Blueberry Lemon Cream Cheese Muffin Recipe
Updated March 26, 2019
I have a hard time sleeping and this weekend was no different. I was up every morning by 5:00. I am a morning person and like to get things done, but sometimes on weekends I wish I could sleep in a little. Oh well, being up at the crack of dawn resulted in a glorious batch of blueberry cream cheese muffins.
Blueberry muffins are always popular, but I wanted to kick things up a notch. These muffins are extra special because they have a surprise inside-cream cheese!
I filled each muffin cup with a little batter and then I added the secret lemon cream cheese filling. I topped the muffins off with additional batter and turbinado sugar. The muffins are great on their own, but the lemon cream cheese filling with the plump, juicy blueberries makes these muffins marvelous.
When Josh woke up the muffins were done baking and ready to be tested. He didn’t taste the cream cheese filing until the second bite. I knew he did, because mmmm, went to MMMMM! He loved the surprise filling. It reminded him of creamy blueberry cheesecake.
A fresh blueberry muffin with lemon cheesecake in the mix is the perfect way to start any morning! Surprise your loved ones with these muffins-they will love them!
If you live in Utah, don’t forget to come out and support the National Food Bloggers Bake Sale on Saturday, April 17th. Come taste treats from your favorite Utah bloggers and support Share Our Strength. Details can be found here.
Blueberry Lemon Cream Cheese Muffins
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/2 cup sugar
- Zest of 1 large lemon
- 1/4 cup canola oil
- 1 large egg
- 1/3 cup skim milk
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 cup blueberries fresh or frozen
- Cream cheese filling:
- 3 tablespoons cream cheese
- 1 teaspoon lemon zest
- 1 tablespoon sugar
- Turbinado sugar-for sprinkling on muffins before baking
Instructions
- 1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Grease muffin pan or line pan with muffin liners. Set aside.
- 2. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, salt, baking powder, and cinnamon.
- 3. In a small bowl, add the sugar and lemon zest. Rub sugar and zest together, until fragrant. Add to the flour mixture and whisk again.
- 4. In a separate medium bowl, mix canola oil, egg, milk, and vanilla together.
- 5. Incorporate the wet ingredients into flour mixture. Add slowly and do not over mix. The batter will be lumpy and thick. Gently fold in the blueberries.
- 6. In a small bowl, mix together the cream cheese, lemon zest, and sugar until smooth. Fill each muffin cup half way with batter. Next, add about 1 teaspoon of cream cheese filling to each muffin cup. Cover each cup with remaining batter so you can't see the cream cheese filling. Sprinkle each muffin with turbinado sugar.
- 7. Bake muffins for 17-20 minutes, or until muffins are golden brown and a toothpick comes out clean. Let muffins cool on a cooking rack.
Have you tried this recipe?
Leave a comment below and share a photo on Instagram. Tag @twopeasandpod and hashtag it with #twopeasandtheirpod
If you like these muffins, you might also like:
Oatmeal Berry Muffins from Two Peas and Their Pod
Rhubarb Apple Cinnamon Muffins from Two Peas and Their Pod
Plum Coffee Cake Muffins from Two Peas and Their Pod
Strawberry, Almond, and Coconut Muffins from Food Blogga
Apple Cinnamon Chip Muffins from My Baking Addiction
Lemon Ginger Muffins from Simply Recipes
Those sound delicious! And you take the most gorgeous pictures!!
OH! How delicious that looks and sounds! I like the idea of the cream cheese frosting on the inside – which means they’re perfect for picnics and brown-bagging.
Fantastic! I end up waking up early on the weekends too! I made my parents some applesauce walnut bread on Sunday morning and topped it with turbinado! Love your sweet surprise inside. Hope you have a wonderful week Maria!
I have sleep problems too and often wake up early. The furthest my productivity has stretched is to get out of bed and chop some veggies to be used in dinner later on! These muffins sound fabulous, but so is anything with cream cheese 🙂
Great idea!. Reminds me of stuffed French toast that I love.
I would love to start my morning with these.
I have made a blueberry muffin with chunks of cream cheese in it before, but I love this idea for the filling! http://www.goodlifeeats.com/2009/08/blueberries-and-cream-muffins.html
Wish I could come over for breakfast!
MMMMMM!!! is right. These look delicious.
I’m with Josh! “Lemon-Cream-Cheese Filling” sounds delicious!
Oh cream cheese in the middle, yum! I’m an early riser too but 5 is just too early 😉
Good luck with the bake sale. Wish I could help.
OH YUM! I’m making Blueberry Muffins this week for sure!
oh that sounds good. have fun at the bake sale.
