I have made lemon poppy seed muffins twice before these. The first time, the muffins ended up like tiny and flat pale cakes. The second time, the muffins looked so perfectly gorgeous but were a bit tough, similar to the sentiments of other people who had made the recipe too. In both cases, the muffins weren’t lemony enough for my taste. And I do love anything lemony and tangy in general. The more I pucker up, the better.

But why the obsession with making lemon poppy seed muffins? No particular reason. Although I do remember having this huge lemon poppy seed muffin before which was so very tangy and lemony, it was pure love! I’ve been looking for a recipe that recreates that and so far, there has been none. Well, that and I had lemon- lots and lots of lemon- and a bottle of poppy seeds in the pantry that were just waiting to be used.

Print Pin

Lemon-Drenched Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins

Possibly the best part about these muffins was the moistness, and also the glossy, glossy glaze. It’s the moistest lemon poppy seed muffin I’ve baked, with perfectly thick and scoop-able. You can also probably say that using yogurt gives it a point above the others in the health department.

Makes 1 dozen large or 20 regular-sized muffins

Ingredients

For the muffins

3 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
3 tablespoons poppy seeds, or more if you like it crunchier
½ teaspoon salt
10 tablespoons or 1 ½ sticks unsalted butter, softened
1 cup granulated sugar, less 1 tablespoon
1 tablespoon lemon zest
2 large eggs
1 ½ cups plain yogurt, low fat is fine

For the syrup glaze

¼ cup granulated sugar
¼ cup lemon juice, freshly squeezed (about 1 ½ to 2 medium lemons)

Instructions

To make the muffins

1. Adjust oven rack to lower middle position and heat oven to 375°F (190°C). Mix flour, baking powder, baking soda, poppy seeds, and salt in medium bowl; set aside.
2. Beat butter and sugar with electric mixer on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add lemon zest to butter-sugar mixture. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.
3. Beat in one-half of dry ingredients. Beat in one-third of yogurt. Beat in remaining dry ingredients in two batches, alternating with yogurt, until incorporated. [At this point, it’s perfectly fine to just use a spatula if you’re afraid of over-mixing the batter.]
4. Grease muffin tin with vegetable cooking spray/butter. [Or use plain-old cupcake liners]. Use an ice cream scoop to divide batter evenly among cups.
5. Bake until muffins are golden brown, 25 to 30 minutes. Set on wire rack to cool slightly, about 5 minutes. Remove muffins from tin and glaze.

To make the glaze

6. While muffins are baking, heat 1/4 cup granulated sugar and lemon juice in small saucepan until sugar dissolves and mixture forms light syrup, 3 to 4 minutes. Brush warm syrup over warm muffins and serve. [I let the muffins sit a few minutes to absorb the syrup]

Notes

Adapted from The Way The Cookie Crumbles blog

~~~

The second muffin recipe had received quite a few positive reviews from the site I got it from, so I was eager to see if it would match up with the gorgeousness of the first batch. I was also fairly excited about these muffins because of the 1/2 cup of lemon juice zing it would contain.

Print Pin

Lemony Poppy Seed Muffins

One of my brothers likes to call this “the blue muffins” because it casts kind of a bluish hue in dim light. The muffin batter was a bit runny, probably because of the amount of lemon juice I put. It still wasn’t as lemony as I was expecting given that amount of lemon, though it was still yummy. As you can see in the photo below, compared to the lovely yellow batter of the previous recipe [left], this batter was very nearly white, reminiscent of mashed dragon fruit.

Makes 12 large or 16 regular-sized muffins