The one and only photo!
Another recipe from Baking that I’ve undertaken in the last while, the Lemon Poppy seed muffins were extremely well received, especially once the lemon glaze was on!
Scott’s favourite muffin is lemon poppy seed, although that preference really stems from those mini grocery store muffins! It’s always easier to justify spending the grocery budget on baking, if Scott gets to eat what I make and because of that, I whipped these up extremely quickly, with the idea that they would be for breakfasts in the next two days. I’m sure it comes as no surprise, these goodies were scarfed down before lunch was over the next day. Two thumbs up for the subtle lemon flavour of the muffin it self, and big lemon punch from the glaze!
Adapted from Dorie Greenspan’s Baking from my home to yours. Pg. 10 -11
Ingredients:
For the Muffins:
- 2/3 cup sugar
- Grated zest and juice of 1 lemon
- 2 cups all purpose flour
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1/4 tsp baking soda
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 3/4 cup sour cream
- 2 large eggs
- 1 tsp pure vanilla extract (I used artificial, purely because I have a jumbo container to use up.)
- 1 stick (1/2 cup) unsalted butter, melted and cooled
- 2 tbsp poppy seeds (I threw in a third, I love the crunch of the seeds!)
For the Icing:
- 1 cup confectioners’ sugar, sifted
- 2-3 tbsp fresh lemon juice (I used ReaLemon from concentrate, didn’t want to waste a lemon)
Directions:
To Make the Muffins:
Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Butter or spray the 12 molds in a regular-size muffin pan or fit the molds with paper muffin cups. Alternatively, use a silicone muffin pan, which needs neither greasing nor paper cups. (I choose to butter the pan only, and I do not use papers. I hate losing the ‘crust’ of the muffin on to those papers!) Place the muffin pan on a baking sheet.
In a large bowl, rub the sugar and the lemon zest together with your fingertips until the sugar is moist and the fragrance of the lemon strong. (By far, the best part.) Whisk in the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. In a large glass measuring cup or another bowl, whisk the sour cream, eggs, vanilla, lemon juice and melted butter together until well blended. Pour the liquid ingredients over the dry ingredients and, with the whisk or a rubber spatula, gently but quickly stir to blend. Don’t worry about being thorough-a few lumps are better than over mixing the batter. Stir in the poppy seeds. Divide the batter evenly among the muffin cups.
Bake for 18 to 20 minutes, or until the tops are golden and a thin knife inserted into the center of the muffins comes out clean. Transfer the pan to a rack and cool for 5 minutes before carefully removing each muffin from its mold. Cool the muffins completely on the rack before icing them.
To Make the Icing:
Put the confectioners’ sugar in a small bowl and add about 1 1/2 T of the lemon juice. Stir with a spoon to moisten the sugar, then add enough additional lemon juice, a dribble at a time, to get an icing that is thin enough to drizzle from the tip of the spoon. You can then drizzle lines of icing over the tops of the muffins or coat the tops entirely, the better to get an extra zap of lemon.
In the sidelines of this recipe, I have written ‘Scott’s exact reaction: “FANTASTIC!” ‘
