Meyer Lemon Cream Cheese Muffins with Lemony-Sugar Glaze

It’s Meyer Lemon season!

There’s a myriad of reasons and tasty excuses to use these seasonally, juicy, sweet-n-tart citrusy gems. Let’s start with these lemony, cream cheese muffins with a complimentary glaze on the muffin crowns. You’ll be tempted to call these little tender cakes instead of muffins…

Meyer lemon cream cheese muffins with lemony-sugar glaze

This is what lemon and cream cheese muffins are all about. Since our fruit tree has once again honored us with bright and beautiful Meyer lemons this season, I’m using these citrus treats in baked goods these days. You can just as easily substitute a regular lemon if you don’t have Meyers, just tone down the amount of zest used (depending on your personal preference for lemony goodness). I’ll definitely try these muffins again with lemons from our Eureka lemon tree too, but for now…it’s Meyer’s time!

I’ve baked up variations of this recipe at least three times in the past week, testing baking times, using different pans and using other ingredients to make it a little more “healthful” if you will. Note that the recipe yields six muffins. You can just as easily double the recipe.

Take a look at the images of these muffins…can you see the bits of cream cheese in these tender lemon muffins?!

Meyer lemon cream cheese muffins with lemony-sugar glaze

There are many things to love about this recipe. I’ve modified from the original source both the ingredients and baking method, but one thing I especially liked about it is the way the cream cheese is used in these muffins. Often when you come across a recipe that boasts “cream cheese” in the title, it’s more than likely a clump of cream cheese or cream cheese mixture in the middle of the muffin. These muffins have bits of cream cheese “throughout” the entire muffin! You’re cutting them in bits and then coating them with the dry ingredients which helps to prevent the small bits of cream cheese from sinking to the bottom of the muffin. It’s fantastic! Take a peek at my notes at the end of the post and in the recipe to more easily handle the cream cheese.

Optionally, I’ve also tried it with the addition of coconut. Good flavor option if you enjoy the pairing of lemon and coconut.

As mentioned, the recipe makes a convenient six muffins. Not too much and not too little for a household of two!

Meyer lemon cream cheese muffins with lemony-sugar glaze

The first time baking these up, I used a regular-sized muffin pan. The batter will fill the entire muffin cup and give you a nice, big muffin top/crown. However, with the initial temperature at 375°F, when the muffins baked, the bottom of the crowns touched the pan and made them all very dark around the edges. Still edible, but not necessarily pretty.

Second time baking these up, I used a silicone muffin/cake pan that gave me straight edged baked goods, but not much of a muffin top. More evenly baked and my favorite version, however, they looked more like little lemon cakes instead of muffins and I really wanted this post to be about muffins and not lemon cakes.

Third time was meeting in the middle and proved to be a charm. I used these pleated paper liners that kept the tops from touching the hot pan when it baked. It did the trick of no more dark edges, but it took away from that mushroom effect of a glorious muffin top. I suppose that if you just used a regular cupcake/muffin paper liner and baked it at 350°F and adjust your baking time, you’ll get that perfect muffin top!

You want a nice golden crown because as soon as you pull these out of the oven and transfer them to wire cooling rack, you’re going to brush a delicious lemon-sugar glaze along the top. The heat of the hot muffins will better absorb this glaze and create a lovely crust on the top without making the muffin soggy. If you opt to make these muffins without the liner, be sure to prep your pan accordingly so it doesn’t stick -and- brush some of the glaze on the sides of the muffins, as well. It’s really delicious.

Serve these bright and happy muffins up pretty by sprinkling fresh lemon zest on the tops just before serving!

