Lemon Cream Cheese Muffins are an easy recipe for moist lemon-infused muffins made with Greek yogurt and a crunchy streusel crumb topping, filled with cream cheese. Soft and crunchy at the same time, these lemon muffins are a win-win combo. If you like lemon and cream cheese combo, try this Lemon Coffee Cake filled with cream cheese and lemon curd, too.
Lemon Cream Cheese Muffins
Lemon Cream Cheese Muffins would be the perfect, bright, and sunny breakfast on a cold winter day and a great way to welcome the spring.
These homemade muffins are equally delicious dessert, snack, or breakfast treats. Make a batch of these yummy muffins, loaded with sweet cream cheese filling, topped with irresistibly, crumbly streusel topping, and you’ll have an easy grab-and-go breakfast on a busy morning. Moreover, you can pack a few in a lunchbox and you’ll have a delicious snack at work or your kids at school.
Lemon Cream Cheese Muffins are simple and easy to make. Using just a few basic ingredients makes awesome, homemade muffins, better than the one from the bakery. Moist and flavorful muffins bursting with bright citrus flavor, and sweet and tangy cream cheese filling makes them irresistible.
Whether you make them for breakfast to brighten up your day, or for dessert or snack to satisfy your sweet tooth, these Lemon Cream Cheese Muffins are always a good idea.
To tell the truth, I prefer to make them in the morning on weekends. A mug of freshly brewed coffee and a warm lemon muffin is my favorite way to start a day. It’s an outrageous breakfast if you asked me.
However, I love good homemade muffins. I shared many muffin recipes so far. If you are a muffin lover as I am, check my Lemon Blueberry Muffins, Cranberry Orange Muffins, Apple Pie Muffins, Blueberry Muffins with Streusel Topping, Carrot Cake Muffins with Cheesecake Filling or Lemon Poppy Seeds Muffins, too.
If you love lemon, I suggest you start with this quick and easy muffin recipe with Greek yogurt. Don’t worry, if you don’t like Greek yogurt, you won’t taste it in the muffins. But it will keep your muffins very moist.
Enjoy!
Craving for more delicious crumbly muffins? Then check these amazing muffin recipes on my blog!
This Blueberry Muffins recipe will become your favorite breakfast to make! You can stop your search for the best breakfast muffin because these are made with fresh blueberries and cinnamon crumble!
Apple Pie Muffins with Streusel Crumbs are easy and delicious fall dessert, snack or breakfast treat.
Lemon Cream Cheese Muffins
Prep Time: 15 minutes- Cook Time: 25 minutes
- Total Time: 40 minutes
Yield: 12 1x
Category: breakfast/dessert
Method: Bake
Cuisine: American
Print Recipe
Pin RecipeIngredients
Streusel Crumb Topping:
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- ¼ cup light brown sugar
- ¼ cup granulated sugar
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 6 Tablespoons unsalted butter-melted
Lemon Muffins:
- 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon baking soda
- 1/3 cup unsalted butter-softened
- ¾ cup granulated sugar
- 2 eggs
- 2 Tablespoons lemon zest
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1 teaspoon lemon extract
- 2/3 cup Greek yogurt
- 2 Tablespoons lemon juice
Cream Cheese Filling:
- 8 oz. cream cheese-room temperature
- ¼ cup granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
Glaze:
- ¾ cup powdered sugar
- 1 ½ –2 ½ teaspoons lemon juice
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 425 F, line 12 count cupcake pan with paper liners ad set aside.
- To make the crumb topping, stir together flour, sugar, brown sugar, and salt. Add melted butter and whisk with a fork until coarse crumbs form. Set aside.
- To make the lemon muffins mixture whisk dry ingredients (flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt) and set aside.
- In a large bowl mix softened butter and sugar for about 2 minutes at high speed. Add eggs, lemon zest, vanilla, and lemon extract and mix for 2 more minutes. Add Greek yogurt and lemon juice and mix just to combine. Running your mixer on low, mix in dry ingredients.
- To make the cream cheese filling, mix softened cream cheese, sugar, and vanilla just to combine.
- To assemble the muffins add 1 heaping Tablespoon of muffin mixture in each cup. Drop 1 Tablespoon of cream cheese mixture in the center of each muffin. Cover cream cheese filling with muffin mixture, filling each cup about 2/3 to ¾ full.
