Jan
31
Lemon Blueberry Muffins
Oh my. I know in the food writing world you’re not supposed to use terms like “phenomenal” or “delicious” or “OMGmouthgasmic” because they’re completely subjective and not very descriptive (and that last one isn’t a real word), but these muffins are all of those things and more. They’re just the right balance between sweet and tart and they have a light, fluffy, lemony body bursting with tons of warm, plump, juicy blueberries. These would be perfect for breakfast, a snack, or even dessert. They taste so flavorful and decadent that no one will ever guess they’re light! To view your WW PersonalPoints for this recipe and track it in the WW app or site, click here!
Lemon Blueberry Muffins
These Lemon Blueberry Muffins are easy, sweet, and perfect for spring!
Ingredients
- 5 oz 1/3 less fat cream cheese, softened
- 3 tablespoons butter, softened
- 3 tablespoons unsweetened applesauce
- 1 ½ cups sugar
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 large egg whites
- 1 large egg
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 cup white whole wheat flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ cup low-fat buttermilk
- 3-4 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
- 1-2 teaspoon lemon zest
- 2 cups blueberries
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350. Line 24 muffin cups with cupcake liners.
- In a large bowl, combine the cream cheese, butter and applesauce and beat with an electric mixer until blended. Add sugar and beat until combined. Add vanilla, eggs and egg whites and beat until blended.
- In a separate bowl, combine the flour (lightly spoon into measuring cups and then level with a knife), baking soda, baking powder and salt and stir together. In the bowl containing the wet ingredients, use the mixer on a low speed while pouring in the flour mixture until thoroughly combined. Add the lemon juice, zest and buttermilk and beat until blended. Add the blueberries and fold in gently.
- Spoon the batter evenly into the liners. Bake for 25 minutes. Cool on a wire rack.
Notes
To view your WW PersonalPoints for this recipe and track it in the WW app or site, click here!
Nutrition Information:
137 calories, 23 g carbs, 15 g sugars, 4 g fat, 2 g saturated fat, 3 g protein, 1 g fiber (from myfitnesspal.com)
MyWW SmartPoints per (1 muffin) serving: (SP calculated using the recipe builder on weightwatchers.com)
Green: 5 SmartPoints/ Blue: 5 SmartPoints/ Purple: 5 SmartPoints
Weight Watchers Points Plus:
3 per muffin (P+ calculated using the recipe builder on weightwatchers.com)
3 per muffin (P+ calculated using the recipe builder on weightwatchers.com)
mmmm! 3 P+ for a regular size muffin is great! I don’t have fresh lemons in the house right now, but I have everything else. Surely lemon juice from a bottle will suffice, right?
Sure! I prefer fresh, but I’m sure these will taste great either way. 🙂
I have everything to make these on hand!!! I might have to skip dinner tonight and go straight for dessert. Can’t wait to make them. Thanks Emily!
Yay, I hope you love them! 🙂
I cannot wait to make these! I have everything I need for these which is one of the reasons I love your recipes! I have made many of your recipes lately and my whole family enjoys them! I am making the lasagna cupcakes tomorrow night and even my hubby is excited for those!! Last Friday we made the Chicken Alfredo pizza which I was nervous that my 8 year old wouldn’t eat it because of the spinach but it was a huge hit! He had 3 slices lol!
Thanks Jennifer! I hope you love these and the lasagna cupcakes. I’m so glad your son loved the pizza. Anytime you can get away with feeding the kids “hidden vegetables” it’s a great day. 🙂
Are these freezer friendly? I think this would be a great idea to make and then freeze for a quick breakfast or snack on the go!
I’ve never frozen them myself, but most muffins are freezer-friendly, so I’m guessing it’d work out just fine!
Mmmm. That was light and moist and yummy. And one was quite satisfying. Me like muffin.
Glad they were a hit!
LOVE your blog. Your recipes are amazing. I’ve tried the chicken Alfredo pizza (to die for, already made it twice), crustless pumpkin pie, bubble up enchilada casserole, banana chocolate chip baked oatmeal, and I have plans to make the pumpkin and cream bread, French dip cupcakes, and taco cupcakes this week. I’m in love!! You make dieting easy. Your recipes are my perfect style…no super weird ingredients and total comfort food not artsy fartsy health food. You’ve got a fan in me for life!
