Blueberry Cream Cheese Muffins
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These streusel-topped blueberry cream cheese muffins are super soft, packed with plump juicy berries, and are filled with a cream cheese surprise. Ready in under 30 minutes! My recipe includes a how-to video!
The Best Blueberry Cream Cheese Muffins
Blueberry cream cheese muffins aren’t your average blueberry muffins, though they may seem that way from the outside.
Sure they’re soft, fluffy and full of fat juicy berries, but they have a rich and decadent cheesecake-esque surprise.
This recipe is one of the oldest on the blog and was one of my first popular recipes (for obvious reason). I published it 7 years ago, way back when Zach and I were in the midst of planning our wedding, and it was in dire need of a refresh. Some small (very small) tweaks were in order, a photo re-shoot was desperately needed, and a how-to video has been added to the recipe card. Let’s get to it!
What You Need
Let’s go over just a few of the ingredients:
- Oil & Butter. If you’ve made my vanilla cake or chocolate chip muffins, you already know why I like to use a blend of oil and butter in many of my recipes. The butter adds flavor, oil adds moisture. You get the best of both worlds by using both. For the oil, I use canola but any neutral cooking oil (like vegetable oil) would be fine.
- Eggs. You’ll use one whole egg and one egg white. The extra white helps to make the muffins fluffier and adds a bit of lift to them.
- Buttermilk. This helps to make the muffins tender, moist, soft, and adds a subtle tangy flavor that plays nicely with the blueberries. If you don’t have buttermilk on hand, you can make your own buttermilk substitute (see the recipe card and follow the link in the ingredients). You may notice there’s no baking soda in this recipe and typically baking soda and buttermilk are used together. It’s not an accident that I left it out of this recipe and it’s not needed.
- Corn Starch. One of my favorite “secret” ingredients in so many baked goods. This helps to make the muffins soft and tender.
- Blueberries. I use fresh blueberries, but frozen would work. You do not need to thaw, but keep in mind frozen blueberries often leave purple streaks through your muffin batter. This isn’t a problem for taste, just something to be aware of!
- Cream Cheese. This is for the cheesecake filling. Use full-fat/brick-style cream cheese for best results.
Remember, this is just an overview of the ingredients I used and why. For the full recipe please scroll down to the bottom of the post!
Making The Muffins & Filling
- Whisk together wet ingredients in a large bowl. I always start by whisking the oil and melted butter, first, just in case the butter is hot. Mixing it with the room temperature oil will help cool it down, bring things to a uniform temperature, and make sure none of your other ingredients are affected by the heat.
- In a separate bowl whisk together the dry ingredients and then add them to the wet ingredients. Gently fold the ingredients together with a spatula (you never want to over-mix muffins or they’ll be dense, so take care). Once you have the ingredients mostly (but not completely) combined….
- Add the blueberries and stir until just combined. Be careful not to overdo it!
- Once your muffin batter is prepared, make your cream cheese filling by stirring together softened cream cheese, granulated sugar, and vanilla extract.
You’re almost done, but these muffins wouldn’t be complete without a light sprinkling of crumbly, buttery streusel.
How to Make Streusel
I have a super simple way of making streusel and will be sharing this in its own post soon. While many recipes require you to use a pastry cutter to cut the butter into your mixture, I start with melted butter. It’s so much simpler and yields a more tasty topping!
To make it:
- Stir flour, sugar and salt together.
- Drizzle melted butter over top and toss everything together with a fork. Don’t stir with a spoon or over-stir or the mixture could become pasty, you want to just toss the butter into the mixture so all of the dry ingredients are moistened and clumpy (clumpy streusel is the best!).
Assembling The Muffins
- Fill 15 muffin cups ⅔ of the way full with the muffin batter.
- Use a spoon the make a crater in the center of each muffin and fill this with 2 teaspoons of cream cheese mixture.
- Top with a heaping spoonful of batter and use a knife to swirl together the cream cheese and muffin batter with a knife. You may not completely cover the cream cheese; that’s OK!
- Top each muffin with a sprinkling of streusel and then bake!
Frequently Asked Questions
This most likely is a result of the muffin batter being over-mixed. While the ingredients should be completely combined, they should be just combined and you should always mix by hand.
Over-baking is another culprit, make sure your oven isn’t running hot!
These muffins are filled with a rich, heavy cream cheese filling. This will naturally weigh down the airy muffins, so while they will appear puffy when they first come out of the oven they will naturally deflate and sink as they cool. Totally normal (think of black bottom cupcakes, same idea!)
However, they shouldn’t be completely deflated or sunken. If they are, they may be under-baked or your baking powder could be old or expired.
This often happens if you leave your muffins in the muffin tins for too long after they’ve baked. After the muffins have baked and cooled in the tin for 5-10 minutes, remove them from the muffin tin to a cooling rack. The easiest way to do this is to use a knife to gently pry them out of the tin (careful, they’ll still be hot!).
More Recipes You Might Like
Enjoy!
