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Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins Recipe

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Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins

I love lemon poppy seed muffins. This recipe is based on the same Cook's Illustrated master muffin recipe on which I based our blueberry and lemon ginger muffins. The balance of flour, leavening, eggs and yogurt results in a light and fluffy muffin. The important things to remember with making these muffins is to make sure your baking powder is no older than 6 months (it may not work if older), and to not over-mix the batter.

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Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins Recipe

Ingredients

3 cups of all-purpose flour
1 Tbsp baking powder (make sure your baking powder is no older than 6 months)
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 Tbsp poppy seeds

10 Tbsp unsalted butter (1 1/4 stick), softened
1 cup sugar
2 large eggs
1 1/2 cup plain yogurt
1 Tbsp lemon zest

Glaze
2 Tbsp fresh lemon juice
1 cup confectioner's sugar (powdered sugar)

Method

1 Adjust the oven rack to the middle-lower part of the oven. Preheat oven to 375°F.

2 Whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, poppy seeds, and salt and set aside.

3 In a large mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar together, beating until fluffy (about 2 minutes with an electric mixer). Add eggs one at a time, beating until incorporated after each one. Beat in the lemon zest.

4 Beat in one half of the dry ingredients until just incorporated. Beat in one third of the yogurt. Beat in half of the remaining dry ingredients. Beat in a second third of the yogurt. Beat in the remaining dry ingredients and then the remaining yogurt. Again be careful to beat until just incorporated. Do not over beat.

5 Use a standard 12-muffin muffin pan. Coat each muffin cup lightly with olive oil, grapeseed oil, or a little melted butter using a pastry brush. Distribute the muffin dough equally among the cups. Bake until muffins are golden brown, about 25 to 30 minutes. Test with a long toothpick (we use a thin bamboo skewer) to make sure the center of the muffins are done. Set muffin pan on wire rack to cool. After 5 minutes, remove muffins from pan.

6 While the muffins are cooling, in a bowl, whisk together the powdered sugar and lemon juice for the glaze. Add more lemon juice if necessary. While the muffins are still a bit warm, use a pastry brush to brush the glaze over each muffin. The muffins will absorb some of the glaze, so you add more glaze to each muffin if you like.

Makes 12 muffins. Best eaten fresh and warm.

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Posted by Elise on Feb 3, 2007 and indexed Muffins, Poppy Seed

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Comments

I was just thinking 'where's Elise' and went and had a look at 'not always on' for a clue, returning I found in the meantime you'd posted this delicious sounding recipe! Bit hot here for muffins at present but autumn's round the corner. Cheers

Posted by: Robyn on February 3, 2007 1:08 AM

This is the time of year in New England when the taste of lemon is so welcome. I made Barefoot Contessa's wonderful lemon-yogurt cake last week. Next up, these muffins!

Posted by: lydia on February 3, 2007 4:36 AM

Just curious -- when do y'all actually eat muffins? For breakfast? (A muffin for breakfast just doesn't sound right to me since they're basically empty calories.) For a "teatime" snack? I love the idea of muffins, their ease to make and endless variety, but how to fit them into a daily menu throws me a bit.

Posted by: alamobecky on February 3, 2007 11:57 AM

Hi Alamobecky,
The best time to eat them is right after they've been baked, which around here is either in the morning or in the early afternoon. They're not completely empty calories, no less so than pancakes with maple syrup. Eggs, grains, yogurt - these things are good. It's the sugar you need to watch out for, but sugar is what you get when you put jam on an English muffin. So breakfast food it still is for me.

Posted by: Elise on February 3, 2007 12:08 PM

I can't wait to try these - one of my favorite treats! I just made your Rice Pudding. Not only was it so easy, but it was the perfect amount for my husband and I. I adore your site, by the way. It occurred to me the other day that aside from Pamela Anderson (the cookbook author, not the other one), you're my favorite chef. Thank you for many great days and nights of cooking!

Posted by: Rose on February 3, 2007 5:12 PM

Hi Elise,

I'm finding my pantry without butter, and yet you've given me quite the hankering for muffins!

Do you have experience substituting oil for butter in this recipe?

thanks!


Posted by: McAuliflower on February 3, 2007 6:25 PM

When I bake I use splenda as a sugar substitute.If a recipe calls for 1 cup of sugar I replace 3/4 of the cup of sugar with "splenda" . That leaves enough sugar in the batter to allow the carmelization that gives baked goods their golden colour and it reduces the calorie content and does not affect the texture or taste of the muffins.

Posted by: Jay on February 4, 2007 10:37 AM

Hi Elise,
Too funny, I just removed a poppyseed cake from the oven two hours ago and can't wait to cut the first slice...
I had to-die-for Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins over six years ago in a little coffee shop in La Jolla/San Diego and still can't manage to produce anything equally fantastic. Your recipe sounds like a worthy candidate - I'll try it next ;)

Posted by: Nicky on February 5, 2007 7:31 AM

Well... my craving took hold.
One batch of blueberry muffins and one batch of persimmon muffins later, I'm happy to report that a direct substitution of canola oil works beautifully!

Cheers

Posted by: McAuliflower on February 5, 2007 11:03 AM

Nicky, where in La Jolla? I live there now and would love to check out the place sometime considering it's still around...

Posted by: vicky on March 4, 2007 11:06 PM

I loved these muffins. I took them to work for a morning meeting and they were all gone in no time at all.

Posted by: laura on March 9, 2007 10:08 AM

Didn't find this recipe all that great. The muffins turned out pretty dry. I would suggest using more yogurt or an extra egg.

Posted by: Savannah on March 18, 2007 1:21 PM

Hi Savannah - they shouldn't be dry. If they were, they probably needed to be taken out of the oven a little earlier.

Posted by: Elise on March 18, 2007 1:40 PM

My batter turned out with enough to make 16 muffins instead of 12. Maybe we have different sized muffin tins?

Posted by: Jenny on June 3, 2007 2:07 PM

These muffins are fantastic. Thank you for the recipe!

Posted by: Emily on January 6, 2008 5:58 AM

These muffins are amazing...I'd go so far as to say they're the best I've ever tried! I had a food and film night with one of my friends - curries, curries and more curries! - and we decided to make these for breakfast the next morning...divine! Thanks for the recipe, will definitely make again!

Posted by: Krissie on February 17, 2008 1:57 AM

I liked these muffins except they didn't taste very lemony. I really wanted the tangy lemon flavor. Any suggestions on how to get that?

Add more lemon zest to the batter. ~Elise

Posted by: hoppab on April 18, 2008 7:05 PM

I think these should be renamed as "Awesome Muffins". Made them yesterday and had to resist the urge to devour them all at once. My husband gave into his desire and polished off three as soon as they were warm enough to handle. Normally, I'm not a big fan of icing on muffins, but this topping is the perfect combo -sweet with just the right amont of tart from the lemon and zest. This recipe is definitely in my "go-to-can't-wait-to-make-again" file!

Posted by: Elizabeth on April 19, 2008 7:07 AM

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