My Favorite Lemon Poppyseed Muffins
Last year, I’m embarrassed to say that we let a lot of our lemons from our lemon tree go to waste.
That tree gave off easily a hundred lemons, and possibly more like 200 (I wasn’t keeping close track), and I just couldn’t deal with them all.
All summer and fall, as the tiny green lemons grew and then started to turn yellow, I’ve been committed to doing better this year.
(We had the same problem with our lime tree last year, which I solved this year by making a ton of limeade and also giving away bags to every Diet Coke drinking friend I have. Guilt assuaged).
Making 20+ jars of lemon curd really helped with the lemons, but then, obviously you need something to put the lemon curd on and that thing is a lemon poppyseed muffin.
I’ve been making this recipe sporadically over the past decade, but the recipe had so many parts that I really had to be serious about making it.
Then, when I was looking for a recipe to use for the parchment paper muffin liners that I posted in December, I remembered these and saw the pile of lemons on my counter and thought, “Why not?”
And when I looked over the recipe, I felt like I could seriously streamline it.
Much faster (assuming you aren’t taking forty photos of every step of the muffin liners) and just as tasty.
I’ll definitely be making these more than every 3 years now.
You know, so that I don’t waste my lemons.
lemon poppyseed muffins
Lemon Poppyseed Muffins
I love starting the morning off with a sweet muffin and these lemon poppyseed muffins are just the ticket to begin the day on a delicious note!
Ingredients
- 2 eggs separated
- 1/2 cup butter softened
- 2/3 cup granulated sugar
- 1 1/3 cup flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 2 Tablespoons poppy seeds
- Zest from 2 lemons
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup buttermilk
- 2 Tablespoons lemon juice
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
Instructions
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Preheat oven to 350. Line or grease your muffin tin and set aside.
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Separate your eggs, putting the whites into the bowl of a stand mixer and the yolks in a small bowl. Beat the egg whites on high speed until soft peaks form. Scrape the egg whites into a small bowl and place in the fridge.
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In the stand mixer, beat the butter and sugar together until fluffy, then add the egg yolks and mix until well-combined.
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Dump in the flour, baking powder, baking soda, poppy seeds, lemon zest, and salt and beat for about 3 seconds, then add the buttermilk, and beat again for just a few seconds, then add the lemon juice and vanilla and beat just until combined.
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Then get the egg whites out of the fridge, scrape them into the batter and gently fold them in with a rubber spatula until they are evenly incorporated.
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Spoon the batter into the muffin cups, sprinkle with sugar (granulated or turbinado) and bake for 20-25 minutes until the edges are golden-brown and they spring back when gently touched.
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Serve with lemon curd if at all possible.
Recipe Notes
(adapted from the Williams-Sonoma Muffin Cookbook)
if you liked this lemon poppyseed muffin recipe, you might like these other recipes too:
Typically, when somebody at our church has an overwhelming harvest of (mostly overgrown zucchini or tomatoes) produce, they bag them up in bags, put a sign on them, and leave them free for taking in the church lobby. The good stuff disappears fast!
Two springs ago, people with fruit trees had this unreal abundance of fruit and there were bags of delicious pears, plums, apples, and oranges!! We got lucky and saw them first, took enough for the week, and didn't have to buy fruit that week (and it spoiled us bc they were way better than anything purchased in a store). Maybe you can do that at your church?
I definitely associate visiting my grandmother in Scottsdale and drinking lots and lots of lemonade. Her strategy is to juice the lemons in winter, then freeze for year-round lemonade making.
My mom always juiced the extra and froze the juice in baggies so we could always have lemonade or muffins or whatever.
Thanks for the lemon recipes! We were gifted a huge bag of them, and your blog has been helpful in making sure they are enjoyed
These muffins look amazing! It's been ages since I've had a lemon poppy seed muffin… time to go raid my in-laws pantry and make some.
I just made these tonight and they were delicious! Can't wait to try the lemon curd tomorrow and use up our massive batch of meyer lemons! 🙂 I greatly enjoy your blog and instagram; thank you!
I have the WS Muffin book, too. I mean, you might as well be eating cake for breakfast, but they are delicious!
Always looks for a new lemon muffin recipe! This looks very yummy!
I think I need to try these!
Wow, these sound amazing! I don’t think you can ever go wrong with something made with, or that calls for, lemon curd.
Thank you!
Oh, these are some of my fave muffins. I am totally stopping to get one tomorrow. I must make these sometime 🙂
Oooo, Lemon Poppyseed would be really wonderful to try. I’ve been in a baking frenzy lately (not to my husband’s dismay) and these would be a lovely addition.
Yeah!!! I thought you were a non-sharing recipe person 🙂 LOL. Thanks for posting this. Now I can make them and put them on cute dishes instead of serving eggo’s for breakfast.
Yum! Thanks for this!
my mouth is watering!
I may just have to try this!
Thank you for the lemon curd recipe! And the muffin recipe, too!
I love lemon curd! Thank you a million times for giving me a recipe for it!
This is by far my favorite muffin recipe, closely followed by your banana muffin recipe! Just made a couple batches. Thanks for the recipe!