- Generously top each muffin with streusel crumbs.
- Place in preheated oven and reduce the temperature to 350 F. Bake 22-25 minutes, or until the tops are golden brown and the center has set.
- Cool 5-10 minutes in the pan, then transfer the muffins on a rack to cool completely.
- Meanwhile, prepare the glaze. Stir powdered sugar with lemon juice. Start with 1 teaspoon of the juice and gradually add more until desired consistency has reached. Drizzle over muffins and serve.
60 comments
Can I substitute the Greek yogurt? Like with sour cream?
Yes, you can use sour cream.
I just made these delicious lemon cupcakes. I had read about the filling melting into the cake. I added 1 tablespoon flour with the cream cheese….worked like a charm. Yes I had a bit of streusel left but will put it on top of some zuchunni pineapple muffins that I’m making. These two plus a couple other things will be on my families Valentine tray for tomorrow. Thanks so much for sharing. Hope everyone is having a BLESSED DAY……HAPPY VALENTINES…Hug from Oma in Tennessee
Thank you so much!
They look incredible! We are huge fans of streusel anything and I love that cream cheese filling…a nice contrast to the crunch buttery topping.
I just put these into the oven. My one qualm (for now) is that thee is too little batter for the muffin and too much streusal topping. I think the muffin should be adjusted – maybe 1.5X and the streusal decreased by 1.5X.
Anyways…either way I am sure they will taste great.
Can I substitute no sugar products…such as a trivia product?
What could be the substitute for eggs in this recipe I don’t eat eggs..
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I wondered that too because I am deathly allergic to eggs
Make a flax “egg”
Using Just egg would be a great substitute. You may need to bake it a few mins more but it’s a plant based egg substitute that tastes and acts like real egg. I’m allergic as well and that’s what I use for all of my egg based recipes
These are delicious! Highly recommend. I did muffins and as a cake as well, half amount of streusel is definately enough for me. I tried with sour cream and Greek yogurt both taste gorgeous 😊 Thank you for sharing.
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Can you make them sugar free?
I just made some! They are absolutely delicious. The recipe worked perfectly for me in terms of proportions, I only had maybe a little bit of streusal leftover
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Can you freeze them after you bake them?
These are great thank you for sharing I’m just wondering do these need to be refrigerated ..
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That was my question as well, if they need to be stored in the fridge because of the cream cheese.
Make the lemon muffins they are absolutely delicious
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Do you use plain Greek yogurt or vanilla flavoured?
We love all things lemon and these look delicious. I will be baking these soon and am pretty sure they will be a family favorite. Thank you for sharing this recipe, can’t wait to bake them.
Can I make a cake instead of muffins? I would just dollop the cream cheese mixture and swirl it into the cake batter
Hi Jenelle, you cold try it.. Let me know how it turned out. Happy baking!
I would like to make a larger muffin would I double the recipe? And how would I tell when there done?
could you use cottage cheese instead of greek yogurt?
You can use sour cream instead of yogurt. I’m not sure about the cottage cheese.
I made these but the cream cheese filling wasn’t like it shows in the picture. The muffins absorbed it..just wondering what I did wrong..thank you!
Hi! I am wondering about how to best store these.
Your Lemon muffins are just HEAVEN!. thank you for sharing this recipe I will try it next weekend. My friends would love it for sure though not all of them are fans of lemons but I’m sure they’ll love it once they taste this. Thanks again!
I got 14 from mine. They are very good. I’m going to store them in refrigerator. I going to try freezing some to see how theyare. I can let you know in a few weeks if they come out the freezerOr nit.
The taste was great but mine came out hollow in the middle. The cream cheese was in there but it was mostly hollow. What did I do wrong?
I made these muffins and they turned out wonderful. I substituted all sugars with sugar substitutes including the brown sugar as well as the powdered sugar. They were delicious!!! I used Stevia for the granulated sugar, Truvia for the brown sugar and Swerve for the powdered sugar!
Just amazing
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I would love it to make these but first I would like to see your response to those Who asked a question about why they’re filling seem to absorb into the muffin and really was nonexistent. I would like to correct whatever may have gone wrong for them so it doesn’t go wrong for me.
