Bakery-Style Lemon Drizzle Muffins

Indulge in these bakery-style lemon drizzle muffins! Delicious lemon muffins complete with a lemon drizzle glaze, and a simple crumb topping. Perfect for a morning pick-me-up or an afternoon treat. Easy to make, bursting with bright citrus flavor, and sure to be a favorite!

I love the fresh flavor lemons bring. It’s one of the few flavors that I think is wonderful all year round. Spring and summer? Lemons brings that freshness. Fall and winter? Lemons bring that familiar comfort.

These lemon drizzle muffins not only taste great, but they smell divine. Coming home to the aroma of freshly baked lemon muffins is something everyone should experience at least once!

this recipe

What are lemon drizzle muffins

Lemon drizzle muffin (sometimes called, lemon drizzle cupcakes) are a delicious treat that can be served for breakfast, as a snack, or as a dessert. These lemon muffins are covered with a crunchy crumb topping, and further flavored with a citrusy sugar and lemon glaze that’s drizzled into holes poked in the top of the muffins.

What’s the difference between muffin and cupcake

The difference between muffin and cupcake is a lightly debated topic in the food world. Generally speaking, it is accepted that muffins are more bread-y and can be sweet or savory, while cupcakes are more cake-y and sweet (usually because of more butter and sugar in the batter). Muffins typically do not have any sort of frosting, while cupcakes sometimes do.

This recipe creates a sweet muffin. There is no frosting, but there is a lemon-sugar drizzle, and crumb topping.

Ingredients

For the muffins

• Unsalted butter, softened
• Granulated white sugar (ideally, extra fine)
• Self-rising flour (250g) 
• Large eggs, lightly beaten
• Lemon zest
• Fresh lemon juice

For the crumb topping

• All-purpose flour
• Granulated white sugar
• Butter, softened

For the lemon drizzle

• Fresh lemon juice
• Lemon zest
• Granulated white sugar

How to make Lemon Drizzle Muffins

One of the many wonderful qualities of a muffin is that it is generally very easy to make. While this lemon drizzle muffin recipe has a couple of extra steps (due to the lemon drizzle and crumb topping), this is still a great recipe for beginners to baking.

Prepare the crumb topping

Blend all the ingredients together to form a fine crumb. Set aside. (You won’t need a very large bowl for this, a small one and a wooden spoon to mix will work perfectly.)

Simply mix all the ingredients together until combined.

Drizzle, drizzle

Using a toothpick or skewer, poke small holes into each lemon muffin. Gently spoon the lemon drizzle over each of the lemon muffins, making sure to let the mixture seep into the holes you created. Set aside to cool. Enjoy!

Tips

Don’t over-prepare

As this recipe has multiple components (the lemon muffins, the crumbs, and the drizzle), it’s good to prepare accordingly. However, don’t think too far ahead. The crumbs should be prepared before starting on the muffins, and the lemon drizzle should be prepared until just before time to top the muffins.

Overmixing is the enemy

A common problem when it comes to making muffins and cupcakes is overworking the batter. If you mix the batter too much, you may end up with muffins that are too dense and rubbery feeling. (And if you really over-mix, you might even end up with a batter that spreads too much.)

Under-mixing is bad too

While overworking batter is a no-no, so is under-mixing it (something that occasionally happens…usually as a result of trying to not over-mix!). Under-mixing means the gluten can’t develop properly resulting in muffins that just don’t rise.

Chilling the batter

While this is completely optional, chilling your muffin batter (for a few hours or overnight) allows the flour to absorb more moisture while also thickening the batter without letting it dry out. This encourages taller muffins that retain their moisture! 

(Personally, I don’t like baking muffins that I can only eat the next day, so I typically skip this. It is a trick used by many bakeries though.)

Get the temperature right

A frustration many have when it comes to baking is that ovens can act differently. Larger ovens vs smaller ones, ovens with fans vs ovens without, and ovens that judge temperature differently. This is one of those recipes where adjusting the temperature slightly can have a big impact. 

I suggest baking this lemon drizzle muffin recipe at 325 degrees F. However, when testing in a second oven, I found that the sweet spot there to be 310 degrees F. You know your oven best, if it tends to run a little hot, opt for 310 degrees F. (If you’re not sure, start with 325, and just keep an eye on your baked goods.)

Variations

The easiest way to change up these lemon drizzle muffins is to play with the toppings. And in this respect you have two main options: add or reduce.

Less is more 

This is by far the easier option. Simply remove the crunchy topping – no other changes necessary. (Technically, you can easily remove the lemon-sugar drizzle as well, but then these wouldn’t be lemon drizzle muffins at all.)

More is more

Do you have maximalist taste buds? Here are a few ways to add more to these lemon muffins:

• Make them sweeter by adding a powder of icing sugar over it.
• Make them tangier by adding a light dusting of lemon zest or a teaspoon of lemon extract to the batter.
• Opt for a much more dessert-like finish, by adding a buttercream topping. The muffin recipe will act as a base of lemon drizzle cupcakes. Want to go even further? Add a teaspoon of vanilla extract to the muffin’s wet ingredients.
• Want a slightly more intricate addition? Make some homemade lemon curd, and add it to your muffins.