Lemon Cream Cheese Crumb Muffins
Ingredients
Muffin Batter:
- 1 cup (142 g) all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 4 ounces (113 g) cream cheese, light or regular, softened to room temperature
- 2 tablespoons salted butter, softened to room temperature
- ¾ cup (159 g) granulated sugar
- Zest of 2 large lemons, about 2 tablespoons
- 1 large egg
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- ¼ cup buttermilk (see note)
- ¼ cup fresh lemon juice, from 1-2 large lemons
Crumb Topping:
- ¾ cup (107 g) all-purpose flour
- 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
- 2 tablespoons brown sugar
- 4 tablespoons (57 g) salted butter, melted
Lemon Glaze:
- 3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
- ½ cup (57 g) powdered sugar, more or less
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (or 325 degrees F for convection bake). Line a 12-cup standard muffin tin with paper liners (see note above about making smaller muffins).
- For the muffin batter, in a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Set aside.
- In another bowl with an electric handheld mixer or in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the cream cheese, butter, granulated sugar, and lemon zest together until light and fluffy, 1-2 minutes.
- Add the egg, vanilla, buttermilk and lemon juice. Mix until well-combined, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed.
- Add the dry ingredients to the muffin batter and mix by hand with a wooden spoon or spatula until just combined. Don't overmix. It's ok if the batter is slightly lumpy.
- Divide the batter evenly among the muffin cups, filling about 2/3 full (see note above).
- For the crumb topping, in the same bowl that held the dry ingredients for the muffin batter (no need to wash), whisk together the flour, granulated sugar, and brown sugar. Add the melted butter and stir/mash with a fork until the mixture looks evenly moistened and forms tiny clumps.
- Top each muffin evenly with the crumb topping (use it all up!).
- Bake the muffins for 15-18 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
- Let the muffins cool in the tin for 2-3 minutes then gently move to a cooling rack to cool completely.
- For the glaze, add the lemon juice to a small bowl or liquid measuring cup and gradually add powdered sugar, whisking constantly, until the desired consistency is reached (I like it thick but pourable). Drizzle glaze over the top of each cooled muffin.
Notes
Buttermilk Substitution: if you don't have buttermilk, equal parts sour cream and milk whisked together (so, 2 tablespoons each for this recipe) works great.
Muffins: the pictures in the post are from a batch where I made 12 muffins with the batter/crumb topping. If you want slightly smaller muffins (or if you live at high/er altitude where baked goods sometimes overflow or rise more while baking), you might want to make 14-15 muffins instead of 12, which would necessitate using a 2nd muffin tin or baking a second batch of just a few muffins.
Crumb Topping: these muffins are heavy on the crumb topping, just the way I like it. Feel free to make a smaller amount of topping or sprinkle it on with a lighter hand if you like a little less crumb topping to your muffin.
Plain Batter: the batter for these muffins is divine (don't ask me how I know), and I have a feeling this recipe would do VERY well even if the the crumb topping and glaze were eliminated and poppy seeds were tossed into the batter for a lemon poppy seed number (or just bake up plain lemon muffins).