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Supremely moist Lemon Crumb Muffins topped with sticky Lemon Glaze! Lemon lovers will love these moist lemon muffins!!!
Lemon Crumb Muffins Recipes
Good morning, sweet friends! I kind of feel like this is bragging… but I have to tell you: it’s absolutely gorgeous here right now. The sky is the most epic shade of blue, the sun is bright and beaming, and it’s 70 degrees!!! Considering it’s deep February and we live on the East Coast – in upstate New York, no less – this is a big deal.
I’m curious, have you experienced any signs of Spring yet? Or do you live somewhere with a wonderfully warm climate year round?
I’ve always dreamed of living in California – and having a lemon tree in my backyard (!!!) – but ultimately I’m an east coast girl through and through.
But I digress! In case it’s been a little too long since you’ve seen the sun, I wanted to pop in and share this simple recipe for light and luscious lemon crumb muffins! Biting into one is almost as good as feeling the warm sunshine dance on your skin. ← A major recipe perk when you’re in the dead of Winter and dying for a little pop of color in your life.
These muffins will also be perfect for Spring brunches, Easter celebrations, and Mother’s Day tea. Can you tell I’m excited for Spring, or what?! #guiltyascharged
Best Lemon Muffins
Tips and Tricks for Recipe Success:
- There are three parts to these muffins: the moist lemon base, the buttery crumb topping, and the sticky sweet lemon glaze. I suggest beginning with the crumb topping, that way it can chill in the fridge while you prepare the muffins. The colder the crumb the better!
- Use fresh lemon juice and zest! You’ll want to zest the lemons first, then cut them in half and juice them. I suggest buying 4 or 5 large, heavy lemons so you have enough on hand.
- Feel free to use regular lemons or meyer lemons for this recipe.
- You will need lemon extract for this recipe. The lemon extract really amps up the lemon flavor without making the muffins too tart. I love Watkins pure lemon extract because it’s 100% natural, doesn’t contain any artificial flavors, colors, or additives, and just tastes like pure lemon. I promise I’m not getting paid a cent to say any of that; I just really love their lemon extract!
- The batter will be very thick, but don’t fret, because the muffins bake up moist and delicious.
- These muffins are truly best the day they’re made, but will keep for 2 days when stored in an airtight container.
- I suggest glazing the lemon crumb muffins right before you plan on serving them. This ensure the tops don’t get too moist and soggy. This will also help prevent premature molding.
This humble lemon recipe is simply delicious. I sure hope you try it soon! I’m actually going to go gobble down the very last one with a cup of tea… in the sunshine, of course ♥
More Lemon Muffin Recipes:
If you try this recipe for Lemon Muffin Recipe, let me know what you think! Leave a comment below, and don’t forget to snap a pic and tag it #bakerbynature on instagram! Seeing your creations makes my day.
Lemon Crumb Muffins
Ingredients
For the Crumb Topping:
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 3/4 cup all-purpose flour (not packed)
- 6 tablespoons unsalted butter, chilled and cut into tiny pieces
For the Lemon Muffins:
- 2 and 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
- 3 teaspoons baking powder
- 3/4 teaspoon salt
- 6 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 1 and 1/4 cups granulated sugar
- 2 teaspoons lemon zest
- 1 and 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- 1/2 teaspoon lemon extract
- 1 large egg plus 2 large egg yolks
- 3/4 cup whole milk
- 1/3 cup fresh lemon juice
For the Lemon Glaze:
- 1 cup of confectioners' sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon lemon extract
- 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
- 2 teaspoons whole milk, more if needed to achieve desired consistency
Instructions
For the Crumb Topping:
- In a large bowl combine the granulated sugar, flour, and butter; using two forks or a pastry cutter, combine ingredients until the mixture is very crumbly and resembles a coarse meal. The crumbs should be pea-sized. Place mixture in the fridge or freezer until needed.
For the Lemon Muffins:
- Preheat your oven to 400 degrees (F). Line a 12 cup muffin tin with paper liners; set aside.
- In a large bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt; set aside.
- In a large bowl using an electric mixer, or in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine the butter, sugar, lemon zest, vanilla extract, and lemon extract; beat on medium speed until light and fluffy; about 3 minutes.
- Add in the egg and egg yolks and continue beating until well combined. Reduce mixer speed to low; alternate adding the flour mixture and the milk, beginning and ending with flour. Fold in the lemon juice, stirring just until combined. Be sure not to over mix here.
- Divide the batter evenly among prepared muffin tins. Top each muffin cup with 2 tablespoons of crumb topping.
- Bake for 20 to 22 minutes, or until the tops are lightly golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean, or with a just a few moist crumbs attached. Cool muffins 10 minutes in the pan before transferring to a cooling rack.
For the Lemon Glaze:
- In a small bowl combine the confectioners' sugar, lemon extract, lemon juice, and milk; whisk until smooth, adding more milk as needed to reach desired consistency. Drizzle over the muffins right before serving.
These muffins are finger licking, Ashley! I would love to try them.
Oh y God….. Where did you get this beautiful pan?
