Lately, I have been craving lemon. Maybe because it’s such a wonderful, bright color in contrast to the drab, dirty snow outside. Or, perhaps because it’s so springy looking. Either way, it’s all I want! So, be prepared for several lemon recipes to come.
These muffins are something I used to make quite often, several years back. But, for some reason, I completely forgot about them until recently. I was flipping through a cookbook for some inspiration, and I saw this recipe. I don’t understand how I forgot about these muffins when they are so dang delicious. Moist, slightly sweet and lemony- the perfect combination! These are a wonderful muffin to remind you that warmer weather does exists. (And will hopefully be here before too long.)
Recipe from Baking From My Home to Yours, by Dorie Greenspan
Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins
Tender, moist muffins that have a slightly sweet glaze and are filled with lemon flavor and crunchy poppy seeds.
Ingredients
- 2/3 cup sugar
- zest and juice from 1 lemon
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 3/4 cup sour cream (or plain yogurt)
- 2 large eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 8 Tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted and cooled
- 2 Tablespoons poppy seeds
For the icing
- 1 cup confectioners' sugar
- 3-4 Tablespoons lemon juice
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400ºF. Grease or line 12 muffin wells. Set aside.
- In a large bowl, rub the sugar and lemon zest together with your fingers until combined and fragrant. Whisk in the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and poppy seeds. In a large glass measuring cup, whisk together the sour cream, eggs, vanilla extract, lemon juice and melted butter until thoroughly combined. Pour the liquid ingredients into the dry ingredients and gently stir with a wooden spoon until the flour is fully incorporated. Divide the batter evenly among the prepared muffin cups.
- Bake in the preheated oven for 18-20 minutes, or until the tops are golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Remove from the oven and let cool in the muffin tin for about 5 minutes, then carefully remove each muffin and place on a wire rack. Let cool completely before icing.
- To make the icing; place the confectioners' sugar in a small bowl. Slowly whisk in the lemon juice until the mixture is thin enough to drizzle over the muffins. If you put too much lemon juice in, just whisk in a little more confectioners' sugar. Drizzle over the cooled muffins. Store in the refrigerator in a air tight container for 3-4 days.
