Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins

 

I used to sell a lot of Costco muffins in high school. Each muffin earned us 50 cents in profit. Logically, this was how we decided we were going to fund our prom.

The sales were generally successful, but on one unfortunate occasion, I ended up with a box of non-costco muffins. The problem? They were a box of off brand bran muffins. Nobody wanted bran muffins!

Later in the day, my high school crush was starving. Being the great salesperson that I was, I encouraged him to buy a muffin. He was so stoked to "see" chocolate, and I was so excited about finally landing a sale that I didn't correct him. Sorry, P. 

Well, no confusion here. These lemon poppy seed muffins are sweet, and straightforward. They are exactly what you expect them to be. Delicious with a hint of sunshine. (Or lemon zest, whatevs)

Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins
slightly adapted from Annie's Eats

Ingredients
2 cups AP flour
2 tablespoons poppy seeds
1 1/4 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
8 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
1 cup sugar, divided
2 large eggs
zest of 1/2 lemon
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup plain yogurt

Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line muffin tin with paper liners.

Into a medium bowl, sift the 2 cups of flour, 2 tablespoons of poppy seeds, 1 1/4 tsp baking powder, 1/4 tsp baking soda, and the 1/2 tsp of salt. Whisk together to combine.

After reserving two tablespoons for later, pour the remaining sugar into a mixing bowl. Zest half a lemon into the sugar. Use the back of a spoon to press the zest into the sugar. Beat sugar mixture together with softened butter until light and fluffy. Mix in the eggs, one at a time. Add the teaspoon of vanilla and mix well.

Alternating twice with the plain yogurt, add the flour mixture to the wet ingredients. Combine ingredients between each addition.

Divide the batter among the 12 muffin liners, and top the muffins-to-be with the reserved sugar from before. Bake muffins for 18 - 20 minutes, turning the pan once while baking. Let muffins cool in pan for 5 - 10 minutes, before cooling completely on wire rack.