One Bowl Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins
Bursting with bright lemon flavor, these One Bowl Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins are quick and simple to make! As the title suggests, this muffin recipe is a one bowl recipe – meaning less dirty dishes, and less steps! The Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins are light and fluffy in texture, full of bright lemon flavor, and delicately sweet – making them perfect for a sweet treat or for a quick on-the-go snack!
Ingredients You’ll Need for One Bowl Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins
Lemon: We’re going to use both the lemon juice, as well as the lemon zest – for maximum lemon flavor!
Poppy seeds: Black poppy seeds are the way to go – sometimes these are also called ‘blue’ poppy seeds!
Butter: Unsalted butter is required, and it should be melted but slightly cooled! The butter prodives flavor and moisture!
Eggs: The eggs act as a binder for the muffins!
Sugar: Just plain white sugar is great! However, coconut sugar can also be substituted!
Buttermilk: The purpose of the buttermilk is to hydrate the batter, while also providing an extra flavor dimension! Plain high-fat yogurt or sour cream can be substituted.
Pantry Staples: Baking powder, salt, vanilla, and flour, make up the dry ingredients – providing leavening, flavor, and bulk!
Rubbing the lemon zest
You may notice in the instructions that it says to rub the lemon zest with some sugar. The reason for doing this is because it maximizes the lemon zest flavor! The flavor and fragrance of any citrus zest is in it’s essential oils, and we can release those oils through an abrasive action, such as rubbing. Sugar’s grainy, uneven texture is perfect for this! After zesting the lemon, add the sugar to it, and then using your hands, rub the zest with the sugar. When it is properly rubbed, the sugar should be slightly yellow in color, and very very fragrant!
How to make the One Bowl Lemon Poppy seed Muffins
1.Zest Lemon: Grab a large mixing bowl, and zest the entire lemon into the mixing bowl.
2. Add sugar and ‘rub’: Add the sugar to the mixing bowl, then with your hands, rub the zest and the sugar together to bring out their flavor from the zest. As mentioned above, it is properly zested when it becomes extremely fragrant!
3. Add ‘wet’ ingredients: To the bowl, add in the melted butter, eggs, vanilla, buttermilk, vanilla, and lemon juice. Whisk until the mixture is smooth and well-combined.
4. Add baking powder, salt, and Poppy seeds: Add the baking powder, salt, and Poppy seeds to the bowl, then whisk the batter well to combine.
5. Sift in flour: Place a sieve overtop of the mixing bowl, then sift in the flour. Take a rubber spatula and fold in the flour until it is well-combined and the batter is uniform and smooth.
6. Bake: Add to prepared cupcake pans, then bake!
TALL MUFFIN TOPS
You’ll notice in the recipe that you initially bake the lemon poppy seed muffins at a higher temperature before turning the oven down to finish the baking process. The purpose of this is that it creates a taller muffin top without overcooking them. By placing the lemon poppy seed muffins in a super hot oven, the muffins rapidly rise up, creating a taller muffin. However, if we baked the muffins at this temperature the entire time, the bottoms and tops would likely burn before the insides were properly cooked – therefore the oven temperature is reduced to prevent burning and uneven baking.
HOLD THE GLUTEN, PLEASE
In making these lemon poppy seed muffins you do not want to overmix as you do not want to overwork the gluten either, because who wants a chewy muffin! Gluten in flour is activated by the presence of water, and strengthened by physical agitation. This is why you knead bread dough! While gluten development is important in some foods, in something like muffins, you want the gluten development to be absolutely minimal, ensuring a tender, soft muffin! So when adding the flour to the batter, it is crucial to only mix/fold the batter until it just becomes smooth and uniform!
Get the Recipe: One Bowl Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins
Ingredients
- Zest of 1 Lemon
- 1 cup White Sugar
- 1/2 cup Unsalted Butter,, melted but not hot
- 2 Large Eggs
- 1 ½ tsp Vanilla
- 1 cup Buttermilk
- Juice of 1 Lemon
- 2 tbsp Black Poppy Seeds
- 1 tsp Baking Powder
- 1/2 tsp Baking Soda
- 1/2 tsp Salt
- 2 cups (240g) All Purpose Flour,, † measured correctly
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 425°F. Prepare a muffin tin with liners. Meanwhile, in a large mixing bowl, add the sugar and lemon zest, then rub together the sugar and zest until the sugar is all colored light yellow and very fragrant.
- Add the melted butter, eggs, vanilla, buttermilk, and lemon juice, then whisk until well-combined and smooth. Next, add in the poppy seeds, baking powder, and salt, then whisk again until smooth and well-combined.
- Using a sieve, sift the flour into the batter, then using a rubber spatula, fold the flour into the batter until all the flour has been incorporated and the batter looks smooth. Be careful not to overmix though!
- Pour batter evenly into the cupcake liners. Place muffins into the 425°F oven, and immediately turn the oven temperature down to 350°F, and bake for an 16-18 minutes.
