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, 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 to 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:
- 1 to 3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
- ½ cup (57 g) powdered sugar, more or less
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line a 12-cup muffin tin with paper liners. Set aside.
- For the muffins, in a medium 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 until light and fluffy, 1 to 2 minutes.
- Add the egg, buttermilk, lemon juice, and vanilla. Mix until well combined, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed.
- Add the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt and mix by hand with a wooden spoon or rubber spatula until just combined. Don't over mix. It's ok if the batter is still slightly lumpy.
- Fill each muffin cup about 2/3 full with batter. If you have extra batter, bake additional muffins in a second batch rather than overfill the muffin cups.
- For the crumb topping, 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 17 to 20 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Note: these muffins likely won't rise into a domed top like other muffins while baking. This is due to the recipe formulation, as well as the crumb topping, so it's ok if they are flatter on top than other muffin recipes.
- Let the muffins cool in the tin for 2 to 3 minutes, then gently move to a cooling rack to cool completely.
- For the glaze, whisk together the powdered sugar and 1 tablespoon of the lemon juice. Continue adding additional lemon juice until the glaze is 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 works great.
Crumb Topping: these muffins are heavy on the crumb topping, which is how I like them. However, you can go lighter on the crumb topping if you'd like.
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).