Strawberry Muffins with Cream Cheese Filling and Streusel Topping
With chunks of juicy strawberries, a luscious cream cheese filling, and a crunchy streusel topping, these bakery style strawberry muffins are especially delicious with fresh strawberries. However, frozen strawberries work just as well. (See notes to adapt this delightful strawberry muffin recipe to suit dairy-free or vegan diets.)
8oz.cream cheese-room temperature(see notes above to make dairy-free or vegan)
1teaspoonvanilla extract
½cuppowdered sugar
Streusel Crumb Topping:
2/3cupall-purpose flour
1/3cuplight brown sugar
¼cupunsalted butter, cut into thin slices(see notes above to make dairy-free or vegan)
Strawberry Muffins:
3/4cupall-purpose flour
¼cupwhole wheat flour
1teaspoonbaking powder
¼teaspoonsalt
1large egg, room temperature(see notes above to make vegan)
½cupgranulated sugar
½cupGreek yogurt(see notes above to make dairy-free or vegan)
¼cupolive oil
½teaspoonvanilla
1 ½cupfresh strawberries, diced
Glaze:
½cuppowdered sugar
2 to 3teaspoonsmilk(see notes above to make dairy-free or vegan)
Instructions
Prepare the cream cheese filling by blending the cream cheese and vanilla in a medium-sized bowl. Slowly add powdered sugar until fully incorporated. Refrigerate.
In a separate bowl, make the streusel topping by combining the flour and brown sugar. Add the butter slices and mix with a pastry blender, fork, or clean hands until the mixture is coarse and crumbly and resembles wet sand. Refrigerate.
Preheat the oven to 425 F.
Line a 12-cup muffin tin with paper liners and set aside.
In a large bowl, gently stir together the flours, baking powder and salt. Set the flour mixture aside.
In a medium bowl, whisk together the egg and granulated sugar until combined. Then add Greek yogurt, olive oil, and vanilla extract and whisk until fully incorporated. The mixture will be pale yellow.
Using a spatula, gently fold the wet ingredients into the large bowl of dry ingredients and stir until combined. (Do NOT add the strawberries just yet!)
To assemble the muffins, add about 1 tablespoon of plain muffin mixture (remember you haven’t added the diced strawberries yet) in each muffin cup. Then add about 1 tablespoon of the cream cheese mixture in the center of each muffin tin.
Now stir the strawberries into the rest of the batter and distribute it evenly across the muffin cups.
Generously top each muffin with streusel. Gently press the crumbs to stick to the muffin batter.
Place the muffin tray in the preheated oven and reduce the temperature to 350 F. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until the tops of the strawberry muffins are golden brown and the center has set.
Let the muffins cool for about 10 minutes in the pan. Then transfer them to a rack and allow to cool completely.
Prepare the glaze by pouring the powdered sugar into a bowl and adding 1 teaspoon of milk at a time and stirring until you reach the desired consistency.
Drizzle glaze over the cooled muffins and enjoy! I like to make a simple piping bag by spooning the glaze into a small plastic zipper bag, snipping off a small section of the corner, and drizzling the glaze over the muffins.