Warm blueberry lemon poppyseed corn muffins with a crumbly topping are the perfect addition for your breakfast and brunch meal. Add a schmear of lightly sweetened vanilla honey butter for a real treat!
Cornmeal muffins are`a standard breakfast and brunch item. But these are something that deserves to be fancied up. My corn muffins are gently mixed with poppy seeds and fresh blueberries. Fresh lemon juice and its zest brighten the flavor. The streusel topping adds a bit of a crunch, and the muffins get a bit more sweetness from the smooth vanilla honey butter. You and the fam will thoroughly enjoy this one!
How to make cornmeal muffins
These blueberry lemon poppyseed corn muffins are sooooo easy to execute! Just mix your dry ingredients, add in the wet ingredients, and mix in blueberries. Once the batter is portioned, top with the cornmeal streusel and bake. The vanilla honey butter can be made while the muffins are baking. After 45 minutes, you’ll have the perfect addition to your breakfast spread!
Cornmeal vs Cornmeal Flour
If you look at the ingredients, you’ll notice that I use cornmeal flour instead of regular ground cornmeal. While these are interchangeable, I prefer to use cornmeal flour when baking.
Cornmeal flour and cornmeal have the same exact ingredient: ground cornmeal. The main difference is how fine the cornmeal has been ground up. Regular cornmeal is a bit more gritty. Cornmeal flour is its finely ground version, but with a fluffier and smoother consistency.
Fresh blueberries vs frozen blueberries
My recipe uses fresh blueberries. I prefer to use fruit for baked goods while they’re in season. But these corn muffins can be made year round.
Frozen blueberries can replace fresh blueberries. I’d recommend letting the blueberries thaw out a bit before adding to the batter. The batter will turn a shade of purple once the frozen berries are added, but it’s nothing to be afraid of.
What do I use if I don’t have lemons for the corn muffins?
This recipe calls for lemon zest, as well as fresh lemon juice. It’s a much more natural lemon flavor using lemon in this fashion.
However, if you do not have fresh lemons on hand, you can substitute the juice and zest with a tablespoon of lemon extract.
Additionally, fresh lemon juice can be swapped for bottled lemon juice if that’s what you have on hand. The lemon zest can then be omitted.
Can I make this recipe into mini corn muffins?
My recipe yields 6 large muffins. You are welcome to make this into smaller muffins! This will yield 12 cupcake-sized muffins.
Portion and top the muffins with the streusel, and bake for about 20 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean when inserted into the center.
What is streusel?
Streusel is a crumbly mixture that goes on top, and sometimes inside, of baked good before it goes in the oven. This adds texture to pastry that is usually super soft. Think of coffee cakes. The fluffy cake is topped with that sweet slightly crunch crumble, making a party in your mouth.
I decided to add a streusel topping to my corn muffins for that additional crunch, commonly found on breakfast pastries. It also adds a little sweetness.
If you aren’t a fan of streusel topping, it can be omitted. I’d suggest sprinkling the portioned muffin matter with coarse white sugar, which will also add a little of that crunch.
How to make the whipped vanilla honey butter
Making whipped butter is also very simple!
Add your room temperature butter into a bowl. With a handheld mixer, whip it on the highest speed to make the butter smooth. This takes about 30 seconds. After that, add the honey and vanilla extract and whip for a few more seconds until incorporated. This can also be done in a stand mixer.
Softened, room temperature butter is important when making any whipped butter. If the butter is hard, it’ll be harder to whip with a mixer, and also harder for the additional ingredients to incorporate. The butter will also be chunky, instead of smooth and velvety.
Other corn muffin variations
If you aren’t a fan of blueberries, it can be replaced with your berry of choice!
A raspberry orange corn muffin is a great variation! Replace the lemon juice with orange, and use the zest of one orange for the batter. The poppy seeds can be omitted if you’d like.
Also, the fruit can be completely omitted! Ain’t nothing wrong with some classic lemon poppyseed corn muffins!
I hope you get to try and love these blueberry lemon poppyseed corn muffins, especially with the vanilla honey butter! If you’re looking for other easy breakfast ideas, give my Fluffy Lemon Ricotta Pancakes a try! Don’t forget to also leave a review, and share your creations by tagging me on Instagram and Twitter, cuz I love stuff like that!
Blueberry Lemon Poppyseed Corn Muffins with Whipped Vanilla Honey Butter
Equipment
- 2 Mixing bowls
- 1 Whisk
- 1 muffin pan, for 6 muffins
- 1 Rubber spatula
- 1 handheld mixer
Ingredients
For the streusel topping
- ¼ cup granulated sugar
- 3 tablespoons unsalted butter melted
- 2 tablespoons cornmeal flour
- 7 tablespoons all purpose flour
For the muffins
- ¾ cup granulated sugar
- 1 ½ cup all purpose flour
- ½ cup yellow cornmeal flour
- ½ tablespoon kosher salt
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 2 tablespoon poppyseeds
- ¾ cup milk
- 5 ounces canola oil
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter melted
- 2 eggs beaten
- Zest of 3 lemons
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice
- ½ pint fresh blueberries
Vanilla honey butter
- 8 ounces unsalted butter room temperature
- 1 tablespoon honey
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
Instructions
Muffins
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- To make the streusel topping: Mix all the streusel ingredients in a small bowl. The mixture should be crumbly. If not, sprinkle with a little bit of flour and mix. Once mixed, set aside.
- In a large bowl, mix sugar, flour, cornmeal, salt, baking powder and poppy seeds with a large whisk, making sure all the dry ingredients are thoroughly mixed.
- In the middle of the dry ingredients, add milk, oil, butter, eggs, lemon juice, and lemon zest. Use the whisk to mix the wet and dry ingredients together. Be sure to scrap the sides of the bowl to make sure all of the dry ingredients have been mixed in.
- Add the blueberries to the batter and gently mix in with a rubber spatula.
- Spray muffin tins, or line them with large cupcake liners. Evenly pour batter into each muffin tin, a little over a half a cup.
- Sprinkle the tops of each muffin with the streusel mixture, about 2 tablespoons per muffin.
- Bake for 30-35 minutes, rotating once. Muffins are ready when a knife or toothpick comes out clean when inserted into the center of a muffin.
- Let cool for 5 minutes before devouring.
Vanilla Honey Butter
- Place the room temperature butter into a small bowl. With an electric hand mixer, whip the butter on high for 30 seconds, or until smooth.
- Add the vanilla extract and honey, and whip on high for 30 more seconds.
- Can be used immediately, or stored in an airtight container in the fridge.