Moist and Fluffy Lemon Curd Muffins
These lemon curd muffins are a lemon lovers dream. Fresh zesty lemon flavor is packed into a soft, moist, and fluffy lemon muffin. After baking, the muffins are brushed with a lemon glaze that seeps into the hot muffins, keeping them extra moist. To make them even better the muffins are then stuffed with lemon curd (either home made or store-bought) to make an incredible breakfast or brunch muffin everyone will love.
If you love lemon, hello and welcome to these insane lemon curd muffins. I took the base recipe from my already 5 star rated lemon muffin recipe and then topped them with this lemon glaze and stuffed them with homemade lemon curd.
What keeps these super moist is not only the ingredients used in the batter (a mix of butter, oil, yogurt, and milk) but also the lemon glaze that is brushed on top of the muffins immediately when they come out of the oven.
Usually as a trained pastry chef, I always tell bakers to wait until their baked goods are completely cool before frosting because you don’t want the frosting to melt. In this case though, we do!
When you brush this sweet and zesty glaze on top of hot muffins, the glaze seeps into the muffin keeping them extra moist for extra long.
This is a trick I like to use to add some extra flavor, texture, and moisture to some of my muffin recipes.
I cant wait to show you how to make these amazing muffins, lets get started!
Lemons
I use 5 fresh lemons for this recipe. If youre making your own lemon curd you’ll use the whole lemon. If you’re buying it, then the zest will be the most used part, and we need a lot of it, so the bigger the lemon, the better.
I always zest my lemons with a microplane.
It gets the zest off the easiest and with the most retained flavor. Also remember to zest your lemons on top of the sugar in your recipes. This makes sure that all of the oils are kept and you dont lose any flavor from transferring between bowls.
Lemon curd
You can 10000% buy your own lemon curd if you don’t want to make your own. I like to make my own because I am using the lemons for the zest anyways.
You only need 4 ingredients to make lemon curd:
- Lemons
- Eggs
- Sugar
- Unsalted Butter
- Separate the eggs- Separate the egg yolks from the whites. Discard or save the whites for another recipe.
- Measure the lemon juice- in a measuring cup, juice the lemons till you get 1/2 cup. This is usually from about 4-5 lemons.
- Combine the eggs, lemon juice, and 1/2 cup white sugar and mix well.
- In a pan over low- medium heat, cook the egg, lemon, and sugar mixture, constantly stirring with a spatula until the mixture is thick and can coat the back of a spoon.
This can take up to 10 minutes, don’t rush the process or turn the heat higher because the eggs can cook. We just want to heat the eggs so they thicken the mixture, not cook them so they scramble.
When you see that the lemon curd has thickened, (see pics below) take it off the heat and stir in 6 tablespoons of cold butter. This will give the curd the smooth and creamy texture.
Strain the curd (just in case something did scramble) into a container. Place a piece of plastic wrap directly on top to prevent a film from forming, and then close it with the top. Put it in the fridge to cool while you make the muffins.
How to make the muffins
Making muffins is super easy because you need to just combine the dry ingredients (flour, sugar, zest, baking powder, baking soda, and salt) in one bowl, and the wet ingredients (melted butter, oil, eggs, yogurt, milk, and extract) into another. See the full recipe below for the exact measurements and instructions.
Then you’ll pour the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients and stir with a spatula very lightly and gently to mix the ingredients together.
We mix the dry into the wet because it allows for less over mixing. When you do it this way the flour sits more on top of the batter and not on the bottom of the bowl, making you have to work harder to get it all to work in.
Over mixing a muffin batter is the number one reason why your muffins can come out tough and not tender. You want to mix just until combined, and keep the batter very lumpy.
Baking for tall tops
Preheat your oven to 425°F.
Fill the muffin liners to the top of the muffin tin with batter. The muffins NEED to bake over the rim to create the tall tops. This is not a cupcake recipe where you fill halfway through, muffins are totally different.
We’re baking on a high temperature at first and then will lower the temperature to 350°F about 1/3rd of the way through.
The initial high heat bakes the tops of the muffins first which makes them tall and rounded.
Then when you lower it to 350, it’ll cook the middle of the muffins evenly. If you baked them completely on a high heat, the tops would burn before the middle was cooked, leaving you with a burnt muffin. Make sure to remember to turn it down!
Make the lemon glaze
While the muffins are baking, make the lemon glaze. In a bowl combine the powdered sugar, lemon zest, juice, and milk or cream. Whisk together and set aside for when the muffins come out.
Immediately when the muffins come out of the oven, brush them with the lemon glaze. It will seep into the muffins and then create a light and sweet crust that is just divine!
