Lemon Cream Cheese Muffins
A dreamy lemon cream cheese muffin with a cheesecake-like center.
Ingredients
- 1 cup milk
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice
- 310 g 2 + ½ cups plain flour
- 2 + ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 200 g 1 cup sugar
- Zest from 2 lemons
- 2 eggs
- 125 mls ½ cup flavourless oil (e.g. canola, sunflower)
Cream Cheese Filling
- 150 g cream cheese
- 15 g 1 tablespoon sugar
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 200C (390F) and grease a standard 12 hole muffin tin. In a small jug or bowl, add lemon juice to milk and set aside.
- In a medium sized bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Whisk to combine and set aside.
- In a small bowl, add the sugar and rub the lemon zest in with your finger tips until fragrant (this helps release the oils of the zest into the sugar, enhancing the lemon flavour). Add eggs, oil and lemon-milk and whisk to combine.
- Fold the wet ingredients into the flour mixture, being careful not to over mix (over mixing creates tough and chewy muffins). Spoon mixture into prepared muffin tin until each hole is ⅓ full. Place a teaspoon of cream cheese mixture on top then add remaining muffin mixture.
- Bake for 5 minutes at 200C then lower the temperature to 180C (355F) and continue baking for 10-12 minutes or until golden. Cool for five minutes before inserting muffins onto a cooling rack. Sprinkle with icing sugar (optional but extra delicious and pretty)
Cream cheese filling
- Mix all ingredients together until smooth and use as directed in recipe.