Pumpkin Cream Cheese Swirl Muffins (Vegan & Gluten Free!)

I’m so excited to share these jumbo bakery-style pumpkin cream cheese swirl muffins with you! The flavors are perfectly balanced between the sweet pumpkin & spice and the tangy cream cheese swirl. They are really easy to make yet look like you bought them at a fancy bakery. This makes them the ideal treat to impress people who are not gluten free or vegan!

Here are the ingredients you will need to make these muffins with the Freely Vegan Muffin Mix:

Note that if you prefer to make your muffins entirely from scratch, you can use my regular pumpkin muffin recipe, make the cream cheese swirl in the recipe below, and follow the layering and swirling steps in this post.

Here are the cream cheese swirl ingredients:

Note that I have only tested this recipe with Go Veggie, Trader Joe’s, and Tofutti cream cheese. Not all brands work well, including Violife which will not solidify when baked.

Mix the cream cheese, sugar, and vanilla together, then place the bowl in the fridge so the mixture stays cold while you make the muffin batter.

Preheat your oven to 450 degrees Fahrenheit. Line a six-well jumbo muffin tin with paper liners and set aside for now. If you do not have a jumbo muffin tin yet, this recipe is the perfect excuse to get one! I almost never make any other size muffins anymore as the jumbo ones are by far my favorite. This recipe in particular needs to be jumbo sized because of the cream cheese swirl. You could make 12 regular muffins but it would be a lot more work to layer and swirl them, and they won’t look as impressive as the jumbo ones do. (I included baking times for regular-sized muffins in the recipe notes below just in case, though!)

Melt your vegan butter (I use Earth Balance spread) in a microwave-safe bowl. Add the pumpkin, vinegar and plant milk (I use Silk Original Soymilk or another high protein plant milk). Whisk together:

Add the muffin mix, brown sugar, pumpkin pie spice, and baking soda to the bowl. (I make my own pumpkin pie spice but you can also use store-bought.)

Whisk everything together and then let the batter stand for 15 minutes. Note that the batter will be fairly thick but still whiskable:

After your batter has rested, stir it down well to release the built-up air bubbles. I know this sounds wrong, but just trust me and stir your batter as it helps to get the best baked texture in your muffins!

Fill your muffin liners about 1/2 full with batter and make a well in the top of the batter in each cup:

Reserve 1/4 of your cream cheese mixture for the tops, then divide the rest among the muffin cups:

Divide the remaining batter equally among the muffin cups and make a slight well in the top of each one. Note that they will be quite full:

Divide your reserved cream cheese mixture among the muffin cups:

Use a table knife to carefully swirl the cream cheese and muffin batter together. Be sure your knife reaches all the way to the bottom of the cup. (This is a bit messy, but not too bad if you wipe your knife off between each muffin.)

Bake your muffins for five minutes at 450 degrees Fahrenheit, then reduce the oven temperature to 375 degrees and bake for an additional 31 to 34 minutes. (Set a timer for the five minutes and stay in the kitchen because your muffins will be ruined if you forget to turn the temperature down – I speak from experience!) The tops should be golden brown and bounce back when lightly pressed when they are done. Give them the full baking time if you are unsure as a bit more baking time is preferable to an underdone center.

Let your baked muffins cool in the pan for three minutes:

Then, remove them to a rack to finish cooling completely. Some muffins can be eaten warm, but these are much better once the cream cheese swirl has reached room temperature.

When your muffins have fully cooled, tear one open and indulge!

Just look at that gorgeous muffin! I hope you love them as much as I do!