June 2, 2011

Lemon Poppyseed Muffins

I sort of broke my golden rule here. I did not brown the butter. Even when I was melting the butter my body was screaming 'Brown it!' But despite my self hatred, these are good. The texture is great and the icing really does make them that much better. But now to make up for not browning the butter I have to do some penance and go brown a couple pounds of butter. This is going to be the best redemption ever.
Lemon Poppyseed Muffins
Adapted from Dorie Greenspan

muffins
2/3 cup sugar
Zest of 2 lemons - 1 1/2 tbsp
juice of 1 lemon - 1/4 cup
2 cups all purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp kosher salt
3/4 cup sour cream
2 large eggs
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted and cooled
2 tbsp poppy seeds
icing

1 cup confectioners’ sugar, sifted
2-3 T fresh lemon juice

muffins Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 400°. Butter or spray the 12 molds in a regular-size muffin pan or fit the molds with paper muffin cups. Set aside. In a large bowl, rub the sugar and the lemon zest together with your fingertips until the sugar is moist and the fragrance of the lemon is strong. Whisk in the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. In another bowl, whish the sour cream, eggs, vanilla, lemon juice and melted butter together until well blended. Pour the liquid ingredients over the dry ingredients and, with a rubber spatula, gently fold together. Don’t worry about being thorough-a few lumps are better than overmixing the batter. Stir in the poppy seeds. Divide the batter evenly among the muffin cups. Bake for 18 to 20 minutes, or until the tops are golden and a thin knife inserted into the center of the muffins comes out clean. Transfer the pan to a rack and cool for 5 minutes before carefully removing each muffin from its mold. Cool the muffins completely on the rack before icing them.
icing Put the confectioners’ sugar in a small bowl and add about 1 1/2 tbsp of the lemon juice. Stir with a spoon to moisten the sugar, then add enough additional lemon juice, a dribble at a time, to get an icing that is thin enough to drizzle from the tip of the spoon. You can then drizzle lines of icing over the tops of the muffins or coat the tops entirely, the better to get an extra zap of lemon.

4 comments:

Crepes of Wrath said...

These photos are so beautiful! I want to reach into my computer and grab a muffin!

Hannah said...

Aw thanks! If only that could happen, it would possibly be the greatest thing ever.

Lisa said...

That glaze really sets off your muffins nicely. I can just imagine how good it was to eat these while they were warm, yum. I have a sweet treat linky party going on at my blog till tomorrow night and I'd love it if you'd come by and link your muffins up. http://sweet-as-sugar-cookies.blogspot.com/2011/06/sweets-for-saturday-20.html

Hannah said...

Thanks Lisa! I probably will next week because I currently only gave access to an iPod. P.S. That's a wicked idea with the links