Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins

Tender, moist, and fluffy lemon poppy seed muffins are the perfect breakfast treat. Brushed with a lemon glaze these muffins are bursting with lemon flavor.

Anytime I can have a muffin, aka like a mini cake, for breakfast, I am in. While lemon is a favorite ingredient of mine (check out my lemon recipes) I have never published a lemon muffin recipe. So I thought to myself why stop at plain lemon? And lemon poppy seed muffins were born.

Another reason I adore a muffin recipe is how quickly the batter comes together and also how quickly they bake. Basically, you can be enjoying these babies in just about 30 minutes.

Let's get to the muffin recipe.

What are the ingredients

Most muffin recipes call for pantry and fridge staples, the only difference here is you'll also need poppy seeds. For the full recipe you'll need:

• Sugar. Just good ol' granulated or caster.
• Lemons. We'll use the lemon for two parts, the lemon zest, and lemon juice.
• Full-Fat Yogurt. You could use plain or Greek yogurt.
• Eggs. Make sure they are at room temperature, to do this quickly place the eggs in a bowl of warm water for 5-10 minutes before you crack them.
• Butter. No waiting for it to soften just use melted and slightly cooled butter.
• Flour. All-purpose or plain flour.
• Poppy Seeds.
• Baking Powder and Baking Soda. The chemical leaving agents help the muffins rise.
• Salt. Just a pinch balance everything out and brighten all the flavors.

The muffins are great as is but I really love the lemon flavor so I find adding a little lemon glaze, just like I do in my lemon pound cake, makes all the difference! You'll only need fresh lemon juice and sugar.

How do you make the muffins

Stary by preheating your oven, we'll start the muffins at a higher temperature to encourage them to rise higher, then reduce the oven temperature to continue the baking.

The most important piece of equipment when I make anything with lemon is a good zester. This Microplane zester makes zesting a lemon feel like butter. It was one of my best investments!!

To start you'll mix the sugar and zest together. Doing this helps the lemon oils from the zest rub into the sugar, infusing all of the sugar for a really great lemon flavor. You can do this in a large bowl with a handheld electric mixer or bowl of an electric stand mixer and just mix for a few minutes.

Add in yogurt, eggs, lemon juice, and melted butter, mix just until combined, making sure to scrape down the sides of the bowl to ensure everything is fully combined.

In a separate large bowl whisk together the flour, poppy seeds, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.

Gently fold in the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients, just until no major flour streaks remain. Over mixing will overdevelop the gluten producing a tougher muffin.

Using a large cookie scoop to scoop the muffin batter to each individual muffin cup.

Bake the muffins for 6 minutes then reduce the temperate to 325F/163C and bake for an additional 9-11 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out with no wet batter, moist crumbs are okay.

While the muffins are baking prepare the lemon glaze.

In a medium pot over low heat cook the sugar and lemon juice, stirring frequently. Cook the glaze over medium heat for about 5 minutes, the mixture should bubble up, all the sugar should melt into the lemon juice. Take off the heat and let cool for 10 minutes, the mixture should have slightly thickened.

When muffins are baked place on a wire rack to cool for 5 minutes before removing from the muffin pan. Place muffins on a wire rack and use a pastry brush to brush the top of the muffin with the lemon glaze.

If you're craving some more lemon deliciousness try my lemon curd loaf cake, Lemon Zucchini Cake, or my French Lemon Cream Tart.

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★★★★★ Please let me know if you make this recipe by leaving a star rating and comment below!

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Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins

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3.7 from 3 reviews

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Tender, moist, and fluffy lemon poppy seed muffins are the perfect breakfast treat. Brushed with a lemon glaze these muffins are bursting with lemon flavor.

• Total Time: 28 minutes
• Yield: 14 Muffins 1x

Ingredients

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Muffins

• 2oo Grams (1 Cup) Granulated/ Caster Sugar
• 1 ½ Tablespoons Lemon Zest
• 12oz (1 ½ Cups) Full-Fat Yogurt
• 2 Large Eggs, at room temperature
• 2oz (¼ Cup) Fresh Lemon Juice
• 4oz (½ Cup) Butter, melted and slightly cooled
• 375 grams (3 Cups) All-Purpose/ Plain Flour
• 3 Tablespoons Poppy Seeds
• 1 Tablespoon Baking Powder
• ½ Teaspoon Baking Soda
• ½ Teaspoon Salt

Lemon Glaze

• 50 grams (¼ Cup) Granulated/ Caster Sugar
• 2oz (¼ Cup) Fresh Lemon Juice

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Instructions

Muffins

1. Preheat the oven to 400F/204C and lightly grease a 12-cup muffin pan, set aside.
2. In a large bowl with a handheld electric mixer, or bowl of an electric stand mixer, beat the lemon zest and the sugar for 3 minutes. Add in yogurt, eggs, lemon juice, and melted butter, mix just until combined, making sure to scrape down the sides of the bowl to ensure everything is fully combined.
3. In a separate large bowl whisk together the flour, poppy seeds, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
4. Gently fold in the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients, just until no major flour streaks remain. Over mixing will overdevelop the gluten producing a tougher muffin.
5. Using a large cookie scoop add the batter to each individual muffin cavity. Bake for 6 minutes then reduce the temperate to 325F/163C and bake for an additional 9-11 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out with no wet batter, moist crumbs are okay. While the muffins are baking prepare the lemon glaze.
6. In a medium pot over low heat cook the sugar and lemon juice, stirring frequently. Cook the glaze over medium heat for about 5 minutes, the mixture should bubble up, all the sugar should melt into the lemon juice. Take off the heat and let cool for 10 miuntes, the mixture should have slightly thickened.
7. When muffins are baked place on a wire rack to cool for 5 minutes before removing from the muffin pan. Place muffins on a wire rack and use a pastry brush to brush the top of the muffin with the lemon glaze. Store leftovers in an air-tight container for up to 3 days.

Equipment

Cordless Hand Mixer

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Muffin Pan

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OXO Kitchen Scale

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Notes

Recipe Muffin Recipe Adapted from Cooks Country 

• Author: Elizabeth Waterson
• Prep Time: 10
• Cook Time: 18
• Category: Breakfast
• Method: Bake
• Cuisine: American

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