In honor of Mother’s Day I am sharing a recipe for muffins because I make muffins with my boys all of the time. They are one of the quickest and simplest things to make with kids. Our muffin of choice is constantly changing from bran muffins, to peanut butter banana muffins, to raspberry banana oat muffins, to our most recent creation of pb-banana-oat muffins {recipe for these to come}.
Earlier this spring, my 5-year-old requested lemon poppy seed muffins. My 3 and 5-year olds took turns dumping ingredients, cracking eggs, and whisking the batter. I really stepped back and let them take over.
With or without the lemon glaze, these lemon poppy seed muffins are a sweet way to treat your mom and celebrate spring as we get ready to head into summer.
*I referenced many recipes but ultimately used one that happened to be the same from Brown-Eyed Baker and Two Peas & Their Pod, a recipe which was originally from Dorie Greenspan’s book – Baking: From My Home to Yours. If you want to up the ante and make a cake, you can also add the poppy seeds and lemon juice to a basic pound cake and bake the batter in cake or cupcake form.
- ⅔ cup sugar
- Grated zest and juice of 1 lemon
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ¾ cup sour cream
- 2 eggs
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- ½ cup unsalted butter, melted and cooled
- 2 tablespoons poppy seeds
- 1 cup powdered sugar, sifted
- 2-3 Tbsp lemon juice
- Mix the sugar and lemon rind together in a bowl, rubbing them together to make the sugar nice and fragrant.
- Whisk in the remaining dry ingredients.
- In another bowl, whisk together the liquid ingredients.
- Dump the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and gently whisk until just combined, being careful not to over mix.
- Stir in the poppy seeds.
- Spoon the batter into greased or lined muffin tins.
- Bake the muffins for 15 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean, the tops are starting to turn lightly golden, and when gently touched the tops of the muffins spring back.
- Let the muffins cool for a few minutes, flipped on their side in the tin.
- Then remove them and let them cool completely on a wire rack.
- If desired, drizzle the muffins with a lemon glaze.
- Sift the powdered sugar to remove any clumps.
- Mix the powdered sugar and lemon juice together until a smooth glaze forms.
- Adjust the consistency by adding more powdered sugar or lemon juice.
- Drizzle the glaze over the muffins if desired.