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How many lemons do I need to get 2 tbsp zest
You’ll need about 2 lemons…
Read it said something about having lemon curd in it but nowhere on recipe do I see that used.
At the top of the recipe, you say 425 degrees, then later in the recipe you say bake at 350…..which is it?
Preheat the oven to 425 F, when place muffins in preheated oven reduce the temperature to 350 F
Two different posts asked about storing. I keep hoping you will answer before I try these. Don’t want to make my husband’s office staff sick.
Made these last night. They turned out well, and are crazy tasty! I had batter and filling to make an additional 2 cupcakes 😋 I have one question regarding the lemon extract? I use the Watkins brand for most of my extracts. This brand is on the entense side, and can be overpowering. Is it possible to use just the real lemon juice for flavoring, or is it not strong enough? Love this recipe 😋 thank you so much for sharing😊
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Do you have nutritional content on these? Thank you!
Great recipe but I bought a Betty Crocker lemon poppy seed muffin box instead of making my own and they turned out wonderful with a lot less work. I will definitely be making these again!!
Disappointed the filling disappeared after baking & mine don’t look anything like the photo. I followed the recipe to a “T” but they came out dry & the filling absorbed into the muffin. Not at all what I expected. Maybe I’ll try this with cupcake batter in the future & see what that does.
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Vera, please respond. How to prevent filling from disappearing when baked?? Please.
I saw it mentioned to add 1 T of flour to filling and it helps hold the other ingredients together.
The flavor on these are amazing. I didn’t have lemon extract so I used more zest and juice and they turned out great.
I have the same question on the filling. Mine flattened out in the middle and the tops also sunk in. What is the solution to make the filling look like the picture and how do I keep them from sinking in the middle?
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We love anything lemon . Can’t wait to try.
I’m going to try this, I’d like to know how to prevent filling from disappearing as well… as for those you asking about refrigerating yes, just remember anything with egg must be stored in refrigerator.
Why does she keep ignoring the 2 questions about storing them and melted center’s but answers the other questions?
LOL ! (Lots of Love) THIS IS GORGUESS!1!! it really good i made my eihgt year old make this and it turned out burnt but i made her make it until it was good and then she could play with friends! she will be a good cook one day i know!!! LOL VERA!! ANd thank for helping me rais my chil.d 😀
LOL ! (Lots of Love) THIS IS GORGUESS!1!! it really good i made my eihgt year old make this and it turned out burnt but i made her make it until it was good and then she could play with friends! she will be a good cook one day i know!!! LOL VERA!! ANd thank for helping me rais my chil.d 😀
Why will you not respond to the question by several on how to store the muffins and the centers being empty.
the filling disappeared mostly in the ones i made and i believe i mixed it for too long . too much air in the creme cheese would make it disappear during baking. the filling process was tedious so i put the dough and creme cheese in piping bags. piped a little in the bottom of the cup and than a drop of creme cheese than covered it. much easier than fiddling around with a spoon. i put the glaze in a piping bag too. these are delicious, how to you have any left to store? : )
Yes please respond to questions about filling disappearing. Other than that, they were delicious
I really wish you would put the ingredients in oz or grand as we don’t work with cups I the UK. Your recipes are amazing and I would love to try them. Would this be possible please?
It would be best if you answered why the middle is Hollow and no cream cheese in the middle!!
Zdrast Vera! This looks amazing! Do you know if this can be converted into a Gluten Free muffin with a reliable cup for cup gluten free flour?
OMG SO many gorgeous cakes!!! I have not seen a roundup like that on a blog…ever!!! Thank you! 💗🙏
Mine hollowed out as well. I’m going to take a gander that most of them will do that and I bet making the oven hotter than the cook temp has something to do with it. And cheesecakes are cooked at a much lower temperature. My gut tells me she injected the cream cheese filling into the pictures because cooked cream cheese isn’t that runny. That she won’t respond to the comments tells me she’s hiding something.
That said, they are delicious and if you can live with the cream cheese vanishing, it’s worth the repeat.
How many muffins does this recipe make???? I’ve searched and searched through the long page and couldn’t find it anywhere!
Hi Kay, it makes 12 muffins. Happy baking!