Last night I made some lemon-poppyseed muffins that actually taste like lemon. I think it could even be a bit stronger, but this was nice. I think the main recipe below is from my mom, but I added the lemon juice bit based on my summer algebra professor’s awesome cookies. I also altered the quantity and proportion of the leavening agents (the recipe used to call for 1 T of powder; no soda — you can do this if you prefer, of course); I am on a quest to get my pastries to stop tasting like baking soda/powder to me, but have not succeeded yet. These are pretty close, though. Someday I will be awesome and make yeasted muffins.
Also, use a Meyer lemon if you possibly can, since they are impossibly delicious. I’m sure a normal, boring lemon would be good too, though.
Meyer Lemon Poppyseed Muffins
Ingredients:
1 Meyer lemon (for zest and juice)
1 egg, beaten
3/4 c yogurt (you can use milk, but why would you?)
1/2 c neutral oil
1/3 c sugar
1 t salt
1 t baking powder
1/2 t soda
2 c flour
2 t poppy seeds
Preheat the oven to 350°.
Zest the lemon. One should never waste Meyer lemon zest! Thoroughly squeeze all the juice into a small saucepan, and add about half the sugar. Cook it on the stove over low heat (at a light boil) until reduced by half. PAY ATTENTION! I accidentally made lemon caramel candy the first time I did this; it actually looked quite beautiful and could, in theory, be delicious, but it was not. I spread it out on wax paper hoping for something tasty, but it was acrid and bitter. I’ll try to do it for real sometime, though. For the muffins, I started over with another lemon.
Behold: the outcome of my first stab at the sugary lemon juice:
Combine all the wet ingredients, the lemon zest, and the rest of the sugar, the salt, the baking powder and the soda in a large mixing bowl. Mix well. Pour in the sugary lemon juice reduction, mix. Then add the flour and poppy seeds and mix them in with as little stirring as possible; I believe that adding the flour last leads to fluffier muffins, but I could be making it up.
The batter will be thick if you took my advice and used yogurt. Drop it into lightly greased muffin tins, sprinkle a bit of sugar on top if you wish, and bake for 20 minutes or slightly longer.
