Ok, I know it’s almost Thanksgiving and pumpkin, sweet potatoes, and butternut squash recipes are on everyone’s minds, but, let me introduce you to my Blueberry Cream Cheese Muffins. If you look at the color wheel, blue is the complimentary color to the warm orange toned foods we associate with Thanksgiving and Fall. So, not only are these muffins packed with bright blueberries and a creamy dreamy cream cheese center, they’ll add the perfect pop of complimentary color to your Fall breakfast buffet or grazing table.
Recipe Evolution – Blueberry Cream Cheese Muffins
Starting in October, my home becomes a hunter’s haven. Our little 800 person town doesn’t have a lot to offer for food and lodging; one café and one small lodge is all we’ve got, so this time of year, my guestrooms are full of hungry hunters. Muffins are a fantastic make ahead, grab and go breakfast item to have available for the early risers to grab before heading out into the cold. Bonus, I get to stay in bed, no early morning cooking required! I know a basic muffin would probably do the trick, but that’s not how I roll. If the hunt is unsuccessful, at least they had great food!
What’s a blueberry muffin without a schmear of cream cheese? Lonely, that’s a lonely muffin. There are lots of cream cheese filled muffin recipes out there, but I find that many of the centers are so sweet the muffins could also be added to the dessert table and the tang of the cream cheese gets lost in the sugar. Not this one! This cream cheese filling has about 1/2 the sugar of most other recipes. Just enough. I have made these muffins without any sugar in the filling and for those who enjoy a little less sweetness, this is the way to go!
Finally, I knew I wanted a little texture to contrast from the creamy center, and fluffy, tender muffin. Adding a generous amount of raw sugar, turbinado or sanding sugar to the tops of the muffins before baking adds just the right amount of crunch to the top. I prefer the the warm caramel-y flavor raw or turbinado sugar adds to the bright blueberries, especially, when adding them to a Fall or winter menu.
Keys to Success – Blueberry Cream Cheese Muffins
- Resist the urge to over mix – leave the whisk and the hand mixer alone and reach for the rubber spatula. Folding the wet and dry ingredients together with the rubber spatula until JUST combined will make for fluffy tender muffins.
- Fresh vs. frozen blueberries – both work fantastic in this recipe. In the Fall and Winter, I almost always use frozen. If blueberries are in season you bet I’m using fresh. When using frozen blueberries, they do need to be thawed, and blotted dry. Your batter is more likely to have blueberry swirls if you go with frozen. You’ll also need to add time to the bake. Cold blueberries bring temperature of the batter down, thus requiring more baking time. I actually ended up using a mix of both for the muffins used for the photos.
- Buy the cookie/ice cream scoop – using a spoon will work, but using a scoop, will ensure your muffins are uniform and makes working with sticky batter extra easy. I found a super affordable and well-made set on Amazon, linked here. Of course, I use them for muffins and ice cream, but they really come in handy for cookies and meatballs. Yes, that’s a hint for future recipe blog posts. 😉
- Enjoy warm – These muffins are fantastic, but they are extra fantastic when served warm. Fresh out of the oven or reheated in the toaster oven or microwave so the cream cheese gets all warm and gooey puts these muffins on another level.
Blueberry Cream Cheese Muffins
Equipment
- large bowl
- Medium bowl
- Rubber spatula
- small ice cream/cookie scoop
- standard sized muffin pan (12 muffins)
- heat proof 2 cup measuring cup
- fork or whisk
- Measuring cups and spoons
- muffin liners
Ingredients
Muffins
- 2 cups all purpose flour
- ¾ cup granulated sugar
- 2½ teaspoons baking powder
- ⅛ teaspoon baking soda
- 5½ tablespoon salted butter cut into chunks
- ¾ cup whole or 2% milk
- 1 egg beaten
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1½ cup fresh or frozen (thawed and blotted dry) blueberries
- 2 tablespoons raw or sanding sugar
Cream Cheese Center
- 8 oz block cream cheese softened
- ¼ cup granulated sugar
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400°F.
- Grease or line 12 standard muffin cups
- Combine the flour, ¾ cup granulated sugar, baking powder, and baking soda, in a large mixing bowl.
- In a microwave safe measuring cup, melt the butter by microwaving in 15 second intervals until melted.
- Stir the milk into the melted butter with a fork, followed by the beaten egg and vanilla.
- Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients and pour the wet ingredients into the well. Using a rubber spatula, fold the dry ingredients and the went ingredients until just combined.
- Gently fold in the blueberries.
- In a medium mixing bowl, combine the cream cheese, granulated sugar, vanilla using a fork or a hand mixer until smooth.
- Using a small cookie/ice cream scoop (a little less than a tablespoon) scoop one level scoop of muffin batter into each muffin cup, use the back of the scoop to press the batter down into the bottom of the cup. Using the same scoop, repeat with the cream cheese mixture, then top with the last 1/2 of the muffin batter
- Generously top each muffin with the raw or sanding sugar.
- Bake for 14-18 minutes until the tops are golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the muffin (not the cream cheese) comes out clean and dry. Cool on a baking rack.
- Best served warm.
Notes
- It can be tempting to over mix your batter, but, your muffins will get tough and dry. Mix just until the dry ingredients are incorporated. The batter will be pretty tight.
- Be gentle when folding in the blueberries to keep the batter from turning purple. This will be much easier if using fresh vs. frozen blueberries.
- Using frozen blueberries will increase the cooking time to the longer end of the cooking time range if they are still cold when added to the batter.
Nutrition
Common Questions
- Can I scale this recipe? Yes, you could halve or double this recipe! If you double the recipe, make sure to rotate your muffin pans so both pans get equal time at the top so your sugar can get nice and crunchy
- Could I substitute other berries? Yes! Raspberries or blackberries would be fantastic! You’ll want to select smaller berries or halve them to make the muffin sized.
- Can I bake without the cream cheese filling? You surely could! This muffin batter is amazing on it’s own. You’ll want to bake on the lower side of the baking time range.
I know we don’t always think of blueberries this time of year, but rules are made to be broken right? Add a little variety to your Fall breakfast spread with these muffins, you won’t regret it!
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[…] I did it again. Another day, another muffin recipe. I know it was a bit of a stretch to share my Blueberry Cream Cheese Muffins earlier this week, so I figured I’d better get my Cranberry Orange Buttermilk Muffins, which […]