recipe: Lemon poppy seed muffins

Makes 12 Muffins

FOR THE MUFFINS: 


2/3 cup sugar
Grated zest 2 lemons
Juice of 1 lemon
 
2 cups all-purpose flour 
2 teaspoons baking powder 
¼ teaspoon baking soda 
¼ teaspoon salt 
¾ cup Greek yogurt, like Fage (whole, 2% or fat free will all work fine, it's up to you. I used fat-free) 
2 large eggs 
1 ½ teaspoon pure vanilla extract 
1 stick (8 tablespoons) unsalted butter, melted and cooled 
4 tablespoons poppy seeds (more than most recipes, I like to really emphasize the poppy flavor. SO GOOD!)

FOR THE GLAZE: 


1 cup confectioners' sugar, sifted 
2-3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

DIRECTIONS: 


Center a rack in the oven and heat the oven to 400 degrees. Grease muffin pan with butter. Place the muffin pan on a baking sheet. 

In a large bowl, rub the sugar and lemon zest together with your fingers until the sugar is moist and the lemon is distributed evenly.  Whisk in flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.

In a large glass measuring cup or another bowl, whisk the sour cream, eggs, vanilla, lemon juice and melted butter together until well blended.

Pour the liquid ingredients into the dry ingredients and stir to blend gently and quickly with a rubber spatula. Don’t worry about being thorough, a few lumps are better than over mixing 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 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.

To make the icing:

Put the confectioners' sugar in a small bowl and add about 1 1/2 tablespoons of the lemon juice.  Stir with a spoon to moisten the sugar, then add enough lemon juice, a dribble at a time, to get an icing that is thin enough to drizzle from the tip of the spoon. Then drizzle lines of icing over the tops of the muffins or coat the tops entirely.