Cherry Cheesecake Muffins

Remember that Cherry-Almond Crumble I made recently? I had plenty of cherries left after my cherry shopping spree. Fresh cherries are such a treat that I knew I couldn’t let them go to waste.
I started thinking how cherries and cheesecake have such a delicious history together. Knowing I couldn’t argue with that kind of track record, I quickly decided that combination would get put to good use with my remaining cherries.
That leads to these muffins.
Somehow calling them “muffins” just doesn’t seem adequate. They are so much more. They may seem unassuming from the outside. But, bite into one and you’ll find a lovely little pocket of sweet cream cheese filling. While I usually associate muffins with breakfast or brunch, I’d be more than happy to enjoy one of these most any time of day.
Besides the cherries and cream cheese, I love all the oats in these muffins, too. All of that good stuff together makes for a batch of pretty irresistible muffins.
Cherry Cheesecake Muffins
Yield: 12 standard-sized muffins
Prep Time:20 minutes
Cook Time:30 minutes

Ingredients:
- 1 cup old-fashioned oats
- 1 cup buttermilk
- 8 ounces cream cheese, softened
- 1/4 cup granulated sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 3/4 cup packed light brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 large egg, lightly beaten
- 1/4 cup unsalted butter, melted
- 1 cup cherries, pitted and quartered
Directions:
- Preheat oven to 350°. Line 12 standard muffin cups with paper liners.
- Combine oats and buttermilk. Let stand for 10 minutes.
- Using an electric mixer on medium speed, beat cream cheese, sugar, and vanilla until combined. Set aside.
- Whisk together flour, brown sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
- Add egg and melted butter to oat mixture, stirring until combined. Add to flour mixture, stirring just until combined. Gently stir in cherries.
- Place about 2 tablespoons of muffin batter in each muffin cup. Top with 1 & 1/2 to 2 tablespoons cream cheese filling. Then, top with remaining muffin batter. (The cups will be almost full.)
- Bake 25 to 30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
Recipe slightly adapted from Kraft.
See more recipes for muffins in the Recipe Index.
13 Comments on “Cherry Cheesecake Muffins”
What perfect timing! I just finished cleaning and pitting a bunch of cherries and was thinking about how delicious they would be in an oat muffin! You made my day. Now I don’t have to search for or try creating my own recipe! I am off to the kitchen ;). Thanks for sharing!
I love cherries. These muffins look so good. I wish I had some now.
Annamaria
Fabulous idea! And love that I have all the ingredients and am ready to go. Bam!
MMM I love the cream cheese filling!
How did you know that cheesecake is my favorite dessert and muffins are my favorite breakfast?? Time to combine those! Looks delicious!
These cherry cheesecake muffins are delicious. I used gluten free flour
and made the recipe as you have here. They came out excellent. I used frozen cherries, let them thaw a bit and blotted them with paper towels
then threw a little flour on them to absorb any moisture left from being frozen. I baked them 27 minutes to perfection. I did add chopped
pecans on top since I am a nut addict. Thanks so much for really nice
recipes.
I’m so glad you liked them, Linda! I love the addition of nuts on top!
Really tasty muffins these are. I ended up with maybe more batter than intended, and so maybe could have gotten 13 muffins. I filled up all 12 cups in my tray, and the tops came out a bit crunchy, but I liked the contrast. That cream cheese center is just delicious, and the cherries’ taste really comes through nicely. Another winner!
So glad you liked them, Kendall!
My husband grabbed a bag of frozen cherries instead of mixed fruit at the grocery store. We’re not huge fans, but I dutifully made a couple of pies. There were STILL cherries left, so I decided to make these muffins. I have to say that these are in my top 3 best-muffins-of-all-time list! Is it the oatmeal? The brown sugar? The cheesecake? I don’t know, but they’re amazing. Thanks for the great recipe!
Jaime, I’m so glad you liked them! I agree that they’re pretty delicious!
Do you have nutrition information for these muffins? They are delicious.
Thanks, Lisa! I don’t currently provide nutrition information. I’d recommend searching for a nutrition calculator online.