Perfect! I’ll be making these as soon as my blueberry bush is full of fruit!
Smith Bites-I am jealous you have a blueberry bush. Enjoy!
I can’t wait to try these muffins! I love the lemon zest with the blueberries!
Your recipes always amaze me! Will try this one too!
Yum, how fun!
I absolutely love blueberry muffins. Cream Cheese makes just about anything taste better!
Gorgeous muffins Maria 🙂 They look so pretty!
Enjoy the bake sale!
The cream cheese in this muffin would make it so decadent. I love this version.
What a fun filling for these muffins. I’ll bet Josh is grateful that you are an early riser – he gets the benefit of your early morning baking.
these would be perfect with a great cup of coffee..yum
sweetlife
Sounds fabulous! I am participating in the bake sale – but won’t see you because… I am in Provo.
Sarah-we appreciate your support and help with the bake sale!
I love a warm blueberry muffin with some organic butter. YUM!
These look wonderful! What a unique muffin!
Unbelievable! Love this idea of sneaking the cream cheese in. Yum.
Cream cheese, what a wonderful addition! They look beautiful with the sugar on top, you know your muffins.
Sounds great! I love the idea of the surprise filling — especially since it’s cheesecake-y.
The cheese is a wonderful addition to the muffins, Maria. These look great. Have a wonderful day. Blessings…Mary
I would like to take a bite into one of those! I love the sound of cream cheese filling!
I have tons of sleep issue as well. It stinks 🙁
It stinks that you don’t sleep well, but at least you are productive! These looks delicious!
YUM! These are making my mouth water. On the menu for this weekend.
Ooh, I mean, MMMM! That sounds really good to hide cream cheese inside! I never can sleep in anymore either, used to love it. (But I don’t quite get up as early as you. I’m more like 6:30.)
oh my!! these look awesome and so yummy!!
Oh boy – it looks like I have a new muffin to try. Bookmarked.
ooo I wish someone in my house got up at 5 to start baking for me 🙂 lucky man!
sometimes i hate surprises–there’s nothing worse than being caught completely offguard when you’re at your most vulnerable. this kind of surprise, though, is always welcome–excellent creation, maria!
Drool! Those muffins are stunning!!!
Those look so delicious! I really shouldn’t be reading this as I am starving!
Blueberries and lemon make the perfect pair. What a sweet way to start off the day.
These look fantastic Maria! Pretty and Delicious! I think I’ll make them this weekend 🙂
I could easily wake up to these. but not at 5:00, more like 7:00. 🙂
What a delicious surprise with the cream cheese filling. I love this idea. We love blueberry muffins but I know we’ll love these even more. I’ve just bookmarked the recipe.
I’m a muffin freak so of course I’m going to have to try these. They look fabulous!
I love cream cheese in muffins. Last year I was hooked on pumpkin cream cheese muffins and I can’t wait to try these ones. Thanks.
Yummmmmm! I love blueberries and just bought some at Costco. I think I see blueberry cream cheese muffins in my future! 😉
oh love the little citrus surprise
These muffins look beautiful. I have a go-to recipe for blueberry muffins, but I am finally tempted to try another one – yours! Thanks for sharing.
those look awesome an so petite! yum…
Yummy, yum, yum! Great combo – will remember these for our next ladies brunch.
I’m obsessed with cream cheese. These sound so good!
That looks so good!
I know what you mean about the waking up early- have the same problem. But there are definitely advantages to being a morning person- like those beautiful muffins which are now at the top of my “to make” list!
BEST. SURPRISE. EVERRRR. 🙂 Okay, so it’s in the title and therefore not a surprise, but it’s just as lovely knowing your treat will be there. I love blueberry muffins and cream cheese is definitely a great way to amp them up!
Stop it! This muffins has all of my favorite things wrapped up into one beautiful muffin. I am so making these!
What are you making for the bake sale?
Monica-we are baking NYT chocolate chip cookies, lemon drop cookies, S’mores cookies, and chocolate dipped pretzels for the bake sale!
These are fabulous! I am LOVING the cream cheese filling!
These look mouth wateringly good!
Now when you put cream cheese in a muffin, I’m all over that!
what a glorious combo! i love these!
these look delish and my husband loves anything with cream cheese inside! nice!
delicious! love the cream cheese surprise!
These are fabulous! I can almost taste them from here. Love the lemon and blueberry but I can just imagine that extra denseness and tartness the cream cheese adds. Perfect.
Alright – blueberry muffins are delicious enough, let alone with lemon cream in the center. What an awesome idea. I love a little bit of lemon zest in my muffins — so this is right up my alley.
