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As you all know, I’ve been harping about how I don’t really care for pumpkin (but keep posting pumpkin recipes anyway…go figure. Sometimes I can’t figure myself out.). Breaking news: I don’t think it’s the pumpkin I don’t like. It’s the traditional spices used with the pumpkin. I like cinnamon, but not with pumpkin. Heresy, I know. I decided to experiment with flavors in these muffins, so instead of the traditional pumpkin pie spice combination, I only used ginger and cloves, both of which are some of my favorite spices ever. Ta-dah! I love pumpkin now! A whole new world has just opened up. I can’t explain why I don’t like pumpkin + cinnamon. Something about it just tastes bitter to me. But this combination worked, so I’m tickled pink. Um…orange.
These yummy muffins are perfect for dessert, a snack, or even breakfast! Trim Healthy Mamas, they’re an S (low-carb). Eat 2 with a Bulletproof Chai drink in the morning and you have a balanced breakfast with plenty of protein!
As written, the cheesecake layer is fairly thin – like a “baked frosting” of sorts. If you want a higher cheesecake:muffin ratio you could double or triple the batch of cheesecake batter and make 18 muffins instead! I personally didn’t want too much calorie-dense cheesecake – just enough to top off the pumpkin.
As always, you can check out the links in the printable recipe or the Suggested Products section below the recipe for products that I use and recommend. Check out the Notes section of the recipe for answers to FAQs.
You may also enjoy:
- Starting THM
- my recipe index
- my recipes grouped by fuel type, allergy info, and theme
- all my pumpkin recipes
- Quick Pumpkin Cheesecakes
- ALL THE CHEESECAKE RECIPES
- recipes using my baking mix
You’ll only be able to take advantage of my special preorder pricing – $19.99! – through the end of October, so go grab your copy now! These books would make lovely Christmas gifts (yes, they’ll be mailed out in time for Christmas)! Talk about easy shopping. 😉 Who wouldn’t love a hard-cover, spiral-bound book with tons of colorful pictures?
- 1 c. Briana's Baking Mix*
- 1 T. THM Super Sweet Blend
- 1½ tsp. baking powder
- ½ tsp. ginger
- ¼ tsp. xanthan gum
- ¼ tsp. each cloves, salt
- ⅛ tsp. THM Pure Stevia Extract Powder
- -
- ¾ c. plain pumpkin puree
- ½ c. egg whites
- ½ c. water
- 2 eggs
- 3 T. refined coconut oil, melted
- 1 T. apple cider vinegar
- 4 oz. cream cheese, softened
- ¼ c. Greek yogurt
- 1 egg
- ¼ tsp. vanilla extract
- 2 doonks THM Pure Stevia Extract Powder
- Whisk the muffin dry ingredients. Add the wet ingredients and beat until smooth. Divide the muffin batter among 12 greased muffin tin holes.
- Beat the cream cheese until smooth. Add the rest of the cheesecake topping ingredients and beat again. Top off the muffin batter with the cheesecake batter. (You can swirl the cheesecake batter into the muffin batter if you like, or just leave it on top like I did.) Smooth the tops.
- Bake at 350* for 30 minutes or until a toothpick comes out cleanly and the cheesecake part is set. Let the muffins cool for 5 minutes, then remove them from the muffin tin and let them cool on wire racks. Refrigerate overnight before eating for best results. I prefer these muffins cold.
As written, the cheesecake layer is fairly thin - like a "baked frosting" of sorts. If you want a higher cheesecake:muffin ratio you could double or triple the batch of cheesecake batter and make 18 muffins instead!
The muffin part (without the cheesecake topping) can actually be dairy-free if you use a dairy-free protein powder to make my baking mix.
Suggested Products:
I substitutes your baking mix with the THM baking mix. I did add a little more, maybe about 2-3 TBS. I wasn’t sure how wet or dry the mixture needed to be. My muffins didn’t bake in the centers. They are very “wet” yet. I baked them at 350 and even added another 10 muffins, but still wet in the middle. I have had this happen a few times. I try not substitute things when baking gluten-free. Do you have any tips or thoughts on what I am doing wrong?
I’m sorry – I really don’t know what to tell you, other than that alternative baked goods do tend to be wetter across the board than “regular” baked goods made with white flour. Maybe try refrigerating overnight and see how they taste in the morning?
Is the cookbook mentioned your new one. Or the one published a couple years ago?
I looked for the recipe in the cookbook, but didn’t find.
Will write it down, sounds yummy! ?
The cookbook mentioned for the $19.99 preorder was Necessary Food, published in 2016. However, this recipe is not in that book because it was published after the design for NF was done, so it will be in the 2nd book. Preorder for the new book will hopefully be opening next week!
Thank you for this recipe, this is actually a very exciting find for me as I want just trying to make substitutions to my pumpkin cream cheese muffins that I make a lot to make them THM friendly. Can’t wait to try. Just waiting for my recent thm order to arrive..
I just made these with unsweetened applesauce instead of pumpkin. And I used Apple pie spice instead of ginger and cloves. They turned out great!!!
So glad it worked out for you! Just keep in mind that if you’re following the THM plan, using applesauce in this recipe would create a crossover. 🙂
If I don’t have cloves, but have pumpkin pie spice could I submitted that for the cloves and ginger?
You can try that, but I prefer just the cloves and ginger.
These look great (and I LOVE the teapot)! ?
I just wanted to share that I have a pumpkin pie recipe from my great-grandmother that has a blend of little bit of cinnamon, ginger, cloves, and mace. The amount of spice makes the overall flavor. I think some baking recipes use way too much cinnamon. It kind of hangs on and takes over the other flavors. Your “discovery” makes sense. It’s refreshing to have a change. Thanks.
Ah, you could be on to something there! Makes so much sense!
Briana! I’m so happy you found some pumpkin you love. My very favorite pumpkin combo is pumpkin with maple. Give that a try sometime 😉
Oh, that sounds like a really neat combination! Thanks for the suggestion!
These look so good! I think I’ll try them. I know what you mean about flavor combinations – I love pumpkin spice, but I don’t like pumpkin spice lattes because for me coffee and cinnamon do not pair well together.