Lemon Poppyseed Muffins
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Lemon Poppyseed Muffins. Hello, I love you.
Lemon flavored anything and I’m in love actually. If that’s the case for you too, you’ll have to check out these lemon cookies, this lemon pound cake, or my favorite lemon poppyseed scones. Yum, yum, YUM!
These muffins are soft, fluffy and the batter comes together in minutes. You’ll love how lemony and bright these are and their perfectly high domed bakery-style muffin tops.
Ingredients you’ll need
For the ingredient measurements and entire recipe, be sure to scroll down to the bottom of the blog post where the recipe card is located.
- Flour: be sure to spoon and level the flour by using a spoon to scoop the flour into the measuring cup and use the back of a knife to level off the top of it. Using this method helps because you could end up with 50% more than you need if you just scoop the measuring cup into the bag.
- Lemon juice: fresh is best!
- Poppyseeds: of course! This recipe is loaded with 2 Tbsp. poppyseeds.
- Sugar: You’ll need white sugar for the muffin batter.
- Butter: Using butter in muffins gives them a richer taste, compared to using oil. I use unsalted butter.
- Whole milk: I use whole milk to give these muffins a delicious texture and taste and it can help activate the baking soda and baking powder.
- Sour cream: adds moisture to the muffins.
- Other ingredients needed: lemon zest, cardamom, eggs, lemon extract.
How to make lemon poppyseed muffins
For the full recipe instructions, scroll down to the bottom of the blog post to the recipe card.
- Rub the lemon zest and sugar together.
- Whisk in the rest of the dry ingredients.
- In another bowl, whisk together the wet ingredients.
- Fold the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients.
- Chill muffin batter for 1 hour or overnight.
- Bake muffins for 13-15 minutes.
- Glaze and enjoy!
FYI
This recipe makes 12 small cupcake sized muffins so they are great for a party or brunch! Or you can make them in a larger muffin tin, just be aware they may take longer to bake!
Tips for making Lemon Poppyseed Muffins:
- Use fresh lemon! It adds a delicious flavor profile and plus you need a little bit of zest too!
- Don’t skip out on letting the batter rest. It really helps takes these muffins from basic muffins to bakery-style muffins!
- Use a spring loaded ice cream scoop when scooping the muffin batter into the tins and filly only about 3/4 of the way to the top.
- Try not to let the batter sit at room temperature after it’s refrigerated. Keep it chilled until ready to bake. If left at room temp they run the risk of not rising.
- Alternate the filled muffin openings with the empty ones as much as possible to allow space for the tops of the muffins to spread (see photos and video for guidance).
- I love the additional flavor lemon extract gives so I highly recommend. But, if you only have vanilla on hand that works too. I’d also recommend almond extract.
- Don’t over mix the batter: over mixing can lead to a tough muffin.
- If you don’t have milk, you can substitute milk with buttermilk at room temperature.
I hope you all love this recipe!
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Lemon Poppyseed Muffins
Ingredients
- 2 1/4 cups all purpose flour
- 3/4 cup white sugar
- 2 Tbsp. poppyseeds
- 1 Tbsp. lemon zest
- 3 tsp. baking powder
- 1/2 tsp. baking soda
- 1/2 tsp. salt
- 1/4 tsp. cardamom
- 1/2 cup whole milk, room temp.
- 1/2 cup sour cream, room temp.
- 8 Tbsp. butter, melted and slightly cooled
- 2 large eggs, room temp.
- 1/4 cup fresh lemon juice (juice from 1 lemon)
- 2 tsp. lemon extract*
Glaze
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- 1-2 Tbsp. fresh lemon juice
Last step! If you make this, please leave a review and rating letting us know how you liked this recipe! This helps our business thrive & continue providing free recipes.
Instructions
- Add the sugar and lemon zest to a medium sized mixing bowl. Rub the sugar and lemon zest between your fingertips to create a lemon sugar. This helps release the natural oils and infuse more lemon flavor into the muffins.
- Add in the flour, poppyseeds, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cardamom. Whisk until combined.
- In another mixing bowl, whisk together the milk, sour cream, butter, eggs, lemon juice and extract together.
