Red Velvet Cream Cheese Muffins

I had some lactose-free cream cheese left after making this recipe, so I decided to make more muffins. I wasn’t hard to convince, really, because they’re red velvet cream cheese muffins from Averie Cooks. To be honest, they’re very sweet and straddle the line between muffins and cupcakes, so I’m labeling these both “breakfast” and “dessert”. The crunchy crumb topping certainly gives them some nice texture! Plus, the cream cheese keeps the crumb moist, so they’re very pleasant to eat.

For the crumb topping
½ cup granulated sugar
¼ cup all-purpose flour
2 Tbsp. unsalted butter or margarine, diced into cubes

For the cream cheese mixture
4 oz. lactose-free cream cheese, softened
¼ cup granulated sugar
½ tsp. vanilla extract

For the muffins
1 ¼ cups all-purpose flour
½ cup granulated sugar
2 tsp. baking powder
½ tsp. salt, or to taste
1 large egg
½ cup vegetable oil (I used grapeseed oil)
1/3 cup buttermilk (lactose-free milk with maybe ½ tsp. lemon juice)
2 Tbsp. natural unsweetened cocoa powder
2 tsp. red liquid food coloring

Preheat oven to 375 °F. Spray a muffin pan very well with floured cooking spray or grease and flour the pan; set aside.

To make the crumb topping, mix the sugar and flour in a bowl using and, a pastry cutter or two forks, cut in the butter until you have coarse crumbs. Set aside.

To make the cream cheese mixture, combine the cream cheese, sugar and vanilla in a bowl, and beat with a handheld electric mixer (I used my stand mixer) until smooth, or whisk by hand until smooth. Set aside.

Now, for the muffins themselves. To a large bowl, add the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, and whisk to combine; set aside.

To a separate medium bowl, add the egg, oil, buttermilk, cocoa powder, red food coloring, and whisk to combine.

Add the wet ingredients to the dry and stir just until moistened. Batter is thick and some lumps will remain; don't overmix.

Fold the cream cheese mixture into the muffin batter, being careful not to overmix. Some streaks of cream cheese should remain (though in my case they didn’t show in the finished muffins).

Turn batter out into prepared pan, filling each cavity about two-thirds full.

Evenly sprinkle each muffin with the crumb topping.

Bake for about 17 to 19 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean or with a few moist crumbs but no batter. Allow muffins to cool in pan for about 10 minutes, or until they've firmed up and are cool enough to handle, and then transfer to a rack to cool completely.