Give Boxed Blueberry Muffins A Decadent Upgrade With One Ingredient

Boxed muffin mixes are one of the best convenience foods to keep stocked in your pantry. They're basically a shelf-stable guarantee that you're just minutes from a tasty brunch or delicious dessert at any given moment, which can come in handy when accommodating guests or throwing an impromptu celebration. It's also pretty easy to convert any boxed muffin mix into pancakes for an exciting addition to breakfast or brinner — especially if you have blueberry muffin mix on hand.

The sweet tanginess of the dried blueberries in these mixes helps disguise the "boxed" taste, and it's a pretty safe bet anyone you're serving enjoys blueberries over something like carrot cake, or even chocolate. They're also incredibly versatile. For example, enhancing blueberry muffin mix is a simple matter of adding a surprise cream cheese center. Cream cheese not only brings extra-tangy richness to boxed muffins, it also makes them more satiating and they feel more special than just using the mix alone.

Plus, stuffed muffins are easier to make than you think. Just fill each liner halfway before dolloping in about 1 tablespoon of cream cheese, then fill the liners to the top. The cream cheese melts into a velvety, frosting-like bite as the muffins bake, evoking the flavors of blueberry cheesecake. The cream cheese also stays relatively soft inside the muffins, similar to the way chocolate chips never quite firm up and become solid after being baked into cookies.

While using a cookie scoop to drop regular cream cheese into the center of your muffins is perfectly acceptable, some people may not relish biting into a mouthful of the plain stuff outside of a chewy, New York-style bagel. Luckily, it's a snap to take this idea to the next level with just a few ingredients you likely already have. The easiest enhancement is to whip room temperature, softened cream cheese together with powdered sugar, honey, or maple syrup to make it airy and sweet.

This upgrade in flavor and texture is enough to take your favorite blueberry muffin mix to "staple potluck dessert" territory, but cream cheese is also an excellent vehicle for a number of flavors. Lemon is the magical, single ingredient that always turns up the volume on blueberry muffins' flavor, so mixing it with cream cheese is a no-brainer. Add beautiful brightness to your muffins' creamy center by whipping in a few drops of lemon extract or a combination of lemon juice and zest.

Blueberries and limes are also a match made in heaven, especially if you add some coconut flakes to your muffin batter for a tropical twist on this hack. If you're not a fan of sour citrus, you can also try oranges, tangerines, or Meyer lemons for fresh, tangy sweetness. Cinnamon and vanilla are also delicious with blueberries, transforming them into a warm, early-autumn treat.