The Worst Krusteaz Muffin Mix Will Disappoint Cheesecake Lovers

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Krusteaz is a popular muffin mix brand that has fared favorably against other muffin mix brands in a recent ranking of blueberry muffins. While the brand seems to have mastered both conventional and gluten-free blueberry muffins, not every flavor in the Krusteaz repertoire is a winner. We tasted and ranked 8 Krusteaz muffin mixes based on flavor, texture, and ease of preparation. Unfortunately, the cheesecake muffin was a major disappointment.

Most cheesecake muffin recipes, like these raspberry cheesecake muffins, combine cheesecake with a second flavor, from fruit to chocolate to pumpkin spice. But these muffins were just plain, non-descript cheesecake in a vanilla batter. They also required quite a bit of effort in terms of preparation. These muffins come with a batter that you mix as well as a cheesecake filling, which you're instructed to layer between portions of the wet muffin batter for a cheesecake center. However, we found that it was too easy to overestimate the volume of batter we made, which resulted in us doling out too much batter to top all 12 cheesecake muffins. Barring the difficulty of use, the star flavor of the muffins was a major fail. The cheesecake filling smelled more like blue cheese and tasted just as funky and gamey when we bit into it. The bouncy, moist crumb of the muffin had a subtle vanilla and cinnamon flavor, which was pleasant enough. But, at this juncture, it's too little too late, especially after being eclipsed by a sour, cheesy surprise.

We found many customer reviews from Target that shared our disappointment with Krusteaz cheesecake muffins. One customer complained, "This was more work than I wanted to do. I think I would prefer from scratch muffins if I have to do extra anyway." More importantly, customers were put off by the taste of the cheesecake filling. Someone else wrote, "The cream packet smelled awful. Like I was scared to use it because it smelled spoiled." In fact, various customers didn't use the cheesecake filling at all due to the off-putting smell, opting instead to use a basic cream cheese mixture. While adding cream cheese to muffins will make store-bought muffin mix taste bakery-worthy, a scratch-made, milder cream cheese filling still didn't do enough to convince customers. One customer stated, "The flavor [of the muffin batter] was a bit overwhelming, leaning heavily into cinnamon...which overpowered the cheesecake aspect." Another chimed in that "the soft muffin did not mix well with the odd 'cheesecake' flavor and texture."

The problem we encountered with adding too much batter per muffin could be resolved by adding the dollop of cheesecake to the top of each muffin tin once you've doled out the batter. The weight of the cheesecake will sink into the batter, creating a creamy center that you can also see from the top. You can also bring a homemade touch and a flavor complement to these muffins by adding fruit or chocolate chips.