Moist Lemon Drizzle Muffins with Lemon Curd Filling, a little treat for Easter or all year round. If you like the classic lemon drizzle cake, you will absolutely love these little beauties. Super easy to make, great for kids and grown-ups alike.
When I think of Easter, I think of sunshine, green grass, blue sky, and lots of yummy dishes. And lemon is by excellence the flavour of Easter. I just love it, and I tend to use either lemon extract or lemon zest/juice quite often when I bake. Or the three of them in this case, to make these super yummy lemon drizzle muffins that are filled with lemon curd.
That's as lemony as it can get! My lemon drizzle cake has been a favourite dessert on my blog from the very first time I posted it, and it's been constantly in my top 10 posts for quite a while now.
And with Easter fast approaching, what better than some yummy lemon muffins that we can enjoy either at home or on the go? Whether is getting nicer too, so perhaps a picnic coming up soon?
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Ingredients used
- self-raising flour - it works better than the regular flour, as the muffins stay moist and rise better
- eggs - make sure they are at room temperature
- milk - full-fat milk is the best, skimmed milk isn't creamy enough
- butter - melted and cooled
- baking powder - even if you use self-raising flour, still use baking powder for a fluffier texture
- lemon zest
- sugar - I used caster sugar, but granulated is also ok
- lemon curd - either homemade or store-bought
STEP-BY-STEP photos and instructions to make the muffins
- Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius (350 Fahrenheit).
- In a mixing bowl, add the eggs and sugar, and use a hand mixer to eat them well
- Add the milk and cooled melted butter, then lemon zest
- Sift in the flour and baking powder, and use a spatula to combine all the ingredients
- Use a spatula to mix gently until you get a batter, making sure you don't over mix it.
- Grease and flour a 12-hole muffin tin, add half a tablespoon of batter to each hole, sprinkle over some flour, then add one teaspoon of lemon curd, sprinkle more flour, and top with the remaining batter.
- Bake for 20 minutes until golden.
Ingredients needed to make lemon drizzle
- lemon juice - from the 2 lemons used for their zest
- sugar - I used caster sugar, granulated is also ok
How to make lemon drizzle
- Squeeze the lemon juice out of the lemons used for the zest, and mix well with the sugar.
- When the muffins are ready, drizzle the lemon juice mixture over as soon as they come out of the oven.
- Leave to cool, then use a sharp knife to loose up the edges, then should come out easily.
Tips
You can totally make your own delicious lemon curd at home, it's actually easier to make it than you think. I have the recipe written for this post, my Meringue Nests with Lemon Curd.
But if you are in a rush, you can just get a jar of good-quality ready-made lemon curd, and that should cut the baking time in half. To make perfect lemon muffins every single time, we need to follow these little steps:
- make sure the ingredients are the room temperature
This is particularly important in order to avoid the muffins cracking during baking, since the lemon curd will then leak
- don't overmix the batter, the muffins will become too dense, rather than rise beautifully
- add half a tablespoon of batter to each muffin tin hole, then top with one teaspoon of lemon curd, then add more batter to cover the curd well
The muffins will be ready in 20-25 minutes at 200 degrees Celsius (390 Fahrenheit).
- drizzle the lemon juice and sugar mixture as soon as the muffins come out of the oven
The juice will be soaked up much better while the muffins are hot. You can then serve them with extra lemon curd if you like.
Recipe FAQs
When you add the batter to the muffin tin, add one tablespoon of batter to the muffin hole, sprinkle a bit of flour over, add the lemon curd, sprinkle a bit more flour, then top with more batter. The flour will prevent the curd from oozing out in the oven.
No, muffins keep well at room temperature, in the fridge they harden, and while the taste is still good, the texture is not as fluffy.
The lemon drizzle muffins can be stored in an air-tight plastic container, and should keep fresh for at least 2-3 days. If you make your own lemon curd, you can store in into a jar and refrigerate, this should keep well for at least 1-2 weeks if the jar is fitted with a good lid.
Other drizzle recipes
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Moist Lemon Drizzle Muffins with Lemon Curd Filling
Ingredients
- 300 g self-raising flour
- 2 egg
- 250 ml full-fat milk
- 200 g sugar
- 90 g butter, melted and cooled (6 tablespoons)
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- lemon zest from 2 lemons
- ½ cup lemon curd
For the drizzle
- lemon juice from 2 lemons
- 6 tablespoon caster sugar
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius (350 Fahrenheit).