• This may seem unconventional, but preheat the oven to 375°F. When you’re ready to bake the muffins, drop the temp to 350°F and immediately place the muffin pan in the oven.
• To make handling the cream cheese easier, place the 4-ounces of cream cheese in the freezer for 10 minutes to firm it up before cutting into 1/4-inch cubes. Don’t leave it in the freezer much longer than that because you don’t want the cream cheese to crumble!
• When adding the cream cheese bits to the dry ingredients, gently coat and take care to not over mix. You don’t want to break down the cubes of cream cheese.
• The coconut addition to the muffins is optional, but a nice addition if you enjoy coconut (especially lemon with coconut!).
• Use all the zest from 1 medium-sized Meyer lemon. If your Meyers are smallish, use the zest from the smaller lemons. Use your judgement…the zest is what really gives it that lemony zing.
• Rotate the muffin pan half-way through baking time to get a more even baking and golden color to the muffin crowns.
• Check your baking time after 25 minutes to test for doneness. You don’t want to overbake these cake-like muffins.
• Coconut option: Lightly toast the coconut in your oven that’s preheating for roughly 6-8 minutes. You don’t want to make it crispy or browned, just toast it enough to bring the flavor to the forefront. Let it cool before tossing into the dry ingredients.
• If you opt to not use paper liners for your muffins, brush the lemon-sugar glaze on the sides of the hot muffins, as well.

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Meyer Lemon Cream Cheese Muffins with Lemony-Sugar Glaze

Makes 6 muffins

Ingredients

• 1 ¼ cups all-purpose flour
• 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
• ½ teaspoon salt
•  
• 2/3 cup sugar
• ½ cup shredded coconut, lightly toasted (optional – see note)
• 4-ounces low-fat cream cheese cut in ¼-inch cubes, cold (see note)
•  
• 1 large egg
• 1/3 cup canola oil
• ½ cup 2% lowfat milk
• Meyer lemon zest from 1 medium-sized lemon (see note)
• 1 tablespoon freshly squeezed Meyer lemon juice
•  
• Lemony-Sugar Glaze
• 2 tablespoons Meyer lemon juice
• 2 tablespoons sugar
•  
• Extra lemon zest to garnish muffin tops before serving (optional)

Method

1. Preheat oven to 375°F. Line 6 muffin cups with paper liners and lightly spray non-stick cooking spray to the top of the muffin pan.
2. Sift flour, baking powder, and salt together in a medium bowl. Add sugar, stir. Add cream cheese cubes and “gently” coat well in flour mixture.
3. In a separate large bowl, combine large egg, canola oil, milk, lemon juice and zest. Add dry mixture to the moist ingredients. Stir until just combined. Spoon batter into prepared muffin tins.
4. Drop oven temperature to 350°F and bake for 25 minutes, rotating muffin pan half-way through baking time. Test doneness by inserting a wooden skewer down the middle of the tallest muffin crown and it comes out clean.
5. Remove muffins from oven and transfer each muffin to a wire cooling rack. Combine 2 tablespoons lemon juice and 2 tablespoons sugar. Brush glaze on hot muffins. Let cool completely. Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator. © Images & content: Cristina A-Moore for TeenieCakes.com.

Teenie Notes

• This may seem unconventional, but preheat the oven to 375°F. When you’re ready to bake the muffins, drop the temp to 350°F and immediately place the muffin pan in the oven.
• To make handling the cream cheese easier, place the 4-ounces of cream cheese in the freezer for 10 minutes to firm it up before cutting into 1/4-inch cubes. Don’t leave it in the freezer much longer than that because you don’t want the cream cheese to crumble!
• When adding the cream cheese bits to the dry ingredients, gently coat and take care to not over mix. You don’t want to break down the cubes of cream cheese.
• The coconut addition to the muffins is optional, but a nice addition if you enjoy coconut (especially lemon with coconut!).
• Use all the zest from 1 medium-sized Meyer lemon. If your Meyers are smallish, use the zest from the smaller lemons. Use your judgement…the zest is what really gives it that lemony zing.
• Rotate the muffin pan half-way through baking time to get a more even baking and golden color to the muffin crowns.
• Check your baking time after 25 minutes to test for doneness. You don’t want to overbake these cake-like muffins.
• Coconut option: Lightly toast the coconut in your oven that’s preheating for roughly 6-8 minutes. You don’t want to make it crispy or browned, just toast it enough to bring the flavor to the forefront. Let it cool before tossing into the dry ingredients.
• If you opt to not use paper liners for your muffins, brush the lemon-sugar glaze on the sides of the hot muffins, as well.

Cristina A-Moore | Teenie Cakes