Let’s bake together! Make sure to check out the how-to VIDEO in the recipe card!
Blueberry Cream Cheese Muffins
Equipment
- Paper Muffin Liners
Ingredients
Muffins
- ¼ cup (60 ml) vegetable oil, you may substitute canola oil or other neutral cooking oil
- 4 Tablespoons (57 g) unsalted butter, melted
- 1 cup (200 g) granulated sugar
- 1 large egg + 1 large egg white, room temperature preferred
- ½ cup (120 ml) buttermilk
- 1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 ¾ cup (220 g) all-purpose flour
- 1 Tablespoon cornstarch
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 ½ cups (210 g) blueberries, (see note)
Filling
- 8 oz (226 g) cream cheese (brick), softened
- ⅓ cup (67 g) granulated sugar
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
Streusel Topping
- ¼ cup all-purpose flour
- ¼ cup (50 g) brown sugar, firmly packed
- ⅛ teaspoon salt
- 2 Tablespoons butter, (melted but not too hot)
Instructions
Muffins
- Preheat oven to 375F (190C) and line a muffin tin with paper liners.
- In a large bowl, stir together oil and butter.¼ cup (60 ml) vegetable oil, 4 Tablespoons (57 g) unsalted butter
- Add sugar, egg, and egg white and whisk very well until combined.1 cup (200 g) granulated sugar, 1 large egg + 1 large egg white
- Add buttermilk and vanilla extract and whisk to combine.½ cup (120 ml) buttermilk, 1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract
- In a separate, medium-sized, bowl whisk together flour, cornstarch, baking powder, and salt.1 ¾ cup (220 g) all-purpose flour, 1 Tablespoon cornstarch, 2 teaspoons baking powder, ½ teaspoon salt
- Add all of the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and use a spatula to gently fold ingredients together until mostly combined.
- Add blueberries and stir until batter is just combined and blueberries are well incorporated. Set aside while you prepare the filling and topping.1 ½ cups (210 g) blueberries
Filling
- Combine softened cream cheese, sugar, and vanilla extract and stir until smooth and well-combined. Set aside.8 oz (226 g) cream cheese (brick), ⅓ cup (67 g) granulated sugar, ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
Streusel
- Whisk together flour, brown sugar, and salt.¼ cup all-purpose flour, ¼ cup (50 g) brown sugar, ⅛ teaspoon salt
- Drizzle in melted butter and use a fork to toss ingredients together until combined, no flour/sugar remains unmoistened by the butter, and mixture is clumpy. Don’t over-mix or the streusel will become like a paste, you want it to be clumpy.2 Tablespoons butter
Assembly
- Divide batter into 15 muffin cups, filling each liner ⅔ of the way full.
- Use a spoon to make a crater in the center of each muffin and portion about 2 teaspoons of your cream cheese mixture in the center.
- Top with a heaping spoonful of remaining muffin batter and use a knife to gently swirl together the cream cheese mixture and muffin batter.
- Sprinkle muffins evenly with streusel.
- Transfer to 375F (190C) oven and bake for 25 minutes or muffins are baked through.
- Allow to cool for 10 minutes or so before digging in (the cream cheese filling will be very hot!). Muffins will puff up in the oven, but due to the cream cheese filling they will deflate and maybe even cave in a bit (like a black bottom) as they cool. This is normal!
Notes
Blueberries
You can use frozen (do not thaw) blueberries, but often they leave purple streaks through your batter. Nothing wrong with that, just be aware.Baking In Two Muffin Tins
This recipe makes 15 muffins. Since most muffins tin hold enough batter for only 12 muffins, you can either discard the excess or bake the remaining 3 muffins after the first 12 bake. The second batch will take less time, start checking at 17 minutes. I don’t recommend over-filling the muffin liners, as the batter tends to spread out and flatten on the top, which makes for unattractive muffins.Storing
Store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 48 hours or in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Like this? Leave a comment below!
This recipe was originally published July 21st 2014. I’ve updated the post to slightly alter and improve the recipe (it was already pretty good as is so only small changes!) and have updated the photos and added a step-by-step video as well.
I would like to know how to get one of your bamboo spoons with your name on it. I use a lot of your recipes that you post. They are all so far wonderful. Thanks for sending them to us.
Hi Cindy! They were given to me as a gift, but quite a few people have asked and I am looking for a way to make them available, I’ll let you know if I figure something out 🙂
Hi Sam!
You say 350 in your video, but the written recipe says 375. Which is correct?
Thanks!
Hi Michelle! The written recipe is correct. 🙂
Do you by chance have the original recipe? Sorry to ask but I try not to use certain things and it worked perfect for my little one.
Hi Rebecca, I just sent you an email 🙂
Can you use all butter instead of vegetable oil
Hi Lynn! You can, but see the post for why I recommend using a blend of the two. 🙂
Can I make these in a jumbo muffin pan? And if so how would the cooking time differ?
I have never tried it but I think it would work. I’m not sure on the bake time, but it would definitely increase. Just make sure to keep an eye on them. 🙂
Can I use coconut flour instead?
