lemon poppyseed muffins with lemon glaze

I have been so caught up with making recipes I find online that I have neglected my shelf of cookbooks full of great recipes. One of my favorite baking books is Dorie Greenspan’s Baking: From My Home to Yours. It is full of beautiful pictures, funny stories, and of course fantastic recipes.

I bought a couple of lemons last week since I have been on a lemon kick lately, so I had 2 little lemons waiting to be used in my refrigerator. The recipe looked perfect, aside from the fact that I didn’t have the sour cream that was called for. I improvised and used plain non-fat yogurt, which not only worked out great but also lowered the fat in the muffins as well. A win-win? I think so.

These muffins are not only pretty to look at, but they are delicious as well. They are light, not-too-sweet, and bursting with lemon flavor.

Lemon Poppyseed Muffins with Lemon Glaze
adapted from Baking: From My Home to Yours

2/3 cup granulated sugar
zest and juice from one lemon
2 cups flour (I used 1 1/2 cups all-purpose and 1/2 cup whole wheat)
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
3/4 cup plain, non-fat yogurt
2 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted and cooled
2 tbsp poppyseeds

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Butter or spray the molds in a muffin pan or put in muffin liners.

In large bowl, combined sugar and lemon zest. Rub them together until the lemon becomes fragrant and the sugar is moist. Add the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt and mix.

In separate bowl, whisk together the butter, yogurt, eggs, lemon juice, and vanilla until well combined. Add the wet ingredients to the dry and mix together with rubber spatula or wooden spoon. Mix until just combined, making sure not to overmix…a few lumps are okay. Add poppyseeds.

Divide batter among the 12 muffin cups.

Bake 18 to 20 minutes. I forgot to set a timer (ugh!) so I used my best judgement and took the muffins out when they just started getting a little brown and they were perfect.

Lemon Glaze
1 cup confectioners’ sugar
2-3T fresh lemon juice

Combine in small bowl and drizzle over cooled muffins. Obviously I couldn’t wait and iced my muffins while they were hot so the glaze melted right into the muffins. I’m not complaining…