It’s from Nordstroms 🙂
Hello! Did you really made this lemon muffins? Because I made this today and when I baked at 400F they came out very dry and burned on the bottom. They should be baked at 350F 18-19 min, and fill only half of the the tin, because it raises very well. Did you added yellow coloring, because just from lemon it wouldn’t be so yellow. Please, correct your recipe, that other bakers wouldn’t be disappointed with recipe .
Hi Liz. I’m sorry your muffins did not turn out. Did you bake them on the middle rack of your oven? I can’t imagine why the bottoms would come out burnt. You may also want to check if your oven runs hot… which would cause them to be dry.
As for your question of if I really made these lemon muffins? YES. Every recipe I post is tested multiple times by me. I did not add yellow food coloring. The yellow in my photos are from the lemon zest.
Zest doesn’t make the overall color of the muffins yellow, the egg yolks do. And color-enhancing photos. Very tasty anyway – thanks for the recipe!
I know this is from a few years ago now, but I just wanted to make a suggestion: I used to make cupcakes and muffins using a dark nonstick pan, and it was always hard to not burn them. I then switched over to using a light colored metal pan, I think its an aluminum material, and I saw a great improvement! No more burnt bottoms! You should try it if you haven’t already : )
Hi there!
I also tried to make a bunch of these zesty sweet treats. It didn’t turned out the same as the one you have there in the picture, but I really love the taste and I think the texture seem to be a little different since mine is a little moist (which I like and preferred it that way). I also plan to drizzle it with coconut milk caramel (recipe I got from Pinterest) the next time I make it.
I’ll definitely share it to my friends this Saturday for some housewarming. Now question is, which do you think is a perfect pair for this lovely: wine, coffee, or tea? Hahaha
Thanks again!
With love,
Samantha
Oh my god… It looks so tasty!!!
I’ll try do it soon!
I am planning to make this recipe the first week in May. Along with several other lemon treat’s. Will let you know how they turn out.
These are perfect! I made a half batch and this will be going in my recipe box. Beautiful product and light and fluffy. I have a feeling these won’t last long at my house.
Thanks for this recipe. I’ve been on a lemon kick lately and these look wonderful. I think i may add coconut to the batter and on top. Would it be ok to use 2% milk instead of whole milk?
I made it verbatim to the instructions. It’s very good. Mine turned out pretty yellow but not quite as elegant as the photo. I’m not super into lemons so one went a long ways but my husband looooooved then and especially the crumb/glaze part! Look forward to trying more recipes by you (hopefully some that are more sweet and less tart)
Thank you!
I love the lemon taste of these muffins!
However, I had the same problem that Liz did – the muffins came out a little dry and burned on the bottom. I actually made 20 muffins out if this so I did adjust the bake time on the first batch for the smaller size and then had to reduce it even more for the second batch. And I only used 1 TBD of the crumble topping which seems to be plenty.
I made these tonight with only lemon juice and coconut milk and they are still delicious! I have yet to find a bad recipe! Thanks for posting!!
I made these today and they turned out perfectly. I didn’t have lemon extract so I just used a bit more lemon juice. My husband loved them and the lemon flavor is perfect. I will definitely made these again.
I made these for a friend’s birthday (she loves anything lemon) and she absolutely loved them. I made extra large muffins so it made 6 and I kept 2 for my husband. They turned out perfectly and great lemon flavor. My husband loved them too. I will definitely make these again and may add some blueberries. Thank you for a wonderful recipe.
Just made these for breakfast and it’s going in the recipe book for sure! Start to plates took 1 hour 20 minutes for the first try. If I zested and juiced the lemons the night before that would have helped. I used equivalent amounts of lemon zest for lemon extract because I didn’t have any of the latter. I never leave comments like this, but when my 4 kids (ages 5-9) try something new for breakfast and LOVE it, I have to give thanks! There was PLENTY of the crumb topping leftover after 2 TBS on 12 muffins, FYI.
I would just like to say I’ve just made these following your recipe and instructions and they have turned out lovely. To those who said theirs were burnt I would say it is definitely their pans as I’ve had the same trouble when using dark pans both for muffins and cookie trays. Also to the person who suggested you used food colouring I would disagree as I only used lemon peel and mine are a similar colour to the picture you posted. Thank you for such a great recipe I will definitely be using it again.
I agree with Jacqueline above! I made these this morning using lemon juice and zest and a little lemon extract and they turned out perfectly as I followed your instructions and recipe to a tee! I have a light aluminum pan so none of my muffins burn on the bottom. These lemon beauties are so yummy and tasty. Have printed and filed this recipe for lots of future uses!!!
Thank you again for another perfect treat!
This is a 10 out of 10 rating!!!!!
Yvonne
Do you know if these freeze well?
Going to make this straight away
These were very easy to make. I used half the batter as is and then dropped almost a full cup of blueberries.
These were delicious! I ran out of lemons but used organic lemon juice and it worked great for the glaze. Baked the blueberry muffins 4 minutes longer since they had more moisture. Highly recommend!