Looking for a new muffin recipe beyond Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins, Banana Nut Muffins and Blueberry Muffins? Check out these Strawberry Cream Cheese Muffins!
What's In This Article
Strawberry Muffins
For the longest time I haven’t seen much movement on my muffins, so I posted a quick note on my Facebook page asking my foodie friends for advice.
Who else better to ask than those supporting what I do, right? So I asked about everyone’s favorite muffin and hands down, Strawberry Cream Cheese Muffins won by a landslide!
Well, anything with cream cheese won, but I’m sure you can guess why! Thing is, I am a sucker for all types of summer fruits.
Peaches, cherries, raspberries and of course, strawberries! And really, you can use any frozen or fresh fruit with this recipe.
How to Make
Making these tasty strawberry muffins is super easy even though the ingredient list and instructions look a little long. Basically they are broken up into 3 pieces:
- The Muffin
- Cream Cheese Filling
- Streusel Topping
Muffin batter is pretty straight forward using pantry essentials with the exception of fresh strawberries. You can also use frozen strawberries, but make sure they are fully thawed and drained of any excess water.
Next, make the cream cheese filling so it is ready to go. Also, make the streusel topping and set aside.
Place a little muffin batter in each muffin liner, then cream cheese filling, then muffin batter. And finally, the topping.
Bake until they are lightly browned and spring back to the touch. Allow to cool in the pan for about 5 minutes and then remove and transfer to a cooling rack.
Don’t let them cool in the muffin tin or they can cook further or start to steam a little.
Make Ahead, Storage & Freezing
Strawberry Cream Cheese Muffins also freeze well, just make sure to get as much air out of the plastic freezer bag as you can. Use frozen, thawed strawberries during the winter months.
And if you LOVE muffins like I do, make sure you have a fabulous, durable muffin tin.
These delicious strawberry muffins can be served hot and fresh or can be frozen for up to 3 months.
More muffins recipes!
- Jalapeno Cornbread Muffins
- Bacon Wrapped Stuffing Muffins
- Chimichurri Egg Muffins
- Pancake Muffins
- Cinnamon Oatmeal Muffins
Tools for making Strawberry Cream Cheese Muffins:
Strawberry Huller– I never thought I needed one until I got one. Now I can’t love without it.
Stand Mixer- While this is an investment, I can guarantee you will use it more than you realize and will never regret the decision.
Muffin Tins– I like to have at least two.
Sifter– It is important to sift your dry ingredients to break up any clumps and to even mix the flour with salt and baking powder.
Questions you might have about how to make strawberry muffins:
Can I use frozen strawberries? Yes, but make sure they are defrosted and drained so there isn’t too much liquid in the muffin batter.
Can I use dehydrated strawberries? You can, but you might need to add 1-2 tablespoons of milk to account for the small amount of liquid in fresh strawberries. I haven’t personally checked this.
Why are my muffins tough? Maybe tough isn’t the right word, but the most common mistake made with a lot of baking is over working the batter or overfilling the muffin pan.
While you think you want glorious, puffy muffins, if you overfill them, they will need more time to cook, resulting in tough exteriors and you may lose some of the cream cheese filling.
Can I freeze these cream cheese muffins? Yes! Place them in an airtight plastic bag, remove as much air as possible and then you can freeze for about 6 months.
Strawberry Cream Cheese Muffins
Ingredients
Strawberry Muffins:
- 2 cups, plus 2 tablespoons flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 cup sugar plus two tablespoons
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter melted
- 1 egg room temperature and beaten
- 3/4 cup skim or 1% milk plus one tablespoon
- 2 cups frozen thawed strawberries, chopped
Cheesecake Filling:
- 6 ounces cream cheese softened
- 1 egg yolk
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 3 tablespoons sugar
Streusel Topping (Optional):
- 2 tablespoons brown sugar
- 2 tablespoons white granulated sugar
- 1/2 cup flour
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/4 cup unsalted butter cold
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line 24 muffin tins with fun cupcake liners.
- Sift together 2 cups flour, baking powder, sugar and salt in a mixing bowl, set aside.
- In a small bowl, toss together chopped strawberries with 2 tablespoons flour and 2 tablespoons sugar. Set aside.
