These lemon curd muffins are soft, fluffy, and packed with all the lemon flavor! These muffins are made with fresh lemon zest, are brushed with lemon curd while still warm and then filled with lemon curd. These muffins are made in 1 bowl and you don't need a mixer!
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After making my lemon curd cake I knew I had to find another way to use lemon curd, it is just so perfect for spring and summer! I had seen in a Dorie Greenspan book a recipe where you brush warm muffins with lemon curd or marmalade right when they come out of the oven, so I knew I had to give that a go!
I did try baking the muffins with lemon curd already inside them, however the lemon curd filling would either sink or would cook in the oven leaving you with a semi hollow muffin. Instead what I chose to do is give you a double whammy of lemon curd flavor - first with brushing the muffin tops with the curd, then filling each baked muffin with the curd!
If you are a lemon lover and want even more lemon recipes, you have to check out my lemon poppy seed cupcakes, lemon blueberry poppy seed muffins, and lemon white chocolate cookies!
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Why you'll love this recipe!
- You only need 10 ingredients for this recipe.
- This make 9 bakery style muffins with super tall muffin tops.
- You can use homemade lemon curd or store bought lemon curd.
- It takes just 10 minutes to prepare this recipe then 25 minutes to bake them.
- Each muffin top is brushed with lemon curd just after baking and then filled with lemon curd, so you get that extra lemon flavor!
Ingredients Needed
- Flour: I have only tested this recipe with all purpose flour.
- Lemon Zest: you'll need to zest 1 lemon for the muffins.
- Lemon Curd: you can use lemon curd from scratch or buy it at the store.
- Yogurt: make sure to use full fat yogurt, this will keep your muffins extra moist! You could swap it out for sour cream.
- Butter: you'll need to melt the butter before you start the recipe as you don't want it to be too hot.
Step by Step Instructions
Step 1: Preheat your oven to 375°Fahrenheit/190°Celsius and line your muffin pan with 9 liners. Mix your sugar and lemon zest together using a whisk or your hands until the lemon zest releases oils and turns the lemon a pale yellow. You have just made lemon sugar!
Step 2: Pour the lemon sugar into a bowl with the melted butter, yogurt, and egg. Whisk until smooth.
Step 3: Pour the remaining dry ingredients into the wet ingredients and use a rubber spatula to combine everything until smooth.
Step 4: Fill up the muffin liners all the way to the top. This recipe makes 9 muffins but they will be super tall with high domes - just the way I like my muffins! Bake in the oven for 22-25 minutes, until a deep golden brown.
Once the muffins are done baking, take them out of the oven and use a pastry brush to brush each one with lemon curd. Let the muffins cool in the pan for 15 minutes before removing to a wire cooling rack. Once completely cool, use a skewer or the tip of a squeeze bottle or pastry tip to make a small hole at the top of each muffin. Fill a pastry bag or squeeze bottle with lemon curd and pipe filling into the middle of each muffin.
Recipe Tips & Tricks
- Use a scale - I always recommend using a weighing scale when baking as it is the most accurate way to bake! You really want to make sure you are weighing your flour correctly. If you're using measuring cups it is so easy to add too much flour, leaving you with dry and dense muffins.
- Brush lemon curd right away - to get the muffin tops super lemony you want to make sure to brush the muffins while they're still hot.
- How to pipe in filling - my favorite way to fill these muffins is to use a squeeze bottle, but you could also use a piping bag with a small round tip! Use the tip of the piping tip or the squeeze bottle to create a hole at the top of the muffin and try and go down until you reach the middle of the muffin. Gently squeeze the bottle or pastry bag to fill the muffin with lemon curd.
Frequently Asked Questions
I really wanted these lemon curd muffins to be extra tall, like the muffins you see in a bakery. I was reading this recipe by Smitten Kitchen and noticed she had filled each muffin liner to the top. This only gave her 9-10 muffins but it meant they were super tall! I gave that a try with this muffin recipe and decided I would much rather than 9 super tall muffins than 12 smaller muffins. If you want more muffins you can double the recipe to make 18 muffins.
They are best eaten on the day of baking, but you can store them in an airtight container in the fridge.
Try these lemon recipes next!
Have you made this recipe? Please rate the recipe below! Don't forget to follow me on Instagram @alpineella and Pinterest!
Recipe
Lemon Curd Muffins
Equipment
- Muffin pan
Ingredients
- 1 stick (113 grams) unsalted butter melted and cooled
- ½ cup (100 grams) white sugar
- 1 tablespoon lemon zest
- ¾ cup (180 ml) yogurt room temperature
- 1 large egg room temperature
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 ¾ cup (210 grams) all purpose flour
- 2 teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ cup (113 g) lemon curd homemade or store-bought
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 375°Fahrenheit/190°Celsius and place 9 muffin liners in a muffin or cupcake pan.
- In a large bowl, mix the white sugar with the lemon zest to help release the lemon oils. Do this using a whisk or your hands until the sugar is a pale yellow.½ cup (100 grams) white sugar, 1 tablespoon lemon zest
- Pour in the melted butter, yogurt, and egg. Whisk until smooth.1 stick (113 grams) unsalted butter, ¾ cup (180 ml) yogurt, 1 large egg
- Pour in the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Use a rubber spatula to fold everything together until there are no more streaks of flour.1 ¾ cup (210 grams) all purpose flour, 2 teaspoon baking powder, ¼ teaspoon baking soda, 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- Use a spoon or an ice cream scooper to scoop the muffin batter into the liners until each liner is almost full to the top.
- Bake in the preheated oven for 22-25 minutes.
- Take the muffins out of the oven and use a pastry brush to brush lemon curd on top of each warm muffin top. Let the muffins then cool in the pan for 15 minutes, then take out of the pan and let them cool completely on a wire cooling rack.½ cup (113 g) lemon curd
- Once the muffins are completely cool you can fill them with lemon curd. Put the remaining lemon curd into a pastry bag with a small round tip or in a squeezy bottle.
- Using the tip of the squeeze bottle, a toothpick or a skewer to create a hole at the top of each muffin. Poke this hole until about halfway down each muffin. Insert the piping bag tip or the squeeze bottle and gently squeeze the lemon curd out into the middle of the muffin. Repeat with the remaining muffins.
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