Talk about starting your day off
right...these muffins are like a little burst of sunshine. I'm a huge fan
of Dorie Greenspan (in general) and these muffins (in particular). Their taste
is somewhere between lemon cake and sour cream cake, but with poppy seeds
(which I love, love, love).
This is the first recipe I've made from Baking: From My
House to Yours (A James Beard Winner). It's lighter than most
of the muffin/cupcakes I bake, which tend to have lots of chocolate and butter
cream frosting on top, so it's nice to have a lighter, lemony bite for a
change.
The batter yields 12 muffins and trust me,
they will go fast. Was it Pringles
who coined the slogan, "once you pop, you just can't stop?" Well this
is like that, only with muffins. I almost ate the whole batch while watching Arrested Development...a
fantastically funny show that I just
started streaming on Netflix.I know, I'm a little bit behind the curve on that
one.
Anyway, while these are best eaten day-of,
they can be stored in an air tight container at room temperature for an
additional day. But I can promise you, they won't last that long...
Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins
(Courtesy
of Dorie Greenspan, Baking: From
My Home to Yours)
Yields 12 muffins
For the Muffins:
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 pure vanilla extract
1 stick unsalted butter, melted and cooled
2 tablespoons poppy seeds
For the Icing:
1 cup confectioners’ sugar, sifted
2-3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
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. 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 hte
fragrance of the lemon strong. Whisk in the flour, baking powder, baking soda
and salt. In a large glass measuring cup or another bowl, whish 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 tablespoons 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.