- In a mixing bowl, add the eggs and sugar, and use a hand mixer to beat them well.
- Pour in the milk, melted butter and lemon zest, and mix again.
- Sift in the flour and baking powder, and use a spatula to combine all the ingredients.
- Grease and flour a 12-hole muffin tin, add half a tablespoon of batter to each hole, sprinkle a little bit of flour over, then add one teaspoon of lemon curd, sprinkle more flour over, and top with the remaining batter.
- Bake for 20 minutes until golden.
- Squeeze the lemon juice out of the lemons used for the zest, and mix it with the sugar.
- When the muffins are ready, drizzle the lemon juice mixture over as soon as they come out of the oven.
- Leave to cool, then use a sharp knife to loose up the edges, then should come out easily.
- Serve with extra lemon curd if you wish.
Video
Notes
- If you'd like to see the ingredients listed in cups and ounces, please check the US Customary Link.
- Also, the amount of ingredients changes depending on the servings, so click on the number listed to change it to the number you prefer.
- make sure the ingredients are the room temperature - this is particularly important in order to avoid the muffins cracking during baking, since the lemon curd will then leak
- don't overmix the batter, the muffins will become too dense, rather than rise beautifully
- add half a tablespoon of batter to each muffin tin hole, then top with one teaspoon of lemon curd, then add more batter to cover the curd well
- drizzle the lemon juice and sugar mixture as soon as the muffins come out of the oven - the juice will be soaked up much better while the muffins are hot. You can then serve them with extra lemon curd if you like.
Joyce
How do you stop the lemon curd from sinking? I've made these a few times now but no matter what I do - the lemon curd ends up sinking to the bottom. I've tried spooning half the batter in, putting the lemon curd in and then spooning the other half on top as well as filling the muffin case and then piping the curd in (in the middle, just under the surface and even on top) - each time I have the same result.
Daniela Anderson
Try spooning half the batter in, dust the top with flour, add the curd, dust flour again, then spoon more batter to top it. This method usually works with nuts and fruit, I hope it helps with the curd too. I will test it myself soon.
Joyce
Ok, Will give this a go, thank you!
(Tried another batch tonight with less milk and more flour to make a thicker batter, but that didn’t work either)
Sol
I haven't tried it, but maybe you can pipe in the curd after baking?
I've just made these, too, and I didn't have curd, just a very liquid lemon filling from another website, and it occured to me that one could have been piped in, too.
Daniela Apostol
Give it a try, it should work.
rachel Llewellyn
Will this recipe still work if I double it up? Need a batch of 12 without having to do 2 lots
Daniela Apostol
Yes, definitely! Just double the ingredients up and you can use a 12-hole muffin tin.
RC
Hi is this normal sugar or caster sugar?
Daniela Anderson
It’s caster sugar, but normal granulated sugar is fine as well.
Sophie Nivern
These are incredible!
I've made these cupcakes numerous times, and passed on the recipe. Myself and anyone who has made them say how 'moist' and 'gorgeous' they are.
Highly recommend!
Angie
Did your lemoncurd sink ?
Daniela Apostol
To avoid the curd from sinking, you have to add a tablespoon of batter to the muffin case, sprinkle a bit of flour over, add the curd, sprinkle more flour, then top with more batter.
Lois
Can you do it without the lemon extract and use semi skimmed milk instead of full fat? These are the only things I am missing and would love to give these a go, For my lemon obsessed son!
Daniela Apostol
Absolutely, that’s fine without lemon extract. Semi-skimmed milk should work just fine.
Lois
Thank you, tried this with semi skimmed milk and added lemon juice instead of lemon extract to the mix, they went down very well! Would this recipe work with choc chip muffins? Obviously removing all lemon and adding a vanilla extract instead of lemon?
Daniela Apostol
Glad it worked! Absolutely, the chocolate chips would be a great addition. Let me know how it goes!
Lois
I gave it a go, they are amazing! Thank you
Daniela Apostol
Perfect!
