Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins

When life gave me lemons I made lemon poppy seed muffins out of it! 

 

Well in reality its quite the opposite. Mom has this magical spice that she adds into almost all her Indian cooking, and you know how sometimes even if the thing is right under your nose you can hardly spot it. It is called 'kas kas' in Hindi and I had no idea what is it called in English. I happened to see it once by chance together with the translation and I got ecstatic to know that it is indeed poppy seeds!

I remembered how lemon poppy seed cakes are a favourite in most baking websites. That is how I got to buying lemons next. And searching the internet for the perfect recipe. Most recipes called for yogurt or buttermilk, which I did not have at this moment, so I settled for this recipe from food network (also my favourite channel!).

This is definitely one of the many firsts. Also the first time I made muffins from scratch without any premix, apart from the first time lemon and poppy seed use. And gosh I never knew lemon zest can be so refreshing! Don't beat me for it, we are all in the learning curve after all.

This is also the first time ever I learnt to fold in the dry ingredients properly into the matter without over mixing it. Oh yeah, it does make ALL the difference!

I added some zing into it by giving it a lemon and honey glaze right when it is hot from the oven because it allows the muffin to soak up all the glaze. Just mix a teaspoon of lemon juice with 1 tablespoon of honey, or until you get your desired taste. Little did I know that juice from one lemon takes a lot of honey to bring the sour taste down. Well, well, another first here. All the better to have it more lemony, because as they say, lemon cuts down the fat, right? Right??! Thankfully my sourish glaze added the perfect amount of zing to it!

I feel my muffins look a little naked because I baked them directly inside the muffin trays, I suppose I should add muffin cups into my next shopping list.

I have been having throat inflammation for the last week, so I am hoping this lemon and honey combination will work just fine. Okay, I am just being hopeful and guilt-free here. I am still curious as to how would it taste if I used yogurt or buttermilk, I hope I will have the patience to try this again with yogurt next.

The end product is lovely, and the sweetness is just nice for us health conscious people. And the lemon taste will keep you refreshed the whole day! I can see why this can be a quick breakfast favourite. Suddenly 12 muffins seemed to little in real munching numbers that it disappeared so fast!