- In a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment or a large mixing bowl with an electric mixer, blend melted butter, milk and egg.
- Slowly add dry ingredients to the batter. Do not over mix. Stop when it is combined, but there are still small lumps.
- Fold in strawberries. The batter will marbleize or turn blue if using frozen strawberries. Don’t panic.
- In another small bowl, beat together all ingredients for cheesecake filling. Set aside
- Use a cheese grater and grate cold butter into a bowl. Add remaining ingredients and mash together using s fork or pastry cutter.
- Using two spoons, spoon 1 heaping tablespoon of muffin batter in each lined muffin tin. Add a little less than one tablespoon cheesecake mixture to each. Top with more muffin batter until approximately 2/3 full. Sprinkle tops evenly with streusel mixture, pressing it ever so gently down to make it stick.
- Bake for 25 minutes. Times may vary based on oven and how much you filled those cups (I know a few of you took some chances and filled them to the brim, didn’t you??). Muffin tops will spring back to the touch.
- Remove and allow to cool.
- If you’ve tried this recipe, come back and let us know how they are!
Great flavor but they needed more sugar. The recipe just called for frozen strawberries. If I made these again, I would use frozen “sweetened” strawberries. Also, I could barely taste the cream cheese layer.
Thanks for the feedback, Michele!
I don’t have a stand mixer will the muffins still turn out good without?
Sure will! You can use an electric mixer too 🙂 Or your hands- get an arm workout.
I’m excited to try these recipes I hope to get more from you.
Do I have to use frozen strawberries? Can I use fresh strawberries instead?
Yep! Fresh or frozen work! If frozen, just make sure they are thawed.
Just made these for the second time. These are a favorite of ours now for birthdays. Thank you for such a great recipe! Delicous!
Woohoo! Thanks for letting us know. One of our favorites too!
I made these muffins with gluten free flour and pastry flour and they came out amazing!! This is my new favorite strawberry muffin recipe. I highly recommend taking the time to make them. It’s worth the work!!
Woohoo! Love to hear that and thanks for taking the time to come back and let us know!
I think I found a winner! Tastes great. I cut the recipe in half and used large muffin liners so next time I will use smaller liners, but they taste wonderful. Cream cheese filling yum!
Glad you loved it!
I made these as mammoth muffins, recipe makes 6, and the centers collapsed as they cooled. It seems like the cream cheese expanded as they back and then settled back down. Do you have any suggestions to help them keep their shape? The flavor was fantastic!
Hi Matt! That can be a common problem with baked goods and the easiest solution is to allow them to cool slowly, but there is a little expansion and deflation. You can shut off the oven and crack the door about 2-3 minutes before baking should be done to do this. But I’m also wondering what size muffins you made. I used a stand muffin tin and made 24, so yours must have been HUGE! That could also play a part in the deflation. You can probably do 12 with a large muffin tin, but I wouldn’t go much larger than that or they will have trouble baking all the way through. Glad you liked the flavor 🙂
Thank you. I’ll give that a try. The 2nd batch came out better by putting the cream cheese a bit lower in the muffin. I also found the batter To be a bit thick the first time, so I strained the strawberry juice from the solids and mixed that with the wet ingredients. The muffins are 4 in. diameter and 2 in. deep.
That is about twice the size of mine, so maybe that is the issue?
Getting ready to Make these in about 15 mins… Can’t wait to taste them♥️
Let us know how they turn out! One of our favorites!
Delicious!. I love the cream cheese in strawberries and crumble in the top. Thank you for every recipe that you upload ❤?
Love this recipe, used lemon oil instead of vanilla extract the second time, they are phenomenal! Great recipe!
What a great substitute! I’ll have to give that a try, it sounds delicious. And thank YOU for taking the time to come back and let us know. We love comments!
How would you suggest storing these after they have cooled. I made them today for an event tomorrow. FYI… I made jumbo size muffins and the recipe yielded nine large muffins.
Just at room temperture in an airtight plastic container or bag. They should be fine! I wouldn’t refrigerate them.
Delicious! I’m so glad I made these! All my coworkers loved them too! Not too sweet!
Yay!!! That is what we like to hear and thank YOU for taking the time to come back and let us know how they were!
I can see why these are a favorite!! I need to make these soon! They are so bright and cheery 🙂