If you have extra lemons or zest, sprinkle it on top of the glaze. Make sure to do it quickly because the glaze will harden fast and the zest wont get the chance to stick.
Cool the lemons for 10-15 minutes in the pan, then transfer to cool completely on a wire rack.
Filling with curd
When the lemons have 100% cooled its time to fill them with lemon curd. I use a donut filler syringe for this but if you dont have one you can use a piping bag with a round tip, an apple corer, or even a squeeze bottle. If you have no gadgets (its fine I actually hate gadgets haha) then you can use a small pairing knife to cut a small hole (save the tops!) and fill with curd, then replace the top.
Baking with lemon curd inside the muffin
I chose to not do this with this recipe but a reader from my lemon muffin post said that she tried it and it worked!
To do this, fill the muffin liners up half way, then poke your finger in the middle to create a well. Pour 1/2-1 tbsp lemon curd in the middle, then top the rest with batter.
Continue baking according to the recipe instructions. Some lemon curd may seep out if you add too much, but I don’t think anyone will complain about it.
Yield
This recipe makes 12 perfect lemon curd muffins. Make sure you fill the batter to the top of the tin, even a little over is fine. If you choose to bake these with the lemon curd inside, you may have more batter left over.
Storing and freezing
Store the muffins in a cake dome that allows the muffins to breathe a little. If you store them in an airtight container the glaze will completely melt into the muffins and the crust that it forms will disappear.
Freeze these muffins before filling and glazing for best results. Wrap each one in plastic wrap and then add to a freezer safe zip top bag. Defrost at room temp and then fill with lemon curd and brush with the glaze.
The glaze will still harden but wont melt as much into the cupcakes because they arent warm. Still delicious tho.
Moist and Fluffy Lemon Curd Muffins
Ingredients
For the lemon curd
- 5 lemons, Zest these first into a bowl on top of 1 cup of sugar
- 5 egg yolks
- 3/4 cup granulated sugar, 150g
- 6 tbsp unsalted butter, cold
- 1/2 cup lemon juice
For the lemon muffins
- 2 tbsp Lemon zest
- 1 cup white sugar
- 3 cups all purpose flour
- 3 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp kosher salt
- 4 tbsp unsalted butter, melted
- 1/2 cup veg oil
- 1/2 cup whole milk
- 1/2 cup greek yogurt
- 3 eggs
- 1 tsp lemon extract
Instructions
- Since we need lemon zest for the muffins, first zest the lemons on top of 1 cup of sugar in a medium sized bowl and set it aside, this is the sugar you'll need in the dry ingredients for the muffins.
- Now make the lemon curd. Separate the egg yolks from the whites carefully.
- Combine the 5 egg yolks, 3/4 cup sugar, and 1/2 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice in a small bowl or measuring cup and whisk to combine.
- Pour it into a heavy bottomed pan over low- medium heat. Consistently stir the mixture for 10 minutes until it has thickened. You don’t want to rush this part or raise the heat as it will cook the eggs.
- The mixture is done when it coats the back of a spoon. If you take your finger and make a line through the curd on the back of the spoon and it stays in place, it’s done.
- Take the pan off the heat and immediately add the 6 tbsp cold butter. Stir until melted.
- Strain the curd through a fine mesh strainer to make it smooth. Pour the curd into a container and place a piece of plastic directly on top to prevent a film. Then cover and chill in the fridge while you make the muffins.
- Make the muffins
- Preheat the oven to 425° F and line a 12 cup muffin tip with muffin liners.
- In the bowl with the sugar and zest, add the 3 cups flour, 3 tsp baking powder, 1 tsp baking soda, and 1/2 tsp kosher salt. Mix lightly with a whisk.
- In the second bowl, add the 4tbsp butter and microwave for 30 seconds at a time until fully melted. Then add in the 1/2 cup oil, 1/2 cup milk, 1/2 cup greek yogurt, 3 eggs, and 1 tsp lemon extract. Mix well with the spatula.
- All at once, add the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients. Using a large spatula, lightly and gently fold in the flour taking care not to over mix or mix too hard. You want the flour to JUST mix in till there are no mare large streaks. The batter will be lumpy.
- Using an ice cream scoop for accuracy, scoop the batter into the prepared muffin tin all the way to the top.
- Bake for 7 minutes on 425, then lower the temperature to 350°F and continue to bake for another 13-15 minutes.
- Make the lemon glaze and set aside.
- Take the muffins out and immediately brush them with the glaze. Then cool for 10 minutes in the pan. Move them to a wire rack to cool completely.
- Using a donut syringe, piping bag and tip, or squeeze bottle, insert it into the top of the muffin and fill with the chilled lemon curd.
- Drizzle with more glaze to cover the hole, or let the lemon curd show on top!
