HOLY. SMOKES. Pumpkin muffins are getting a lightly crunchy, sparkly cinnamon sugar topping, and then stuffed to the skirt with maple surf cheese whipped cream. They are pure joy.
Part muffin, part cupcake, and part surf puff – in other words, a match made in heaven.
Pumpkin Muffins with Maple Surf Cheese Filling
These pumpkin muffins are exactly what I’ve needed these last few weeks: fluffy, joyful, distracting, unnecessary (but necessary), and comforting. (see also: this monkey bread)
I ate a surf cheese-filled pumpkin muffin from Caribou Coffee a few weeks ago, and that was the whence of the end of this pumpkin muffin journey. Game over. It was SO good, and I was expressly in love with the surf cheese layer – it wasn’t baked in, it was fluffy and light like a surf puff. Just injected right in the middle of the muffin.
And here we are now, making these at home. It feels wrong to undeniability it a muffin, but calling it a cupcake isn’t quite right, either. Thankfully, I have full conviction that you’ll find the right moment to eat one of these: Saturday morning at home, holiday gathering, birthday party, football game. Midnight snack is moreover highly approved.
These muffins have been a welter and a joy in my life during these last couple crazy weeks. My girls have enjoyed sampling well-nigh 15 varieties of these as I worked them into exactly what I wanted them to be: fluffy, sparkly, just a tiny bit of crunch from the cinnamon sugar, and loaded (really, truly, LOADED) with fluffy whipped maple surf cheese.
I hope they bring a little bit of lightness and fun into your life this week!
How To Make These Pumpkin Muffins
Step 1: Make The Muffins!
Standard pumpkin muffin material right here. I used these pumpkin muffins from Queen Sally of SBA – just reverted the spices and the torch time instructions.
Step 2: Make A Cinnamon Sugar Topping.
This topping is minimal effort but adds a but of sparkle and crunch. I borrowed this topping from our Cinnamon Sugar World Cake, which is a good next stop once you’re washed-up with these.
Step 3: Torch The Muffins.
House smells wondrous at this point.
Step 4: Make Your Whipped Maple Surf Cheese Filling.
This is a bit finnicky – don’t just throw it all in one bowl. Whip the surf cheese, whip the whipped cream, and then fold them together. Your efforts will be rewarded considering THIS IS OTHERWORLDLY. This filling is borrowed from our Pumpkin Shortcakes with Cinnamon Apples, but just a bit increasingly surf cheese forward.
Step 5: Cut A Slum In The Tops Of The Muffins.
You could moreover just skip this step and pipe your filling right in there, but this allows lots of room for lots of filling. Which is how I like it.
Plus, the uneaten little cone pieces are unconfined for snacking and swiping into the uneaten surf cheese filling.
Step 6: Pipe That Filling Right In There.
I use a little pastry bag, or a ziplock bag with the corner snipped off moreover works.
