Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins
Written by joythebaker on November 23, 2009 – 12:08 am -
In the event of some sort of big fat natural disaster in California, I may be up a creek without a paddle. Sure, I’ve got the canned tuna, the emergency gallons of water and a few flashlights with dying batteries. I’ve got the walking shoes, a space blanket and pepper spray… you need those things, right? It’s just that I’m not sure the internets or my cellphone are going to do me much good in the event of a meltdown. Won’t all the cell towers be jammed? How am I going to reach out to my family? I don’t think Twitter will quite do the trick. Clearly my only option is to jog to them… in a space blanket. That seems to make the most sense.
My parents? I think they’re just ahead of me in the emergency game. They’ve got cell phones from 1993 and a telephone land line. At least the land line will come in handy.
My grandfather!? He’ll fare better than all of us in an emergency. He’s got Ham Radio. Ham Radio is a sort of amateur radio system that allows people to talk to one another all over the world. Don’t be fooled by the name. Ham Radio is actually pretty badass. Sort of like… trucker radio meets old school technology meets grandfather hobby. In emergencies, Ham Radio is booming. You better believe that in an emergency, my grandfather will be all over that radio. Who he’ll be talking to? I’m not exactly sure. He’ll probably be saving the world. I’ll be jogging my way to safety. My parents will still be screening their phone calls with their answering machine. Who is the hero? Grandpa.
I tell you all of this because Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins (specifically the giant ((seriously giant)) kind from Costco) are my grandfather’s favorite. He no doubt has a 48 pack of those giant muffins in his emergency kit. You think I’m kidding. I’m not.
Note: my descriptions of Ham Radio here may hinge on trite and are most certainly superficial and inadequate.
How many of these muffins did I eat Sunday morning? What? You weren’t counting. Good. I did count and it wasn’t pretty… I ate five of these muffins with extra glaze. I had to. I did.
These are simple muffins. You know these muffins. They’re no big surprise to you. Lemon. Buttermilk. A little crunch from poppy seeds. Sugary lemon glaze. It’s a beautiful thing. If you’d like to freeze these beauties to enjoy all week, do so without the glaze. Success.
Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins
adapted from Baking
2/3 cup granulated sugar
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 buttermilk or sour cream
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 stick (8 Tablespoons) butter, melted until browned and cooled
2 Tablespoons poppy seeds
2 Tablespoons granulated sugar (for topping the batter before baking)
For the Glaze
1 cup powdered sugar whisked together with 2 or 3 Tablespoons of lemon juice
Place a rack in the center of the oven and preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Line a 12 mold, regular sized muffin tray with paper muffin liners, place the muffin pan on a baking sheet and set aside.
In a large bowl, rub the granulated sugar with the lemon zest until the sugar is lightly colored and scented with lemon. Whisk in the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. In a medium sized bowl whisk together the eggs, buttermilk (or sour cream) vanilla extract, melted butter and lemon juice.
Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and fold together. When almost thoroughly mixed, add the poppy seeds. Divide batter between muffin cups. Sprinkle each would be muffing with granulated sugar.
Bake for 15 to 18 minutes or until the tops are golden and a skewer inserted in the center of the muffin comes out clean.
Let cool in the pan for 5 minutes then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely before glazing. If you’re freezing the cupcakes for future eating, skip the glaze. It doesn’t freeze well.
Tags: Breakfast, brunch, buttermilk, lemon, muffins, poppyseed, recipe
Posted in Breakfast, Fruit, In the Kitchen, Recipes, Snacks | 73 Comments »
Lovely! And extra glaze is the best
Lemon poppy seed muffins are my favorite pick at any coffee shop! .. i’m sure to try this recipe out!
Mmmm these look yummy! And I LOVE the look of the icing
Happy Thanksgiving!!
[...] Poppyseed Muffins (a new edition after seeing Joy the Baker’s recipe [...]
