To compensate for essentially ignoring Valentine's Day this year, I told Nigel I would bake something of his choice. He may possibly be the only person I know that asks for something non-chocolatey around Valentine's Day. Fine by me - I've been looking for an excuse to try making these muffins!
LEMON POPPY SEED MUFFINS // yields 9 muffins
Adapted from The Faux Martha; I tweaked the suggested flours based on what I had in the pantry, I also used regular lemons instead of Meyer, because as far as I can tell, Meyer lemons are no where to be found in Canada in the winter.
Preheat oven to 400.
Ingredients:
3/4 cup all-purpose white flour
1/4 cup spelt flour
1/4 cup oat flour*
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
1/2 cup sugar
1 egg
1 tbsp lemon zest (~all the zest from 1 lemon)
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice (~juice from 1 lemon)
1/3 cup plain greek yogurt
1 tbsp poppy seeds
For the glaze...
1/4 cup icing sugar
1-2 tsp fresh lemon juice
1/2 tsp almond milk (or any milk/cream)
*Note: If you're like me, you never have oat flour in the house. Simply toss the oats in your magic bullet and pulse until you've created a fine powder.
What to do:
Using unsalted butter, grease 9 slots of your muffin tin, set aside.
In a medium bowl, combine the flours, baking powder and soda.
In a larger bowl, break up the butter and combine with the sugar. Use your hands to 'cream' it all together until light and fluffy. Beat the egg in a small bowl and transfer into the butter/sugar mixture. Add the lemon zest and mix well.
Fold half the flour and half the lemon juice into the wet ingredients. Once combined, add the remainder of the flour and lemon juice. Fold in the yogurt and poppy seeds and stir just until combined. If you over mix, the muffins with be dense and tough.
Equally divide the batter into the 9 slots, and bake for 15-20 minutes, until golden brown, and a tooth pick comes out clean. Once cool enough to touch, transfer to a wire rack and let cool completely.
While the muffins are cooling, make your glaze by whisking together the 3 ingredients. Once the muffins are completely cool, drizzle the glaze on top.