Strawberry Cheesecake Muffins

Strawberry Cheesecake Muffins-strawberry muffins with a lemon cheesecake filling and sweet graham cracker streusel topping. These muffins are delightful!

Strawberries were on sale so I bought four containers. I thought we could eat four containers, but then Caleb and Josh got sick, so it was just me eating the strawberries. I was doing my best. I was eating strawberries morning, noon, and night, but I still had two containers to go. I knew if I didn't do something with them they would go bad. I hate wasting beautiful berries so I decided to whip up a little strawberry treat, Strawberry Cheesecake Muffins to be exact.

I can't even tell you how delicious these muffins are. They exceded my expectations by far! See, I am not a cheesecake fan. Never have been and probably never will be. If cheesecake is the only option for dessert, I always pass. It's not worth the calories to me:) BUT I do love these Strawberry Cheesecake Muffins. I would choose these muffins over a piece of cheesecake any day!

So what is so good about these muffins? Let's start with the mufifn part. The muffin batter is easy to whip up. You don't even have to use your mixer. I fold in fresh chopped strawberries which add a nice pop of color and sweetness. And if you are stocking up on spring strawberries, like me, you probably have some to use up. And if you don't go to the store ASAP! They are so good right now.

Next, comes the cheesecake filling. I combine cream cheese with sugar and lemon zest. The cheesecake is a surprise inside of the muffins. You won't know it's there until you bite into the muffin. It is a pleasant surprise and this is coming from a cheesecake hater. Ok, maybe not a hater, that is a strong word and we are teaching Caleb to not say hate, so I better say cheesecake disliker:)

See, look at that cheesecake surprise! YUM!

To top the muffins off, I add a graham cracker streusel topping. Cheesecake traditionally comes with graham cracker crust, so to keep with tradition, I invited graham crackers to my muffin party. Best decision ever! The graham cracker streusel makes these muffins! Don't skip the streusel part.

Sweet strawberry muffins, lemon cheesecake filling, graham cracker streusel topping…these muffins have it ALL! And you can feel good about eating these cheesecake muffins for breakfast because they are muffins. They might taste like dessert, but muffins are muffins and that means breakfast!

And guess who started feeling better as soon as the muffins came out of the oven.? Ha! Josh and Caleb were too sick to help me eat the strawberries, but they felt good enough to eat a Strawberry Cheesecake Muffins. It's funny how that works:)

I was actually happy to share my Strawberry Cheesecake Muffins because if they didn't help me eat them I probably would have eaten the entire batch. Remember, I don't like to waste beautiful berries and that includes beautiful berries inside of delicious muffins!

So, I will probably still never order cheesecake for dessert, but I will be making these Strawberry Cheesecake Muffins again! They are a new favorite!

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Vegetarian

Strawberry Cheesecake Muffins

Strawberry muffins with a cheesecake filling and graham cracker streusel topping! These muffins are meant for breakfast, but good enough to be dessert!

4.34 from 3 votes

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Prep Time 20 minutes mins

Total Time 40 minutes mins

Servings 9 muffins

Cook ModePrevent your screen from going dark

Ingredients

  

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For the Graham Cracker Streusel Topping:

• 3 graham cracker sheets
• 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 2 tablespoons light brown sugar
• 3 tablespoons unsalted butter melted

For the Cheesecake Filling:

• 2 ounces cream cheese at room temperature
• 1 tablespoon granulated sugar
• 1 teaspoon lemon zest

For the Muffins:

• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1/4 cup canola oil or vegetable oil
• 1 large egg
• 1/3 cup buttermilk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 cup chopped fresh strawberries

Instructions

 

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line 9 cups of a muffin tin with paper liners or grease well. Set aside.
• First, make the streusel topping. Place the graham crackers in a Ziploc bag and seal. Using a rolling pin or other heavy object, crush the graham crackers. I like to leave a few bigger chunks to give the streusel texture. In a small bowl, combine graham cracker crumbs, flour, brown sugar, and melted butter. Stir until moistened. Set aside.
• Next, make the cheesecake fililng. In a small bowl, stir together cream cheese, sugar, and lemon zest. Set aside.
• In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt, and sugar.
• In a small bowl, combine canola oil, egg, buttermilk, and vanilla together. Whisk until well combined.
• Incorporate the wet ingredients into flour mixture. Add slowly and gently stir, you don't want to over mix. The batter will be thick. Carefully fold in the strawberries.
• Fill each muffin cup with about 1 heaping tablespoon of batter. You want the bottom of the muffin cup to be covered. Next, add one teaspoon of the cheesecake filling to each muffin cup. Cover the filling with the remaining batter. Sprinkle each muffin with graham cracker streusel.
• Bake muffins for 18-20 minutes, or until muffins are golden brown and a toothpick comes out clean. Remove the muffins from the pan and let cool on a cooling rack.
• Note-you can easily double this recipe.

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