These look delicious and love the extra surprise of the cream cheese. We both had blueberries on our mind this week.
Good luck this weekend with the bake sale!
Oh wow, I wish I could wake up to one of these tomorrow – the cream cheese filling really takes them over the top and sounds delightful!
The cream cheese inside these muffins looks heavenly! Sorry you couldn’t get the extra sleep, but you were very creative with these muffins. Best of luck with the Bake Sale this weekend. I will be at the one in LA. xo
I love the idea of blueberry muffins, but they are always so disappointing to me. These muffins totally solve that problem! So many different surprise tastes – yum! My family would go crazy over these.
I could use one of these right….about….NOW. Yum.
I made these muffins this morning, and despite a bit of overcooking, they were fabulous. I wish I would’ve doubled the recipe because 8 probably won’t last very long.
Thanks for the recipe.
i tried the recipe today, i love it! i know i’ll be making it again.
I just made these as a surprise for my boyfriend – but I’m not even sure that by the time he gets home I will have saved him any!! AMAZING!! Thank you so much!!!
Katelyn-you can always make another batch:) So glad you like the muffins!
I am sooo making these. I have some yogurt cheese in my fridge and may try using it instead of the cream cheese. Will let you know how it goes!
Just made these, and they turned out deliciously! I’m a little confused, though. My dough never even approached the consistency of batter. It was stiff like biscuit dough, so the muffins had no chance of turning out as nicely rounded and smooth on top as yours. Any suggestions/thoughts on what might have gone wrong?
Hmm. I am not sure, I have made these muffins several times and never had an issue. Did you add the proper amount of liquid? I am glad you still enjoyed them, even though the shape was off.
Oh.my.goodness!! Theses muffins are AMAZING!! I have made these twice since Sunday and can not get enough of them. If i had to choose one baked good to eat for the rest of my life this would be it. Perfection. Thankyou!!
These look perfect! I love blueberry muffins but that surprise cream cheese makes them even better
I just made these muffins and they came out AWESOME!!! My wife wants me to make more ASAP!!!!
You better please your wife and make another batch:) Thanks!
I just made this recipe and they turn out AMAZING!! Thank you for wonderful treat.
You are very welcome. Glad you enjoyed the muffins!
This one’s a keeper for me! I made these the other day. They are absolutely delicious!! Thanks for sharing the recipe. I sprinkled sanding sugar on the top before baking and mine sparkled.
I will have to try adding sugar on the tops before baking next time. Great idea!
love love love love love! yum!
Got amazing recipes here as well for delicious muffins, Had already tried couple of recipes: http://bit.ly/pmJZVN
Made this just a few minutes ago and they’re baking now in the oven.
Found that the cream cheese filling just wasnt enough to stretch out for 12 muffins so I had to make more of it.
Cant post how they taste just yet…but they sure smell great.
These are my new favorite blueberry muffin recipe. Absolutely scrumptious – thanks for sharing! A friend recommended this recipe after I shared your orange almond scone recipe, which is also delicious! Thank you for a beautiful blog.
I just made these and they were SO amazing! They were a lot of fun to make and everyone loves them! I’m absolutely making these again!
I am making these today! Can they be stored at room temperature? Thank you.
We store them on the counter, but they don’t last long. If you are going to keep them for more than a day, I would put them in the fridge. Let them come to room temperature before serving. Enjoy!
Just had to tell you I made these over the weekend and they were fantastic.
These muffins sound delicious! Do they freeze well with the cream cheese inside?
Would it hurt the recipe if I omitted the lemon?
I made these delicious muffins this morning. My husband does not like fruity muffins but ate two! I loved the lemon/cream cheese addition. Thanks for another great recipe.
You are welcome!
My daughter’s favorite muffin! I have a jumbo muffin pan i haven’t used yet. What do u think about doubling the recipe for that? Any idea how long to bake?
That should be fine. I would set the timer for 3 additional minutes and check them…it might need longer, but better safe than sorry:)
I think the first reason for such a low review is that it makes 9 muffins. Most muffin tins are in some multiple of 6 so it’s just annoying that it makes 9. The recipe is not clear on exactly how full you should fill each muffin cup. And the batter is so thick and so small, that it is easy to over mix while trying to incorporate all of the liquid.
I have made this delicious recipe several times, and friends just rave about them! The original one I saw on here, listed servings as 9. I just remember that odd number, and that is exactly how many it will make. Enjoy!
My boys love these. Take a bit of time to prepare but well worth it. I squeeze a little more lemon juice in the batter. Give it a try. This is my go to recipe.
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These were perfect in every way! We loved them.
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