Susan
These are amazing muffins I made them on a boat with a dodgy oven which doesn’t hold the temperature so I have to turn the oven up and down to try to keep it at the required temperature. I used soya milk and Dairy Free butter and baked them for 5 mins longer. 🤗 very happy
Daniela Apostol
Glad you enjoyed the recipe!
Olivia
Which butter is best to use? Also do you melt the butter first then measure it onto a full tablespoon as you’ve not given an exact measurement. Thanks!
Daniela Apostol
For dessert unsalted butter works best. Yes, I melt the butter first, then measure it, it's usually about 50 g of butter.
Anita Sahu
Hi, I tried this recipe today. I used fine brown sugar instead of caster sugar. My problem was my lemon curd oozed out. I baked it at 350 F and only for 17 mins. They turned out pretty dense and half the lemon curd was lost. Would appreciate if you could tell me where I went wrong.
Thanks,
Anita
Daniela Apostol
Hi! Overbeating might be the reason why the muffins turned out dense. As for the curd oozing out, perhaps they haven’t been covered well with batter? Also try to dust the first layer on batter with flour, add the curd, dust flour again, then seal well with more batter. That should help.
Colin
Just made them with double amounts and they worked a treat! I did scoop out the centre and put some lemon curd in the middle and placed the scooped out part back on!!
Daniela Apostol
Glad you liked them!
Suzy
These look yummy! Can I substitute the milk for yoghurt?
Thanks!
Daniela Apostol
Thank you! I think that should work fine, add a bit more yogurt than the amount specified for this recipe in case the batter is too thick.
Apple pie
I tried this recipe today with homemade lemon curd. Followed the exact same recipe except lemon extract (as I didn’t have it), made 4 large muffin and they turned out wonderful. They were very fluffy, soft and moist - Just like a coffee shop muffins.
Please note I added the lemon curd at the end.
Tiffany Fisher
Would it work to freeze the lemon curd first in small ice cube shaped then put in the batter?
Daniela Apostol
I haven't tried that, but I can't see why not, it should work, just make sure you don't put too much curd to freeze, otherwise the muffins will overflow.
Colin
This was only my second attempt at baking cakes ever. I needed something to pass the time on a wet bank holiday so had a go, after a quick run around the local supermarket to get the ingredients my wife left me to mess up her clean kitchen. The only advice I had from my boss was to double up the recipe otherwise it was a waste of oven space and heat.
I am glad I did, apart from 2 which I placed too far back in the oven they all came out looking like the picture. After twenty minutes after I took them out of the oven my wife asked if it would be piggish to have a third! So clearly they turned out great.
Daniela Apostol
I am glad everyone enjoyed them!
Anna
Was a little hesitant to try the lemon muffins reading that so many had problems .. but they came out perfect and disappeared very fast xx great recipe thank you x
Daniela Apostol
I am glad you liked them, and that the recipe worked for you, l make it often and we all love it.
Jenny
I made the lemon drizzle muffins yesterday for the first time for a charity cake sale. I ate one to make sure they were OK and they were amazing and cooked in 15 minutes as per recipe. Brilliant. Thank you.
Daniela Apostol
Amazing! I am glad you liked them!
laddie
In the method you don't actually say when to put the lemon essence in?
Leila
These turned out absolutely perfect! I did the batter-flour-lemon curd-flour-batter tip that the author suggested and the curd stayed exactly where it should be (no sinking or seeping out). They were absolutely divine!! Will definitely make again! Followed recipe exactly as stated. Just follow the tips of the author and you’ll have no issues! Just perfect lemony deliciousness!
Daniela Apostol
I am very happy that they turned out alright! I can't wait to make them again too!
Jenny Murray
I have commented previously àt how brilliant this recipe is. I wondered if it would work using ginger and if so what ingredients would you use to keep the moisture in.
Daniela Apostol
I am sure lemon and ginger could make a good pair. I would use ground ginger in the batter, and perhaps chopped stem ginger too for extra flavour, but other than that, the rest of the ingredients can be used in exactly the same way.
G
Great. I recommend 👍
Sarah Martin
The previous issues reported with this recipe can most likely be attributed to problems with the US Customary/Metric conversion calculator. The number of eggs called for is wrong. I corrected the conversion and made the muffins today, following the baking instructions exactly. ABSOLUTELY PERFECT AND DELICIOUS!