Thank you so much, Ginny! I’m so glad everything has been such a hit so far – I hope that continues! I am a total comfort food kind of girl, so I figure if I keep making the kinds of food I want to eat then hopefully others will feel the same way. So glad you do! 🙂
I just found your website via “eat-yourself-skinny”. I haven’t tried anything yet, but the first thing I am going to make will be your pumpkin and cream cheese bread for a group gathering to finish off that pumpkin from the holidays (yes, I still have some!). And then I will be making these. I have everything on hand and I can’t believe they only clock in at 3 points plus! That’s pretty low comapred to some other “weight watchers” sites. Also, I just got on the wonton bandwagon over the weekend and can’t wait to try your “cupcakes” meals. They sound super awesome and creative, you really can’t tell that they’re healthy or weight watchers. Keep them coming!
Your new fan,
Samantha
Thanks, Samantha! These muffins are amazing, you’re going to love them! Wontons are great – they’re so versatile. Definitely let me know which wonton ‘cupcakes’ you try. I’m glad you found me! Thanks again for all your nice words. 🙂
Definitely my favorite recipe you’ve posted, and dare I say my favorite blueberry muffin recipe to date! Love them. I brought them to a bday party at work, the girl watches what she eats and lots of my coworkers are on WW so they are a hit. I am eating one right now actually!
Wow, thanks Carolyn! I’m so happy you loved them. 🙂
Have you ever tried using a sugar substitute? I know it changes it to 2p+. Just wondering how it affects the taste..thanks 🙂
I don’t bake with sugar substitutes because I do feel it affects the flavor. I would much rather use real sugar and add a point. If you don’t mind the flavor of sugar substitutes then feel free to try it!
Okay Emily, these are so yummy! My sone had 3 today and wouldve ate more but I cut him off before dinner got too close. We love all of your recipes especially bubble up casseroles and the chicken biscuit bake. YUM!!
Thanks Tara, I’m glad they were such a big hit! 🙂
Emily, these muffins look scrumptious! I’m really wishing that I had one right now. 🙂
Thanks, Amee! They’re really good, you should make them!
This might be a dumb question lol but just so I don’t mess anything up does “T” stand for tablespoon and “t” for teaspoon?
You got it!
Emily, you are 2 for 2 so far. Last night was are our first night using EmilyBites recipes and they were both FANTASTIC.
Making just one recipe wasn’t enough for me, I had to try a dessert too. I thought we had several muffin tins (key word is “thought”) but turns out we only had the one and it was being used for the Taco Cupcakes (I’ve just raved about them on their thread), so instead we used our mini loaf tin (8 to a tin, we have 2).
Using the mini loaf tins made 12 loaves (and the points value was the same as if having 2 regular muffins).
I can’t even begin to describe how wonderful these little bits of heaven are. My husbands eyes rolled into the back of his head (and that was after just tasting the batter, they hadn’t even been cooked yet). The tartness of the lemon along with the tang from the blueberries all mixed with cream cheese is a flavor sensation that exploded in my mouth. I have fallen in love with these muffins!
To be honest, we each had a loaf for dessert (same as 2 muffins), then less than 1/2 an hour later we had to have more, so we split a loaf (now it’s 1 more muffin each), warmed it up and had it with ICBINB spread – WOW, WOW, WOW, WOW.
I am so looking forward to cooking your recipes. I have found so many items that I want to try, I think I’ll be making an EmilyBites recipe every night for the next month. I ordered 3 more muffin tins from JCP last night – I will never again have multiple recipes in front of me, and not enough tools to bake them. I am prepared!!
I also want to say how wonderful it is that you take the time to determine the Points+ values and the NI and then post it all. This is so helpful to me.
Thank you for all your efforts Emily, they are definetly appreciated!
I should get in the muffin tin business with all the muffin tin meals I post! 😉
I am so thrilled that you both loved these! Glad you were able to think on the fly and make them into mini-loaves. Those sound adorable and now I kind of want a mini-loaf pan. I can’t wait to make these again because I was pretty excited about them too. Thanks so much for taking the time to leave such thorough and thoughtful comments. It means a lot to me. Glad these were a hit!
Tried to use the Reply but I have an error on my IE page??
Anyway – too bad we live on opposite sides of the country (Los Angeles here), you could borrow my mini-loaf pan, and I’d love to borrow your dougnut pan 🙂
Haha, that would be perfect! What a shame. If you ever randomly move to Buffalo we can swap and have a baking party 😛
Emily, this was the second recipe of yours that i have tried. OMG, these muffins were scrumptous!! I also made the bubble up enchalada casserole. So yummy!! I have to thank Pinterest for leading me to you! I love your website, your recipes, your photos! How do you have time to do all this?? I am actually not doing WW, but strictly counting calories. Thank you so much for posting calories as well as points. It is so helpful. I had stayed away from so many of your ‘comfort’ foods because I believed that anything with pasta and cheese was just too fattening! You have proven that theory wrong. If I can still to your portion size, I will just continue to count calories and ENJOY the food!!! I’m invited to an Oscar’s Party and I want to make a platter of your pepperoni bites. Thanks again! Erica
Aw, thank you so much for this nice comment!! My whole goal is to help people realize they can eat the foods they love and lose weight at the same time so it means so much to me that I helped make you a believer! I love food, so I could never stick to a weight loss plan that didn’t allow me to enjoy what I eat.
