Easy Raspberry Lemon Muffins

Get your day off to a sweet start with these raspberry lemon muffins! These easy muffins are deliciously moist, strike just the right balance between sweet and tart, and make the perfect on-the-go, take-breakfast-with-you kind of munchy.

Breakfast: The best meal of the day and the one I most hate to make. I’m more of a breakfast for dinner type of gal… You know, enjoy making (and eating) the meal while I’m conscious and have the brain capacity to do so…

I’m not saying I wouldn’t take free pancakes or bacon if someone was offering to come over and make it first thing in the morning, I just don’t want to be that person.

Groggy breakfast making is how you end up with bacon grease burns on your stomach (says the voice of experience)…

Enter muffins.

Bake the night before and have a delicious, fresh breakfast at a reduced risk of burns! And also potentially in bed. New life goal: train the cat to deliver muffins in bed. Right after I train him stay off the counters, stop kicking the sand out of the litterbox and just generally listen to what I say…

Cats aside, these muffins are the perfect little piece of Spring! Tart lemon, juicy raspberries, and a touch of sweet glaze all rolled into a moist, crumbly little muffin.

Here’s how to make these muffins

First, make your batter.

In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat the butter until smooth.

If you forgot to take your butter out of the fridge ahead of time, don’t worry; The easiest and quickest way to soften butter is to cut it into 1/2 tablespoon squares, place the squares on a plate and microwave it using 5 second increments until it’s softened.

Add the granulated sugar and beat on medium until it’s creamed (about 2-3 minutes).

Why do we cream the butter and sugar, and how do we know when it’s ready? Creaming these two ingredients together allows the sugar to aerate the butter, leading to muffins that are light with a fine crumb. Properly creamed butter is light, fluffy and doesn’t cling to the sides of the bowl. If you’re new to baking and want to learn more, check out this article on creaming butter and sugar by King Arthur.

In a bowl, combine the remaining wet ingredients (eggs, milk, sour cream, lemon juice and vanilla extract) and whisk until combined. In a separate bowl, stir together the dry ingredients (flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and lemon zest).

Alternating between the two and beating on low between each new addition until just combined, add half the dry ingredients followed by all of the wet ingredients followed by the remaining half of the dry ingredients.

Mash a half cup of raspberries, then fold all of the raspberries (whole and mashed) into the batter. You don’t have to mash the berries, but I like the extra swirl of berry juice mashing them provides.

Add four tablespoons of batter to each cup of a greased or cupcake liner lined muffin pan.

Bake at 425F for 5 minutes. Reduce the oven temperature to 375F and continue baking for 13-15 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the muffins comes out mostly crumb-free (all crumbs should be baked).

Allow the muffins to cool in the pan before turning them out onto a cooling rack.

Finally, glaze the muffins.

In a bowl, whisk together the powdered sugar and water. The glaze should resemble a loose paste.

Dip each muffin into the glaze, allowing any excess to drain off before placing them right-side-up on your cooling rack.

Garnish with freeze dried raspberries for an extra pop of color.

Expert tips

• Estimating lemons: One lemon produces about 1/4 cup of fresh squeezed juice.
• Softening refrigerated butter: Cut the butter into 1/2 tablespoon squares, place the squares on a plate and microwave it using 5 second increments until it’s softened.
• Testing for doneness: Although tempting to wait until the toothpick comes out clean, doing so will likely lead to over-baking your muffins. Instead, you want your toothpick to come out without any raw batter and with some cooked crumbs still clinging to it.
• Storage: These muffins can be kept at room temperature in an air tight container for 2-3 days.

Did you make this recipe? I’d love to hear how it went in the comments below. Better still, snap a photo and tag it on Instagram with #thesimplesweetlife. I love seeing your creations!

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If you liked this recipe, you might also like…

• Raspberry s’more bars
• Sheet pan pancakes 6 ways
• Overnight chocolate strawberry croissant french toast

Update Notes: This post was originally published in March of 2016 but was republished with an updated recipe, photos, directions and tips in May of 2022.