Soft, moist, delicious Lemon Streusel Muffins that will brighten any gloomy morning! Beautiful muffins that are quick and easy, made in about 30 minutes with lemon zest in the muffin and in the streusel topping for a beautiful citrus flavor.
Lemon Muffins
I have confess, I never used to like citrus flavors. Actually, I don’t remember eating many baked goods with citrus flavors growing up so I never had much of a chance to start liking it. It was only a few years ago that I found out why I never ate any lemon or lime flavored goodies and it’s because my mom does not like any sweets with citrus flavors. I really never knew it but that would definitely explain me not eating any when I was a kid.
A few years ago, I started getting a taste for lemon and lime sweets and I realized that I love it! Even through I still do not like lemonade, I love lemon/lime dessert treats.
Muffins and cakes in particular because they are always so sunny and comforting fresh from the oven. It’s not only because they are delicious but they can brighten your mood on any gloomy morning. These muffins in particular are delightful. They are soft and cozy with added sugary crunch from lemon flavored streusel on top. Perfection!
Lemon Streusel Muffins
Ingredients
Muffins:
- 2 cups all purpose flour
- 1 Tbsp baking powder
- ½ tsp baking soda
- ¼ tsp salt
- 1 egg
- 1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 cup white granulated sugar
- 4 tbs melted butter
- 1½ cups low fat buttermilk I use 1%
- 1/3 cup sour cream
- Lemon zest from 1 large lemon
Streusel Topping:
- 1/4 cup brown sugar
- 2 Tbsp. white granulated sugar
- Zest from 1 lemon
- 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
- 2 1/2 Tbsp melted unsalted butter
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 375 and grease a 12-cup muffin pan with some baking spray.
- In a large mixing bowl, whisk egg, sugar, melted butter, sour cream and buttermilk.
- Sift in flour, salt, baking powder and baking soda. Whisk together until smooth.
- Add lemon zest and whisk until evenly incorporated. Set batter aside. Let it stand for about 15 minutes.
- In a medium bowl, combine brown sugar, white sugar, lemon zest and flour. Mix well until all ingredients are incorporated evenly.
- Pour in melted butter and carefully fold it in with a large fork. You will want to be careful so you don’t over-mix. Streusel should look like large crumbs and not paste.
- Sprinkle about two tablespoons of streusel on top of each muffin.
- Fill muffin pan cups about 2/3 full with muffin batter. I recommend using an ice cream scoop when making muffins and cupcakes, so that you have an even amount of batter each time. Bake for 18-20 minutes. (Do a toothpick test to check if they are done, or just touch the top to feel how firm they are.)
Nutrition
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Carol says
I just made these for the first time and an very satisfied with them. Only change I made was that I added the juice of the first lemon to the batter to ensure real lemony flavor. Made again I would also double the streusel topping to ensure it did not disappear in to the batter.
Kristin Hawkins says
These muffins are so delicious! I’ve made them twice now, because I’m trying to figure out why mine are turning out looking like flat-topped mushrooms. I know muffins are supposed to be mixed as little as possible. I thought maybe I overfilled the muffin wells the first time (making 12 muffins), so the second time, I made 15, and they turned out the same way. It’s hard for me to be totally satisfied in a muffin recipe if I can’t get a beautifully-domed top. Help! I see that this was posted a year ago, so maybe you don’t notice new comments (I’m not really sure how blogging works, since I don’t have one myself), but if you can give me a suggestion, I would appreesh! They taste so good that I have to figure out the problem.
lyuba says
I”m so sorry, I didn’t get back to you sooner! You can always email me with questions too.
I haven’t actually had an issue with muffins but I have the problem with cupcakes a lot. It could be under-baking, old baking powder or over-mixing. I also wonder if you are at high altitude? I know baking can be tricky at higher altitudes. If your baking powder is older, that could be something. Try adding up to 5 more minutes to bake time. My friend’s oven used to run a little different with temperature and I remember her having to adjust some bake times.
I really wish I could help more but I hope one of these could be the cause.
Kristin H says
I’m a frequent baker, so I go through a lot of baking powder, so it’s always fresh. I don’t live at high altitudes, and I use an oven thermometer, so I know exactly how to adjust my oven to get it at the right temp. I was wondering more how long you may have mixed it altogether. Typically, muffins are mixed just until combined, which I did for these, but maybe it needs more mixing, since you said to “mix well.” I’ve made these three times each turning out the exact same way. One of the times, I tried raising the oven temperature to 400 for the first 8 minutes, and then lowering it back to 350 for the remainder, and it had the same result.
Kristin Hawkins says
I’m also wondering if 1 Tbsp baking powder. Is it supposed to be 1 Tbsp or did you mean 1 tsp?
lyuba says
It is 1 tablespoon, I usually add 1 tablespoon to my muffins.
Hmmm. Let me make these muffins again this weekend and I can see if there is something different.
Sorry you’re having this problem 🙁
lyuba says
Okay, now that I’m done playing around with the recipe, I made a couple of changes to the and added them to the recipe above. I’m sorry again that the domes weren’t as nice and they should. I hope they will come out right this time, I really do! Please let me know if you try it again!!
MARY ANN GUTIERREZ says
can’t wait to try these….my soon to be son-in-law just loves anything with lemon….i just love your recipes.
thank you for sharing
lyuba says
Oh yay! I hope everyone likes them 🙂
Thank you!
MIchelle says
I made these tonight! They are yummy with a subtle lemon flavor. There wasn’t nearly enough streusel though which made me sad! The recipe said to use 2tbs per muffin and there was barely enough for one tbsp per muffin and most of it disappeared while baking :/ I would make these again but would double the streusel. Thanks for the recipe!
Teresa says
These look yummy! I just wanted to verify that it’s actually 4 Tablespoons and not teaspoons of melted butter in the muffin directions.
JanetGoingCrazy says
Lemon is one of my favorite flavors for breakfast items. These muffins look amazing and I need to make some soon! #client
Nana says
Your lemon muffins just look like a ray of sunshine and my area is in the winter doldrums so I can’t wait to try them. I really like the lemon punch so I am thinking to try lemon extract or lemon juice to replace the vanilla.
Liz says
Love lemon. Thanks you for the nice recipe and have a great Sunday.
kristi@ishouldbemoppingthefloor says
They look absolutely amazing, friend!! YUM!
Sonali- The Foodie Physician says
I absolutely love lemony baked good and these muffins look amazing! I just want to take a big bite out of that streusel topping! YUM!
Megan - The Emotional Baker says
I’m the opposite. I love citrus treats! I feel like they’re just a little bit healthier 😉