Luscious Lemon Muffins

March 16, 2025Teresa Ambra

Luscious Lemon Muffins really are luscious! These scrumptious muffins are filled with lemony flavor including lemon juice and lemon zest. But the twist, is that the muffins are sprinkled with a cinnamon-sugar mixture just before baking. Luscious, indeed! These fantastic Lemon Muffins are terrific.

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I bake up a lot of muffins, sweet breads and scones for Sunday morning breakfast at our church. I serve it to the early birds who arrive early (like us) who work on our church’s hospitality committee and help with ushering and greeting attendees and guests. There is usually bagels provided by the church (sometimes kolaches or breakfast burritos), but I always bring a sweet treat.

John and I have been serving over a year now, and we normally end up serving two or three shifts each month because we have a flexible schedule and no young kids that we have to harness and get ready in the mornings. Since we’ve been serving frequently and I always bring goodies (almost always! 🙂 ) everyone’s gotten used to our treats and almost always give them a try.

I made these Luscious Lemon Muffins last summer and they were enjoyed by all. The cinnamon-sugar topping causes the muffin tops to crinkle a little on top while baking adding delightful texture and sweetness. If lemon is one of your comfort food flavors, you’ll love these incredibly delectable muffins–for breakfast, for snacks, tailgating parties or potlucks!

Luscious Lemon Muffins have a delightful cinnamon-sugar topping that really adds great flavor to these muffins.

Luscious Lemon Muffins turned out light and fluffy. Everyone loved them!

These muffins are wonderful for a weekend breakfast. They also freeze well.

These are great snacking muffins to bring for any kind of kid’s practice or sporting events.

Here’s what I did.

I used these ingredients.

Place unbleached flour in a mixing bowl. (Bleached flour toughens baked goods). Add salt and baking powder.

Stir to combine; set aside.

Grate lemon and set aside.

In a medium mixing bowl, place softened butter and granulated sugar.

Beat with an electric mixer until smooth and creamy.

Separate eggs into two bowls. Here are the egg yolks.

Here are the egg whites; set aside.

Add the egg yolks to the sugar/butter mixture.

Add the flour mixture and the lemon juice. Beat at very low speed with an electric mixer to combine; set aside.

Beat eggs with an electric mixer until stiff peaks form; this will take between 5-10 minutes.

Add the beaten egg whites and the grated lemon to the batter.

Stir well to combine. Mixture is thick.

Spray muffin tins with cooking spray. Spoon lemon batter into prepared muffin tins.

Place two tablespoons granulated sugar and 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon in a small bowl.

Stir well to combine; sprinkle about 2/3 teaspoon of mixture over top of each muffin.

Bake at 400 degrees for about 17 minutes. Cool in pans 10 minutes before removing to wire racks to cool completely.

Every bite of Luscious Lemon Muffins is irresistible.

These mouthwatering lemony muffins are even great for tailgating parties!

These sweet treats are wonderful for any breakfast buffet menu.

The cinnamon-sugar topping crackles a little while baking. It adds delightful texture to the muffins.

Here’s the recipe.

LUSCIOUS LEMON MUFFINS

(Recipe adapted from Taste of Home, Annual Recipes, 1999, pg. 118)

Luscious Lemon Muffins

You'll be delighted with the flavorful lemony flavor of these Luscious Lemon Muffins. They're sprinkled with a cinnamon-sugar topping before baking and come out delectable and so mouthwatering. Perfect for any kind of weekend, holiday or company breakfast or brunch menu, but also great for snacks and to savor with your morning coffee!

12-tin regular sized muffin pan
large mixing bowl
medium mixing bowl
small bowl
electric mixer
wooden spoon
wire cooling rack
measuring cups
measuring spoons
lemon zester

1/2 cup salted butter (softened)
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs
1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour ((bleached flour toughens baked goods))
1 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. sea salt
3 tbsp. lemon juice
1 tbsp. grated lemon peel
2 tbsp. granulated sugar ((for garnish))
1/4 tsp. ground cinnamon ((for garnish))

Preheat oven to 400°.
Spray 9 or 10 regular-sized muffin tins or 18-20 miniature muffin tins with cooking spray; set aside.
Separate eggs with whites in one bowl and egg yolks in another bowl; set aside.
In a large mixing bowl, cream the butter and sugar with an electric mixer until smooth.
Add egg yolks and beat well.
In a medium mixing bowl, combine flour, baking powder and salt.
Add to butter mixture alternately with lemon juice.
(I used an electric mixer at low speed).
Beat egg whites in a medium mixing bowl until stiff peaks form.
This will take between 5-10 minutes.
Fold stiff egg whites into batter with lemon peel.
Spoon batter into greased muffin tins about two-thirds full.
Combine 2 tablespoons sugar with 1/4 tsp. cinnamon.
Sprinkle about 2/3 teaspoon cinnamon-sugar mixture evenly over top of muffins.
Bake at 400° about 17 minutes for regular sized muffins and about 7-9 minutes for miniature muffins, until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.
Cool muffins in tins about 10 minutes before removing to wire racks to cool completely.
Yield: 9-10 regular sized muffins or 18-20 miniature muffins.

NOTE: The original recipe did not provide amounts for cinnamon-sugar mixture. I used the amounts listed above.

NOTE: I doubled the recipe and had 19 regular-sized muffins.

NOTE: Use a table knife to loosen the edges around the circumference of the muffin and remove from pan.

Recipe adapted from Taste of Home.

Taste of Home no longer has a search engine that allows you to search recipes by title. Most of the time, you have to weed through thousands of recipes in collections. If any link is to be found, I find direct links through google, not their own website. I could not locate a direct page for this recipe. But it is in the cookbook noted above.

Breads, Rolls and Muffins, Breakfast

American

breakfast, lemon, lemon muffins, muffins