Joy, I was cracking up! My g-pa is a total ham radio freak (sorry g-pa for calling you freak). Not only does he have an entire room devoted to ham equipment, he even has his call letters on the license plate of his car. I remember talking to people from foreign countries with him when I was little. And I also remember getting on there with my friends when I was a little older and pranking people (very illegal to be unlicensed and ham). Great post!!
I have been crushing on your tree stump plate thingy! Where did you get it?!
Can’t wait to try these.
You inspired me to finally bake these and I’m glad I did. They’re great! Thanks Joy! Happy Thanksgiving!
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I love Joys muffins but these didn’t come out too great. They were very doughy in texture. Taste was muted. But I started using those silicone muffin wraps to save money. Do I need to adjust temperature? Joy please give some guidance.
[...] Lemon Poppyseed Muffins by Joy the Baker – Oh! Just the thing to start the morning. The lemony flavor of these muffins will get you into work. What you do for the rest of the day is up to you. I plan to eat some more of these muffins. Mmmm! Good! [...]
Just wanted to say that I sure enjoying reading about your adventures in the kitchen, let alone the “wonderful” recipes that you tell us!!!!
Keep up the good work, you bring a “smile” on my face!!!
sooooooooo need to make these! hoping i can manage to find poppy seeds here ))
I just discovered your blog today, and I have to tell you that I cannot wait to make every single recipe you have on here! They all look soo delicious.
Oh Joy I finally made these muffins! Amazing and I think my new fav!!! They disapeared in an afternoon. They are such a light treat to eat as it is shaping up for another hot Christmas here in Australia.
My poor boyfriend was so upset that I didnt make enough for him to take to work and share…oh well will just have to make them again! Thanks for such inspiring tasty delights. You have inspired me to get into the kitchen more often. I hope you and your family have a very Merry Christmas! xxoo Cass
Oh my god, how did I miss this post?!
Adding this to the growing pile of baking I am planning (key word) on doing this week, yummmm.
There was a local cafe I always lunched at in high school that made ginormous lemon poppy seed muffins with extra big tops… and sometimes they would have lemon curd centers, but not always. Hmmmm….
I love to bake… so I was digging thru my spice cupboard and spied poppy seeds. Bought back when I was married? So… 2003? (cringe) lol! So I went searching for a lemon poppy seed something, and these were what I found.
Yum. They’re sublime and I totally agree, extra icing takes the cake. Thank you!
I made this, they are good. I felt you are a wee bit heavy on the butter, so I am going to make it again using two T less, and increasing the flour to 2 and 3/4. Also I was using myer lemons that were ripe and I couldn’t get a decent zest. I think I’ll freeze it. Nice pictures, descent presentation. Would you like to know how they turn out with changes? K
FYI, I made these thinking I could just butter and flour the muffin tins, but alas… they still would not break free, so I ended up with 12 beautiful muffin tops, and 12 sad little bottoms stuck in the pan… *pout
I know better next time, and will line with cupcake liners…
Just made these yesterday. They have a really good really lemony flavor. I think I overmixed my batter a mite though as they were a little dense. Muffins should not be badass tough guys, they should be light on their feet sissy boys. But alas, I can never seem to restrain the muffin mixing hand. I loved the flavor of the brown butter, but I didn’t taste it in the muffins. Have you made this with just plain melted butter? Is there a discernible difference? Just wondering. I’m going to try these again and try, try, try to not overmix them. At least that’s the only thing I can think that I did “wrong”. If you can call any sort of muffin wrong.
Love your blog, btw.
made these yesterday and they came out well, but not a home run. not a strong enough lemon flavor for me in the muffins themselves (although the delicious glaze saved them in that department), browned butter taste didnt come through at all, and mine were also (like the last poster) slightly tough. My batter was fairly dry, despite having used an extra half lemon. I think next time I will go with buttermilk instead of the sour cream (all I had on hand) and up the liquids slightly making it easier to stir together.
a good base, but for me needs some tweaking.
thanks for keeping up one of my favorite blogs!