- Gently fold the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients just until combined.
- Cover and let rest in the fridge for at least 1 hour or up to overnight ideally if you have the time. (Letting the batter rest helps to create a perfect tall domed muffin structure and provide an overall bakery-style muffin aesthetic in both taste and texture).
- When ready to bake, preheat the oven to 400°F.
- You’ll need 2 muffin tins: line each with 6 paper liners, placing a liner in every other cup so they’re evenly spaced. This means you’ll need to bake the muffins in 2 separate batches. This method helps lead to taller muffin tops! But if you only have 1 muffin tin, it’s OK they will still be super delicious.
- Bake the muffins for ~13-15 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Let them cool for just a couple minutes in the pan but then remove them to a cooling rack so they dont continue to bake from the heat of the pan.
- Whisk together the ingredients for the glaze. Once cooled, drizzle over the tops, garnish with more poppy seeds if desired and enjoy!
Equipment
Video
Notes
- You can use almond extract or vanilla extract if you do not have lemon extract but the lemon extract makes these extra lemon-y!
- Storage: keep at room temperature and enjoy within 2-3 days for peak freshness.
My mom has an affinity for all things lemon so when I landed on these I wanted to try them for her. Everything about these muffins is good with the exception of the lemon extract (encouraged for providing the ‘extra lemony taste’). I found the extract to bring an unnatural, almost chemical, flavor and smell to the muffins – so much so that I tossed about a third of the unused batter. I hope to find a better alternative for the bright lemony taste without the use of pure lemon extract. (Just writing this brings that smell and taste to mind. Like drinking cheap perfume. Ick.)
Hi, was your lemon extract old? I’ve had that happen to me when my extract was expired. You can try leaving it out or maybe using a lemon emulsion.
I just made Lemon Poppyseed Muffins with Streusel Topping and they’re heavenly. So fluffy! I swapped the lemon extract for 1 tsp vanilla extract. I find them to have a subtle lemon taste, so good. 🙂 Thanks for this recipe!
yayy I am so so glad! Thank you so much 🙂
These look amazing! I am new to baking and am wondering if you know how to adjust for high altitude? Also, do you think it would be ok to substitute almond milk for regular milk? My daughter can have butter but not regular milk. Thank you!
Thank you so so much! I don’t have much experience with high altitude baking so this might be helpful: https://www.kingarthurbaking.com/learn/resources/high-altitude-baking and the almond milk would probably work well, although I have not personally tested it that way. If you make them, I can’t wait to hear what you think! xo, Tawnie
Hi! These were Delicious!!!! But my crumbs sank into the middle🤔! I used jumbo muffin tin .help??!
Hi Jackie! Hmmm I am so sorry I have never had that happen! Maybe it’s an oven temperature thing. I would maybe try increasing the oven temp to 400°F to see if that helps solve the problem. So sorry once again, thank you for making these! xo, Tawnie
They were so good! I used one tsp Almond extract and one tsp vanilla instead of lemon
I love that swap! Thank you so much. xo, Tawnie
Do you think these would be ok without cardamom?
Yes totally, it’s just one of my favorite baking spices 🙂 I hope you love them!
I just made these for a Sunday brunch and they are soooo yummy!! I struggled a bit with the strudel with the butter so cold, but the muffins still turned out beautifully! Thanks for the awesome recipe!
So glad you enjoyed them 🙂 I like to use a pastry blender or fork to cut the butter into the mixture until it is the texture of coarse meal! Thank you for making them! xo, Tawnie
Do you bake these muffins at 380 or 400?
You preheat the oven to 380°F and then when you place muffins in the oven, turn it up to 400°F (this helps ensure a dome on your muffins instead of flat muffin tops!)
These are my go-to muffins when I’m expecting guests and need something nice to serve with tea or coffee. They’re good to eat for no reason too!
I am so glad, thank you! xo, Tawnie
Almost perfect when I made it, but I think it is missing lemon icing!! Do you have a recipe for that?
Aw thank you!! That sounds good!! You can try this glaze from my scones! https://krollskorner.com/recipes/lemon-poppyseed-greek-yogurt-scones/ i hooe you love it!