Some combinations are so synonymous that you wonder how it all got started, or rather who invented this idea and decided that lemons and poppyseed go together? Whatever the answer, it’s a great thing to have happened. I’ve baked muffins in the past but these muffins were by far the best smelling muffins. The smell of lemon wafting throughout my kitchen just gives a calming almost ethereal effect. I was put off making these muffins at one point because of an unpleasant experience. I once had this at a friend’s house where she was serving some tea and her lemon muffins were sooooo tart and sweet and I couldn’t help making a squishy face. To top it off, she suggested to eat the muffins with golden syrup. Even squishier face. 😡 From that day, I thought all lemon muffins would turn out this way.
But I took the plunge and this recipe I found was spot on in its balance of sweet and tart. The lemon was fragrant and delicious in the muffin and it’s not overpowering that you feel you might ‘cut’ your tongue if you eat too many at a time. These muffins were gone pretty quickly cause it’s just a great snack or tea treat.
I’m not big on frosting or glazes unless it’s for a party. But if you like frosting, you can jolly well go ahead and add some. I feel that the best beverages to go with these muffins would be something bland like tea with no milk, coffee with no sugar or just good plain milk. Too much sweetness on top of each other can be a real put-off.
I’m definitely making these again and glad to have broken the curse from that unpleasant experience. I won’t take credit for this recipe, it was my first time making these muffins so I wasn’t too confident about adapting it. I went exactly with the instructions, you will also find the recipe for a glaze in the link. Judging from her description, my batter was probably a bit wet, hence it looks rather smooth on top rather than a knobbly dome. I think I added too much melted butter because I was lazy to take out the scale. I did an estimate about how 8 tablespoons butter was like but obviously I was way off. Still…..it’s delicious all the same. 🙂
LEMON POPPYSEED MUFFINS RECIPE
Taken from jbeancuisine.com
Ingredients;
Dry;
Zest of the lemon to be juiced
2/3 cup sugar
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
¼ tsp baking soda
¼ tsp salt
2 tbsp poppy seeds
Wet;
Juice of 1 lemon
3/4 cup sour cream
2 large eggs
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
1 stick (8 tbsp) unsalted butter, melted and cooled
Steps;
1. Pre-heat your oven to 200 degrees Celsius and line your muffin tray with cups. Whip the zest of the lemon and the sugar together with a hand-held mixer till well incorporated.
2. Mix all the other dry ingredients together except for the poppyseeds.
3. Mix the wet ingredients together but do not overmix. Bring the wet mixture to the dry. Fold it together carefully with a spatula before you give it a final mixing with the hand-held mixer. Again, do not overmix.
4. Stir in the poppyseeds with the spatula. Scoop the batter onto the cups and bake in the oven for about 20 mins or until the toothpick comes out clean when inserted into the muffins.
5. Let it cool slightly before eating. Eat them plain or with lemon glaze.