Hi Jessie! I’m not sure how it would go. I’ve never baked with coconut flour. If you try it I’d love to know how it goes. 🙂
Hola ,hice tu receta y quedó genial,muy fácil,todo un éxito
Marvelous recipe darling! Big hit with the husband & co-workers. I added lemon zest to the cream cheese filling to brighten it up the 2nd time I made them. Simply wonderful!!
I’m so glad everyone enjoyed them so much! 🙂
What did I do wrong….. after 25 mins, the muffins were still liquidity inside and creamcheese over flown everywhere😭 I added 5 more mins but still liquidity….. now add 10 more mins….. at the end I gave up and all 12 cup cakes never cooked. They were so liquidity can’t even eat😱 I used 12 cup cake pan and the butter still reminded so used 2 mini square meat loaf pan as well. The square pans looks great, raised well and not liquidity like cup cake pans. I tasted that and it was yummy.
PS. When I mixed wet ingredients and flours, the combined butter looked really liquidity ( I think this is the problem ) also I used baking soda Instead of baking power….
O no! I’m so sorry this happened, May! The baking soda is definitely the issue here. Baking soda and baking powder work differently. 🙁
Ridiculously good. Made a batch for the first time this weekend thinking it would last all week and my mom could take one to work for lunch every day. NOPE. We inhaled half of them and shared a few with friends because they just HAD to try them. Definitely a keeper recipe. I gave a couple to my picky friend (who doesn’t really like sweets but says blueberry muffins are never quite as sweet as you’d want them to be??) And he called them: “Luscious. Excellent. Really well done.*
That is so awesome! The best compliment is when they disappear immediately. 🙂
Thank you for your wonderful recipes, Sam! I am trying the Blueberry Cream Cheese Muffins, and my next Chocolate Chip Cookies will be with your recipes – they are all delightful, it seems to me!
I am so glad you enjoyed the muffins, Jane! I think you are going to love the cookies. 🙂
Thank you for this wonderful recipe. I love it… the combination of blueberry, sweetness cake, richness creamy cream cheese with streusel topping just amazing…. never thought of it..
I’m so glad you enjoyed it so much! The streusel is by far my favorite part. 🙂
Can you use frozen blueberries and if so do I thaw them?
Yes you can and I never thaw them before using. Enjoy! 🙂
These are amazing. Thank younger this recipe. I was wondering if we should refrigerate the muffins that are leftover because of the cream cheese part?
Hi Dominique! If I’m not eating them all within a day or two I will usually refrigerate in an airtight container. I’m so glad you enjoyed them! 🙂
Can I use frozen blueberries, or do I thaw them completely
Hi Jenny! You can use frozen blueberries. 🙂
I made this recipe (half of the muffins with cream cheese and half without it as my daughter is quite fuzzy). They were absolutely lovely (both versions!). They were devoured in 24 hours, big success!!!! I had some troubles with the streusel as I did not have a pastry knife, but not a major problem. Thank you very much!!! Thinking of making them again tomorrow…
I am so glad everyone enjoyed them so much, Rocio! 🙂
I’ve been looking for years for the best blueberry muffin recipe. This is the one!! All others were bland with no flavor and not sweet enough.
This is fantastic! Thank you for sharing!!
I am so glad you enjoyed them so much, Tina! 🙂
Can I substitute Buttermilk instead of milk? Will that make it fluffier?
Hi Trisha! You don’t need buttermilk here. It won’t make the muffins any fluffier.
you stated in one comment you don’t need buttermilk however your recipe does ask for it – which one is correct?
Hi Sue! I actually just redid this recipe and added buttermilk to it. That comment is probably in reference to the old recipe. It’s new and improved so make sure to add it. 🙂
I made this last night and this is a win with kids and husband. Definitely making more of these. Is there a way this can be made into gluten free?
Hi Lori! I am so glad you enjoyed them so much! I am not sure how to go about making them gluten free, maybe someone else will be able to chime in. 🙂
Just made these. Replaced half of white flour with whole wheat flour, added tsp of nutmeg to batter, added rolled oats and cinnamon to the streusel. Unbelievably good! Had to force myself not to eat more than one. Thanks, this will be a regular!
I’m so glad you enjoyed them so much! I’m impressed with your restraint. 🙂
I’ve made them gluten free with bobs red mill 1 to 1 baking flour and they turned out divine! 😋 I wasn’t sure if they would turn out hard so I also used rice malt syrup for the muffin part instead of the granulated sugar. Very soft and fluffy 👌
I woke up today with the daydream of blueberry cheesecake muffins! So thankful I found your recipe. They were absolutely divine. My oldest daughter hates blueberry muffins and she devoured hers! Thank you for sharing! We will definitely make again. ❤️
I am so glad everyone enjoyed them so much, Christy! 🙂
i want to try them so bad but i can’t do every wonderful recipe at once!!!
You’ll get to them. Happy baking! 🙂