Caramel Apple Cheesecake Muffins made with spiced cake mix, filled with apples & cream cheese then topped with caramel! Decadent, bakery-style muffins made easy!
Caramel apple muffins are a treat you’ll no doubt indulge upon. One muffin is simply not enough but that’s okay because this apple muffin recipe makes about 18 of them so there’s plenty to share and enjoy.
Caramel apple cheesecake muffins
These boxed cake mix muffins are given a huge upgrade with the help of a homemade cheesecake filling in the center and a caramel drizzle and fresh apples on top. Baked to perfection, these muffins are almost too good-looking to eat! Decadent, bakery-style over-the-top muffins loaded with sweet fall flavors everyone loves!
Caramel apple Cheesecake muffin ingredients
-Boxed cake mix: You will need one standard-sized (15.25 ounce) box of spiced cake mix for the base of the muffin recipe. This cuts out a lot of work and gives us perfect results every time.
-Water: You will need 1 cup of water to help moisten the cake mix.
-Oil: Using ½ cup of vegetable oil you will give the muffin mix the fats needed to stay moist and delicious.
-Eggs: 3 eggs will bind together the batter perfectly so that the muffins don’t fall apart.
For the cheesecake filling, you will need:
-Cream cheese: You will need 8 ounces of softened cream cheese. This is one package’s worth.
-Egg: One egg will give us a richer tasting cheesecake.
-Sugar: To sweeten our cheesecake perfectly we will need the help of ⅓ cup of granulated sugar.
For the apple topping you will need:
-Apples: 2 diced and peeled apples will give us apples in every bite. Make sure to use your favorite baking apple variety.
-Sugar: Adding in 1 teaspoon of sugar will help to get a caramelized texture out of the apples and keep them from being too tart.
-Butter: A tablespoon of butter will make our apples taste nice and rich.
-Caramel sauce: Use caramel sauce over the top of these muffins as a drizzle that just brings all of the flavors together wonderfully. You can use homemade caramel sauce or store bought.
How to make caramel apple cheesecake muffins
Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F.
In a small skillet, add the diced apples, sugar, and butter and cook until tender over medium heat. This should take about 8 minutes. Set apples aside.
In a large mixing bowl, combine the cake mix, eater, oil, and eggs until mixed.
In a smaller bowl, cream the cream cheese, egg, and sugar together until smooth.
Place muffin liners in a muffin tray and put cake batter into each one about ¼ of the way full.
Spoon the cream cheese filling into the centers with a spoon giving each muffin cup a nice dollop. This should make it about ½ full.
Next, top the muffins with more batter so that they are now ¾ of the way full.
Swirl the cream cheese into the batter a little. You can use a butter knife or a toothpick.
Top each muffin cup with some of the cooled cooked apple pieces and then bake in the oven for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick can be inserted and come out clean.
Let the muffins cool.
Before serving, drizzle the top of each muffin with caramel sauce. Enjoy!
Best Apples for Cooking
Often times cooking with apples requires firm, crisp apples like Fuji, Pink Lady, Honey Crisp or Granny Smith. Remember that each apple varies in tartness! Granny Smith apples are most tart, whereas Fuji apples are very sweet. You can use softer apples such as Red Delicious or Golden Delicious, but you’ll drastically reduce the cooking time, or else your apples might turn to mush!
Caramel Apple Cheesecake Muffins
Ingredients
- 15.25 oz spice cake mix
- 1 cup water
- ½ cup vegetable oil
- 3 eggs
Filling
- 8 oz cream cheese softened
- 1 egg
- ⅓ cup sugar
Apple Topping
- 2 apples peeled & diced
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- 1 tablespoon butter
- Caramel sauce for drizzling
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Line a muffin pan with liners and set aside.
- In a small skillet combine your diced apples, sugar and butter. Cook over medium heat until tender, about 8 minutes. Set aside.
- In a large mixing bowl mix the cake mix, water, vegetable oil and 3 eggs until combined.
- In a smaller mixing bowl whisk the cream cheese, egg and sugar until smooth.
- Place a spoonful of the muffin batter in the liners, filling them about ¼ of the way up.
- Next spoon in a dollop of the cream cheese mixture to make it about ½ full.
- Next top with more batter so your tins are about ¾ full.
- Swirl the cream cheese into the batter a little. Top each cupcake with a spoonful of the apples.
- Bake for 20-25 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean. Let cool 5 minutes, then transfer muffins to a cooling rack.
- Before serving, drizzle muffins with caramel sauce. Enjoy!
Nutrition
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Can you freeze cheesecake muffins?
Yes, these muffins can be frozen in an airtight container for up to 3 months. Flash freeze them on a baking sheet for an hour or two before placing them in a bigger container to prevent the muffins from sticking together. Let them thaw on the counter before eating and for best results do not add a caramel drizzle until ready to serve.
How long are cream cheese apple muffins good for?
These muffins are good if held in an airtight container in the fridge for up to a week. They can be held at room temperature for about a day but because the filling has a lot of dairy in them we want to avoid as much food spoilage as possible so keeping your muffins stored in the fridge is the best and safest way to do this. You can simply reheat them in the microwave for a few seconds if you want to recreate the warm fresh from the oven taste.
More caramel apple recipes you’re going to enjoy this fall
- PECAN CARAMEL APPLE PIE
- CARAMEL APPLE BREAD
- SPICED CARAMEL APPLE CIDER
- CHOCOLATE CARAMEL APPLES
- SALTED CARAMEL APPLE DIP
- CARAMEL APPLE NACHOS
- CINNAMON CARAMEL APPLE DIP
- CRUNCHY CARAMEL APPLE PIE
- CARAMEL APPLE SNICKERDOODLES
- CARAMEL APPLE POKE CAKE
- CARAMEL APPLE CRISP
- CARAMEL APPLE BARK
- CARAMEL APPLE SMOOTHIES
- EASY CARAMEL APPLE TART
- CARAMEL APPLE COOKIES
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