sourdough Pumpkin Muffins

• Using Discard: This recipe is perfect for pulling cold flat starter straight out of the fridge!
• Pumpkin Pie Filling: If you only have pumpkin pie filling on hand, you can use that in place of the pumpkin puree. Just leave out all the additional spices, or play around with the ratio until it’s perfect for you.
• Streusel Topping: If you are trying to avoid using raw flour in this recipe, try swapping the flour for discard in the streusel. Disclaimer: I haven’t tried this for myself yet, but I don’t see why it wouldn’t work! It might be a lot stickier and harder to work with, but it should still bake well enough to work. If you do try it out, let me know how it worked for you! Or, to keep things simple, use an alternative flour like almond flour or oat flour. Maybe even just using oats would work too!