Yeesh. The site is still a mess, I know. There’s still a chunk of posts I have to restore manually, one-by-one, and then of course the look of the site. Please try to ignore that and focus on these muffins. They’re my new favorites and I’ve been itching to share them.
These muffins are so simple, but so wonderful. One morning I was running late for work (story of my life) and totally forgot to eat breakfast, so I stopped by the deli to pick up a muffin. I saw cream cheese muffins, which is something I was totally unfamiliar with up to that point. My first reaction was, “Boring.” But something made me take a second look. I ended up trying it, and I was instantly obsessed. I knew I needed to make them at home. They’re super moist and slightly tangy from the cream cheese with a bright lemon zing, flecked with beautiful vanilla bean. Sweet but not too sweet, with a crunchy raw sugar topping. They’re the perfect breakfast or snacking muffin—so simple and delicious on their own, but easily enhanced with a spread of your favorite jam.
You can even put the jam in the muffins. I was intrigued by some blueberry-chocolate jam at the farmer’s market a couple weeks ago, so I bought it with the sole purpose of baking it into these muffins. And it was fab. Simply fill the muffin cups halfway with the batter, add a teaspoon of your favorite jam, and cover with the remaining batter. You can even stir fresh fruit into the batter! These muffins are simply the perfect base for your favorite fruit flavors. You must try them this summer.
Cream Cheese Muffins
Adapted from A Family Feast
Makes 12 muffins
- 3 cups flour
- ¾ cup sugar
- Zest of 1 lemon
- 4 teaspoons baking powder
- ⅛ teaspoon salt
- 8 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
- 2 eggs
- 1 cup low fat milk
- Juice of 1 lemon
- 1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste
- ½ cup butter, melted and cooled
- ¼ cup of turbinado sugar
- Optional: ¼ cup of your favorite jam or preserves
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Place a muffin liner inside each opening of a muffin pan. Spray each liner lightly with non-stick cooking spray.
- Add flour, baking powder and salt into a large mixing bowl and whisk together.
- In a small bowl, combine sugar and lemon zest. Rub together with your fingers until well-combined. Add to flour mixture and whisk together.
- In a measuring cup, combine the milk and lemon juice and stir. Let sit for several minutes until slightly curdled.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat the room temperature cream cheese until light and creamy. Add eggs and beat until smooth. Add milk mixture, vanilla bean paste and melted butter and mix thoroughly.
- In 3 batches, add the flour mixture to the cream cheese mixture, mixing after each addition until just incorporated.
- Using an ice cream scoop, spoon the batter evenly into the 12 prepared muffin cups. Sprinkle the tops generously with the turbinado sugar. If using jam, fill each cup halfway and add about a teaspoon of jam, then top with the remaining batter. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until the muffins are firm and just beginning to brown.
