What’s better than a delicious keto chocolate muffin? One with a cream cheese center, of course! Add a few melty chocolate chips on top and you’re in low carb breakfast heaven.
Surely you know by now how much I rely on keto muffins to stick with my health goals. I always have some in the fridge or freezer for easy breakfasts or snacks. I have often credited them with keeping me on track because they’re easy, delicious, and store so well. And the flavor variations are endless!
Sometimes it’s fun to jazz them up a little and take them over the top. These Chocolate Cheesecake Muffins have been one of my favorites for quite some time. How can you go wrong with a rich chocolate base and a creamy cheesecake filling?
While they make an excellent breakfast treat, they are also special enough for dessert.
Reader’s Thoughts
“By far my boyfriends favorite keto dessert I make! It’s gone into regular rotation. Currently making a batch and going to try freezing half of them. Thanks so much for this amazing recipe!!” — Jess
Why You Will Love This Recipe
- Bakery-style: These muffins are worthy of any occasion. They look and taste like they came from your favorite bakery!
- Nut-free option: You can swap out the almond flour for sunflower seed flour, for a nut-free keto treat.
- Make-ahead recipe: Make a big batch and store in the freezer for whenever you need a treat.
- Creamy cheesecake: The cheesecake center is ultra-creamy and decadent.
- Low-carb: This recipe is perfect for low carb, keto, and gluten-free diets.
Ingredient Notes
- Cream cheese: You can’t have a cheesecake center without cream cheese!
- Heavy cream: This helps make the filling extra creamy.
- Almond flour: I typically use almond flour, but sunflower seed flour makes a wonderful nut-free version.
- Cocoa powder: Dutch cocoa powder gives these muffins a rich, deep chocolate flavor.
- Protein powder: This gives the muffins better lift and structure.
- Sweetener: I recommend an erythritol based sweetener for the muffin batter. You can use your preferred sweetener in the filling.
- Heavy whipping cream: This is used to thin out the cream cheese filling.
- Liquid: I like to use leftover coffee but water works as well.
- Chocolate chips: Feel free to use your favorite brand of keto chocolate chips.
- Kitchen staples: Eggs, butter, vanilla extract, baking powder and salt.
How to Make This Recipe
- Prepare the filling: Beat the cream cheese with the sweetener until combined. Mix in the cream and vanilla until smooth.
- Combine the dry ingredients: Whisk the almond flour with the sweetener, cocoa powder, protein powder, baking powder, and salt.
- Add the wet ingredients. Add the eggs, melted butter, coffee, and vanilla extract.
- Assemble the muffins: Divide the batter evenly into muffin cups. With the back of a spoon, create a well in the center of each muffin. Divide the cream cheese filling among the wells and sprinkle chocolate chips on top.
- Bake the muffins. Bake until the edges are set and the centers are puffed up. Remove and let cool in the pan.
Tips for Success
I used chocolate protein powder for this recipe, but you can use plain or vanilla instead. If using vanilla, make sure to leave out the added vanilla extract.
A little coffee enhances chocolate flavors, without making them taste like coffee, so I highly recommend. But plain water is a good option too!
Sweetener Options: I recommend erythritol sweeteners for the muffin batter, as allulose can make the muffins overly browned and taste a little burned. If you wish to cut back on the erythritol, you can try one quarter cup, and use some stevia or monk fruit extract for additional sweetness.
For the cheesecake filling, any kind of sweetener works, as long as it is powdered.
Keto Chocolate Cream Cheese Muffins
Ingredients
Cream Cheese Filling
- 6 ounces (170.1 g) cream cheese, softened
- 1/4 cup (47.5 g) powdered sweetener
- 3 tbsp (45 ml) heavy whipping cream
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
Chocolate Muffins
- 1 3/4 cups (196 g) almond flour, (can use sunflower seed meal)
- 1/3 cup (63.33 g) sweetener, erythritol based recommended
- 1/4 cup (21.5 g) cocoa powder
- 1/4 cup (27 g) whey protein powder, or egg white protein powder
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 3 large eggs, room temperature
- 1/3 cup (75.67 g) butter, melted
- 1/3 cup (78.86 ml) coffee or water, room temperature
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- 3 tbsp (45.65 g) dark chocolate chips, sugar-free
Instructions
Cream Cheese Filling
- In a large bowl, beat the cream cheese with the sweetener until well combined. Add the cream and vanilla and beat until smooth. Set aside.
Muffins
- Preheat the oven to 350ºF and line a muffin pan with 12 silicone or parchment muffin liners.
- In a large bowl, combine the almond flour, sweetener, cocoa powder, protein powder, baking powder, and salt.
- Add the eggs, butter, coffee, and vanilla extract and stir until well combined.
- Divide the batter evenly among the prepared muffin cups, filling each no more than 2/3 full. With the back of a spoon, create a well in the center of each muffin.
