Lemon Poppyseed Muffins
I’m currently taking a chemistry food class for my Dietetic degree and lemme tell you, I have learned A LOT. I recently completed a lab involving baking muffins and learning all about the proper leavening agent ratio to acidity ratio. I thought I made decent muffins in the past, but I’ve totally upped my game.
This recipe is my first recipe with my newly learned techniques, and the muffins turned out beautifully.
Tips for Perfect Muffins:
- The wet and dry ingredients MUST be mixed separately in bowls before they are combined. It is extremely tempting to combine it all in one bowl, but this is a HUGE no-no.
- If the recipe calls for white sugar, that is considered a dry ingredient. Brown sugar is still considered a wet ingredient.
- Over mixing creates a thick dense texture. This is why mixing wet and dry ingredients separately are important. When they are combined, the less mixing the better.
- The more a quick bread (muffins, biscuits, cakes…any bread type food that doesn’t have yeast in it) is played with and mixed, the tougher the batter becomes. This is because you are activating the gluten protein in the flour. As opposed to yeast breads, you typically kneed the bread after the ingredients are combined. This is where you want to activate the gluten protein.
- When combining the wet and dry ingredients don’t use an electric mixer or a whisk; use a wooden spoon or spatula and gently fold and combine the wet and dry ingredients. Mix until the batter is barely combined. You will want the batter to be slightly lumpy.
- Baking at a higher temperature is typically better. Most muffin recipes call for baking at least 375°F. Baking at higher temperature creates the beautiful golden caramelized color crust on top of the muffin.
Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins
Equipment
- large muffin tin
- muffin cup paper
- citrus zester
Ingredients
- 1 ⅓ cups sugar
- 3 Tbsp poppyseeds
- 2 ½ cups all-purpose flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp baking soda
- ½ tsp salt
- 2 large eggs
- 1 cup avocado oil or another vegetable oil
- ⅔ cup whole milk
- 2 tsp almond extract
- 1 tsp lemon extract
- 1 cup low fat vanilla greek yogurt
- lemon zest from 5 lemons
Glaze
- 2-3 Tbsp fresh lemon juice
- 1 cup powdered sugar
Instructions
- Prepare the muffin tins with the muffin paper cups and preheat the oven to 400°F. Set aside
- In a large bowl, combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, poppy seeds, and salt. Whisk together until evenly combined. Zest the lemons over the dry ingredient bowl and mix one more time to combine.
- In a separate bowl, combine the eggs, greek yogurt, whole milk, avocado oil, almond extract, and lemon extract. Whisk to combine.
- Pour into the dry ingredient bowl the wet ingredients and slowly stir, fold, and combine the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients. Stir until just barely combined, the batter will be lumpy. If the batter is smooth, it has been mixed too much.
- Spoon batter into muffin tins. Bake for 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Let cool for 20-30 minutes and then add the glaze on top.
Glaze
- In a bowl add in 2 cups of powdered sugar and half of the lemon juice. Mix to combine. To change the consistency to a thicker texture, add more powdered sugar in. To make it thinner and able to drizzle, add in more lemon juice. Do this until the preferred consistency is reached. Top each muffin with the glaze.
Nutrition
The best way to tell if the batter has been over mixed is how holy the muffin is when you cut it in half after it has been baked.
If a cake, cookie, muffin, biscuit batter has been over mixed then the inside will have tunneling look to it, large holes and the texture is usually stale and tough. Have you experienced this before with your quick-rising baked goods?
Hope y’all are having an amazing week. And if you recreate this recipe, please tag me if you post it.
