Who doesn't love a muffin (or anything, for that matter) with a cream cheese surprise in the middle? These Strawberry Cream Cheese Muffins are filled with chunks of strawberry, a hint of lemon and, of course, a cream cheese center!
These Strawberry Cream Cheese muffins are perfect to make for breakfast. They are great fresh out of the oven, but just as good cold out of the refrigerator.
The strawberry sauce is drizzled on top before baking and then finished with a sprinkling of turbinado sugar. The end result is a beautiful red, sparkly muffin top!
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Ingredients Needed
- flour
- sugar
- baking powder
- salt
- baking soda
- milk
- lemon juice
- unsalted butter
- egg
- strawberries
- cream cheese
- turbinado sugar
How to Make Strawberry Cream Cheese Muffins
Make the Strawberry Sauce
To start, you will place the quartered strawberries, sugar and lemon juice into a medium saucepan. Cook on medium-low heat for 5 minutes or until the sugar dissolves. Next, you will transfer the strawberry mixture to a blender and puree. Since the mixture is hot, you will need to keep the lid of your blender open, or offset, to allow the steam to escape. I usually leave the little pour spout open on mine and cover with a towel while the blender is running.
Now you will pour the pureed strawberry mixture back into the saucepan and cook for an additional 10 minutes on medium-low heat. Remove from heat and cool completely. This can be done ahead of time. Once the mixture is cool, cover it and place in the refrigerator until you are ready to use it. You will have more than enough strawberry mixture, so you can use the extra on ice cream, to top a cheesecake, on toast, the options are endless! The strawberry sauce is delicious, but mostly for looks on these muffins. You could easily skip this and the muffins would be equally as good.
Make the Muffins
In a medium bowl, add all the dry ingredients together and stir them with a whisk to combine. In a small bowl, combine the milk, butter, lemon juice, and egg. Stir with a whisk to combine. Next, you will add the milk mixture to the flour mixture and stir with a spoon just until combined. Fold in the strawberries.
Using a small cookie scoop, place one scoop of the muffin batter in each of the prepared muffin liners. Next, place one cube of cream cheese in the center of each of each liner, on top of the batter you just put in there. Using your cookie scoop, fill each of the liners ¾ of the way full. I did two scoops on top of the cream cheese with my small cookie scoop and that seemed to work well.
For the top of the muffins, you can put the strawberry sauce on in a variety of different ways. I've tried all of these and they all come out looking exactly the same! One way is to put the strawberry sauce into a squeeze bottle and squeeze the sauce onto the top of the muffin in a swirl pattern. You could also pour the strawberry sauce on using a measuring cup with a pour spout. Or finally, you could just spoon the sauce on in no particular fancy pattern. However you choose to put the sauce on there, is up to you! You've got options!
Place the muffins into the 400°F oven for 16-18 minutes. When they are done, sprinkle them with turbinado sugar and let them cool in the pan for about 5 minutes. Then remove from the pan and let them cool on a wire rack. (The turbinado sugar is also optional. I like the crunch it provides in each bite, but it's not necessary for the muffins to taste delicious!)
Variations
- Skip the strawberry sauce, replace the strawberries with blueberries and replace the lemon juice and milk for ¾ cup orange juice.
Leftover Ingredients
After making these muffins, you may find that you have some cream cheese leftover. If you are looking to use that up, try this recipe:
Recipe
Strawberry Cream Cheese Muffins
Ingredients
For the Strawberry Sauce:
- 2 cups strawberries, quartered
- ½ cup sugar
- Juice of 1 lemon
For the Muffins:
- 2 cups flour
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 ½ teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ cup milk
- ¼ cup fresh lemon juice (about 2 lemons)
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
- 1 egg
- 1 cup chopped strawberries
- ½ cup strawberry sauce
- 4 ounces cream cheese, cut into 12 equal pieces
- turbinado sugar for sprinkling
Instructions
Strawberry Sauce:
- Place strawberries, lemon juice and sugar in a medium saucepan. Cook on medium-low heat for about 5 minutes, or until sugar is dissolved. Stir occasionally.
- Transfer strawberry mixture to blender and puree. Return the pureed mixture back to the saucepan and continue to cook on medium-low heat for 10 minutes, or until thickened. Remove from heat and let cool.
Muffins:
- Preheat oven to 400°F. Line muffin tin with 12 liners.
- In a medium bowl combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, and baking soda. Stir with a whisk to combine.
- In a small bowl, combine milk, lemon juice, butter, and egg. Stir with a whisk to combine. Add the milk mixture in to the flour mixture. Stir just until combined. Fold in strawberries.
- Using a small cookie scoop, place one scoop of the batter into each muffin liner. Place 1 cube of cream cheese in the center of each muffin liner. Cover cream cheese with the remaining batter, filling each muffin liner ¾ of the way full.
- Spoon ½ tablespoon of strawberry sauce on the top of each muffin. Bake in 400°F oven for 16-18 minutes. If desired, sprinkle the tops with turbinado sugar as soon as you remove them from the oven. Let the muffins cool slightly in the pan and then remove to a wire rack to cool completely. Muffins will keep in an airtight container in the refrigerator for 3-4 days.
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