Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins

I am officially the proud owner of Baking from My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan. After 3 check outs from the library I finally decided to ask for the book for Christmas and my brother and SIL surprised me with a copy!!  I absolutely love this book and have made several of the recipes, all of which were fantastic. Last week I was craving something tart and thought this muffin would fill the need. Secretly I think I wanted to be transported to summer, with a slice of of key lime pie, sitting on the beach somewhere, cooling down and relaxing, but the muffin was all good despite the cold January weather.  Honestly I have had lots of poppy seed muffins before, but I don’t know that they have ever included an icing on top, but the addition was a nice compliment to the muffin itself. The lemon provides the muffin with its distinct flavor and makes it all together yummy!! Happy Monday everyone.

Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins

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2/3 cup sugar

Grated zest and juice of 1 lemon

2 cups all purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

3/4 cup sour cream

2 large eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 stick unsalted butter, melted and cooled

2 tablespoons poppy seeds


For the Icing:

1 cup confectioners’ sugar

2 to 3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Butter of spray a 12 mold muffin tray or place paper muffin cups inside mold.
In a large bowl, rub the sugar and lemon zest together with your fingertips until the sugar is moist and the fragrance of lemon is strong. 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 rubber spatula, gently stir to blend. Stir in the poppy seeds. Divide the batter evenly among the muffin cups.

Bake 18 to 20 minutes, or until the tops are golden and a toothpick inserted into 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 on wire rack completely before icing.


To Make the Icing: Put the confectioners’ sugar in a small bowl and add about 1 1/2 tablespoons of the lemon juice. Stir with a spoon to moisten the sugar, then add enough additional juice, a dribble at a time, to get an icing that is thin enough to drizzle from the tip of a spoon. You can drizzle lines of icing of the tops of the muffins or coat the tops entirely.

Source: Baking from My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan, 2006