Cream Cheese Muffins are nothing short of perfection. With a cream cheese swirl and a crumb topping, I can almost guarantee that you will be hooked after one bite. The muffins are so moist, to begin with, adding the cream cheese in the center just brings them to a higher level. If you love these muffins, you have to try my Cream Cheese Sweet Bread and Cream Cheese Pound Cake!
Cream Cheese Muffins
I don’t think anyone will have trouble finishing one of these Cream Cheese Muffins. They are tender, creamy, and flavorful. There are 3 components to this recipe, the cream cheese filling, the muffin base, and the crumb topping. All essential when you are looking for the perfect muffin! I love them so much that I even made Lemon Cream Cheese Muffins (which you will also have to try)!
How to Store Muffins
There are a few ways to properly store muffins.
- Room Temperature: Because they are best enjoyed at room temperature, this is usually the recommended way to storing. I use a larger sealable plastic bag or an airtight container to store the muffins in a single layer. Some folks recommend adding a piece of paper towel to the bottom so that it will soak up any condensation. If your muffins are properly cooled before storing, this may not be necessary. However, if I am using an airtight container, I will often add a piece of bread to the container, torn in half, and fit in between the muffins. The bread will soak up moisture as well. Best enjoyed within 2-3 days.
- Refrigerator: These muffins have cream cheese in them so folks will naturally want to refrigerate, which is the right thing to do in this case. (Refrigeration, in general, dries out baked goods faster so a typical muffin recipe shouldn’t be refrigerated.) Place in a sealable plastic bag or airtight container and then place into the refrigerator. They should keep for up to 5 days. To reheat, remove from refrigerator pop into the microwave for 10 seconds or just allow muffin to come to room temperature naturally, about 15 minutes.
- Freezer: Place cooled muffins into a freezer-safe sealable plastic bag or a freezer-safe airtight container and pack as closely as possible without crushing. Remove as much air as possible. Label with date and recipe name.
How to Reheat Frozen Muffins
Remove the muffin from the freezer and allow it to come to room temperature overnight in the refrigerator or on the counter for a couple of hours.
More Muffin Recipes
Cream Cheese Muffins
Ingredients
Cream Cheese Swirl
- 1 package (8 ounces) cream cheese, room temperature
- ½ cup (62.5 g) confectioners' sugar
Muffins
- ½ package (4 ounces) cream cheese, room temperature
- ¾ cup (1 ½ sticks / 170 g) unsalted butter, room temperature
- 1 ½ cups (300 g) granulated sugar
- 3 large eggs, room temperature
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 ½ cups (192 g) cake flour
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- 2 tablespoons (30 g) buttermilk, room temperature
Crumb Topping
- ½ cup (1 stick / 113 g) unsalted butter, cold
- ¾ cup (93.75 g) all-purpose flour
- ⅓ cup (42 g) confectioners' sugar
Instructions
Cream Cheese Swirl
- In a small bowl, mix together the cream cheese and confectioners' sugar. Set aside while you prepare the muffin batter.
Muffins
- Preheat oven to 325°F. Line a muffin tin with muffin liners.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine cream cheese and butter until smooth.
- Gradually add sugar and beat until lighter and fluffier, about 3 minutes.
- Add eggs one at a time, beating well with each addition.
- Add in the vanilla.
- Add the flour and salt. Mix until just combined.
- With the mixer on low, add buttermilk. Mix until just incorporated.
- Remove bowl from stand mixer and scrape with a rubber spatula to get every last bit of ingredient incorporated.
Crumb Topping
- Using a food processor or fork, combine the cold butter, flour, and confectioners' sugar. Make sure the butter is broken down and no larger than a pea when you are done.
Assembly
- Pour half the batter into the muffin tin, filling each cup only halfway.
- Add 2-3 teaspoons of cream cheese swirl to each muffin cup, followed by using the rest of the muffin batter to fill each cup.
- Using a toothpick, swirl the batter and the cream cheese of each muffin together.
- Top with the crumb topping evenly over each muffin and bake for 30-35 minutes.
- Remove the muffins from the oven and let them cool for about 10 minutes in the muffin tin before placing them on a wire rack.
Video
Did you make this recipe?
Thank you for making my recipe! You took pictures, right? Well go ahead and post them on Instagram! Be sure to mention me @iambaker and use the hashtag #YouAreBaker.
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When you first shared the recipe I dropped what I was doing and baked them. My husband told me it was the best muffin I had ever made and I agree,, this recipe is a keeper. We both loved the cream cheese swirl!
My grandmother’s cream cheese pound cake is very similar. It is yummy. I cannot wait to try these.
Shirley Ahern: There is no flour in the topping. Read the recipe closely. 🙂
Ive tried this cream cheese muffins and its superb. After baking I let it cool first then refrigerate for about 3 hours and the it taste very yummy and my kids and friends love it. Will bake again this weekend. I love all your recipes that Ive tried. Thanks to you!
SO glad you and yours like them Christina!
This recipe is awesome. It is not terribly sweet. I used the strawberry flavored cream cheese for the swirl. I added a few drops of food coloring to the crumb topping and the muffins had a speckled top after baking.
Hi…. I love your recipes…..noticed there is no leavening in this. baking soda and/or Ba king powder. Is that correct? Thank you!
Yes, correct!
Chilidog1947 I am confused….ingredients and instructions for topping both clearly say flour? What am I missing?
Just made these but only had 1 cup of sugar in the house but they still came out delicious. I didn’t add the crumb only because I was trying to keep calories down…still fabulous!
How do you store them?