I’m thrilled that both the bubble up enchiladas and these muffins were such a hit! I hope you love the pepperoni bites as well. Food blogging is definitely time consuming but I love it, so I make time. 🙂
I’ve looked everywhere for White Whole Wheat flour and can’t find it. Do you think it would still taste good if i used a combination of white flour and regular whole wheat flour? Or just try and make them with only white flour?
Sure, you could definitely use a combination of white and wheat or just go full out white. White whole wheat flour is my favorite, so I use it a lot, but you could certainly substitute either of those options if you can’t find it. I hope you love the muffins! 🙂
Does anyone know how many old W.W points are in these muffins. I don’t do the new points plus. I have better luck with the old points. Guess I could add it all up and figure it, hard way.
This may be stupid but I only have a pan for 12 cupcakes so do I just cut all the ingredients in half?
Since you’re using cupcake liners why not pop them out and make the other 12 muffins?
Sure, you could halve the recipe or make it in two batches
You are so right about these, they are so good. Thank you so much for all your recipes. I have tried 4 so far and all have been so full of flavor. My hubby and son like them as much as I do.
That’s so great to hear, thank you! I’m glad you loved these and that your family has been enjoying the recipes!
Just put these in the oven. I am sure they are going to be amazing. Been trying several of your recipes lately. Thank you for sharing your creativity!
Thanks, Annette! Hope these were a hit!
Is there really 1 1/2 cups sugar in these or is this a misprint?
Is white whole wheat flour different from regular whole wheat flour?
Yes, it’s made to look and taste more like white flour while maintaining the nutritional proprties of wheat flour.
Could I make these in a mini muffin tin?
Sure!
I used one and onehalf cups of sugar (Splenda). They didn’t come out of the papers, was chewy and not done on the inside. The second batch of 12 I left in the oven for 35 minutes. Same results. What did I do wrong?
Maybe it was the splenda? I’m not sure because I never use sugar substitutes. It’s really impossible for me to tell people what they did wrong since I wasn’t there, but I didn’t have that issue at all!
Holy yum, just popped these out of the oven! Absolutely love them. And I agree the fresh lemon is a must! Thanks Emily!
I made these and used all egg beaters (5tbls) and fat free soft cream cheese. They were really good and I know will be making for crew again soon.
I made these for my co-workers and they went over great! Thanks, Emily! 🙂
These are my new favorite muffins!! Seriously Emily, THANK U SOOOO MUCH for all of these recipes!! Love these!
They are awesome….wow they make alot too. Everything on your website has been excellant that I have tried thanks for all the good ideas..
I would make these again in a heartbeat! Delicious! (And they came out looking exactly like your pictures! That’s always a good sign, right?!)
Haha, it is a good sign! So happy you loved them!
These came out great! Thanks for the recipe
Could you use just 2 cups of white whole wheat instead of combining?
My muffins turned out very light in color like yours did, Emily. Why is this?
I just discovered your site, thank you. Last night I made the Layered Chicken Enchilada Bake – big hit. I just made these muffins and they are absolutely amazing! I am planning our next few meals from your site. Thank you for making Weight Watchers easier and yummy.
Hello, I’m new to your recipes and they all look amazing. I’m making your white chicken chili tonight! I saw your banana bread with Splenda Naturals and stevia mixture. Have you tried that sugar substitute for these muffins? Would it save calories and still maintain the taste?
Hi Angela,
I have not tried that with these muffins but it should work! You’d use half the amount of the Splenda Naturals blend as you would sugar. I can’t give you a calorie breakdown with that adaptation because I haven’t calculated it that way but you can enter the ingredients you use in the recipe calculator on myfitnesspal to figure it out. Enjoy!
Emily, just made these wonderful blueberry muffins! The only thing differently I did was reduce sugar to 1 cup and use 1/2 cup Splenda. They are still yummy. Some things I dont mind using fake sugar on, depends if I want a more substantial piece of something. We all make those choices. Anyway its 4 pts ea using both sugar and Splenda.
Can I use frozen blueberries instead?
These are the best muffins I have ever made! Can’t believe I waited so long to try them!