- Divide the cream cheese filling among the wells, adding about 1 1/2 tbsp to each muffin. Sprinkle the tops of the muffins with chocolate chips
- Bake 20 to 25 minutes, until the edges are set and the centers are puffed up. Remove and let cool in the pan (the centers will rise and sink, this is normal).
Notes
Nutrition
Frequently Asked Questions
If you can find a good cream cheese alternative that you like, you certainly can. Replace the butter with avocado oil and the heavy cream with some coconut cream. Be sure to read the label on the dairy-free cream cheese, as many of them contain more carbs.
Because of the cream cheese filling, I recommend storing these muffins in a covered container in the fridge. Eat chilled or room temperature. You can also freeze them for up to 3 months.
This keto chocolate cream cheese muffins recipe has 7g of carbs and 3.3g of fiber per serving. That comes to 3.7g net carbs per muffin.
Nutritional Disclaimer
Please note that I am not a medical or nutritional professional. I am simply recounting and sharing my own experiences on this blog. Nothing I express here should be taken as medical advice and you should consult with your doctor before starting any diet or exercise program. I provide nutritional information for my recipes simply as a courtesy to my readers. It is calculated using MacGourmet software and I remove erythritol from the final carb count and net carb count, as it does not affect my own blood glucose levels. I do my best to be as accurate as possible but you should independently calculate nutritional information on your own before relying on them. I expressly disclaim any and all liability of any kind with respect to any act or omission wholly or in part in reliance on anything contained in this website.
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Oh. My. Goodness. These are the best keto cupcakes I’ve ever had. Even while they were still warm they held together and the texture didn’t look or feel like typical keto cupcakes. Absolutely delicious!
Great to hear!
Can I make with Allulose instead of swerve?
I haven’t tried but I think so.
Making muffins extra special, this is the recipe. Dazzles the taste buds and looks snazzy, too! I found I could get by with about an ounce less cream cheese having some mixture leftover, so there was a smidgen fewer carbs and calories. Otherwise, the recipe was on the money and tasted divine!
How do I store these?
The fridge is best because of the cheesecake center.
Hi. I measured everything exactly to the Recipe but somehow had quite a bit of batter. Turned it gritty and really no taste at all. Any suggestions on what went wrong?
What almond flour are you using?
Do you by chance have the cholesterol in one if these muffins? I have been on the Keto plan since Jan 18, 21 and am beginning to capture cholesterol amounts as my blood work has changed. No point in my spending copious amount of time to figure it out if you already have it. Thank you and Christmas blessings to you and your family.
Sorry, I don’t calculate that part. 🙂
I don’t have heavy cream, can I skip it? Or replace with anything else? These are always delicious, one of my favorites
I make these often and they never disappoint!
Hoping they taste good, but the batter was too thin, so couldn’t make a well for the cream cheese. Dropped it in the middle and currently waiting to see what happens. Muffin cups were full to overflowing and a peek in the oven showed they are oozing all over the top as they bake. Predict it’s going to be a mess when done – not perfect separate muffins. Only thing I can think is the eggs were too big, otherwise I measured correctly. Suggestions?
Well something went very wrong on your end, since you can see from my photos that the batter should not be that thin. I guess it could be the eggs but I think you added too much liquid in some way.
Can heavy cream be used instead of almond milk? If so, would the measurement be the same?
It makes the batter too thick. Do water instead, or a mix of cream and water. Same ratio.
Have tried many of your recipes and love them – thank you. With this one however faced same issue as some others mentioned – batter was too liquidy …. I unfortunately did not read the note in instructions that said it shouldn’t be! Only realized an issue when the cream cheese disappeared from the top. It ended up at the very bottom of the muffins! Pretty sure I measured everything accurately – used large eggs, Lakanto golden monk fruit sweetener, and Anthony’s fine blanched almond flour. Any ideas on what may be the problem or what to do? Add almond flour? Or maybe coconut flour? Appreciate the help – I’m pretty new at this! Thank you.
I made these yesterday for a Valentines day treat and they turned out amazing! My batter wasn’t as thick as shown in your picture but after reading other reviews I didn’t worry about it and they baked up perfectly!
Thank you so much for sharing your delicious recipes!
Glad to hear it!
Oh my word! these are the best! For fun I added some crushed pecan and unsweetened coconut to half of my cupcakes, and I had just enough batter to make a heart shaped cake for my husband, oh so yummy!
Can I replace the milk with coffee?
Sure! Would be delicious!
Just made these. My batter was also very runny. And yes, I followed the recipe just as written. Been baking keto for over a decade so I kinda know what I am doing. Added some gelatin powder and some coconut flour to add thickness. They are in the oven as we speak. The batter tasted delish ☺️ Thanks for the recipe. Not quite sure why with some people the batter is so runny. I get it when making own adjustments but I followed it just as written with the same ingredients. Thanks for the recipes
I need to know what sweetener and what brand of almond flour you used…
Just took these out of the oven and couldn’t wait to try them! Burned the heck outta my tongue but so worth it.. they are THAT good!