Summery Lemon Sunshine

One of my favorite waitresses loves Lemon Poppy Seed muffins. I've made them before but lost the recipe so pulled one together from a more basic recipe with a few tweaks.  This version is very lemon-y thanks to TrueLemon packets. These really pack a punch over lemon extract or lemon juice, although you can use either of those in place of TrueLemon.

Check out TrueLemon at: http://www.truelemonstore.com

(No, I don't get anything from them for posting them here...I doubt they even know I exist).

Anyway, these muffins make up quickly, and are nice and moist. They are good with the glaze included here or with cream cheese frosting.  I'll add pictures at another time, I just wanted to get this posted for a bunch of folks looking for my recipe.

Lemon-Poppy Seed Muffins

1/4 cup butter (really soft or melted in microwave; I melt mine)
1/2 cup sugar
1 cup milk  (do NOT use water, but skim milk will work)
1 egg (Jumbo or Extra Large AA)
3 packets TrueLemon OR 3 tblsp. lemon extract or lemon juice
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp. salt
1 tblsp. baking powder
1-3 tblsp. poppy seeds (this depends on your preference, I tend to use 2 but for big fans I'll use 3)

You'll need 2 bowls. Mix the flour, poppy seeds salt, and baking powder in one bowl and put to the side (I use a whisk or fork for mixing the dry ingredients). In the other bowl mix the butter, sugar, and lemon hoice until well mixed. Add the egg until mixed in.  By hand stir in the remaining ingredients by alternating the milk and dry mixture. Be careful to not over mix.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour a muffin tin or use paper cups.  Fill cups about 3/4 full and bake for 20-30 minutes. This will depend on your oven, for mini-muffins mine takes 22 minutes, for regular size muffins it takes 25 minutes, for jumbos 30.  This recipe will usually make 24 mini-muffins, 12 regular muffins, or 9 jumbo muffins (depending on your tin sizes).

Lemon glaze:

1/4 + 2 tblsp. powdered sugar  (no powdered sugar on hand, you can use regular)
1/4 c. water + 4 packets TrueLemon OR 1/4 lemon juice

Mix the sugar and lemon until well mixed. Drizzle over the top of the cooled muffins.

I tend to double this glaze when I make the mini muffins as I remove them from the pan and drizzle it over the whole batch at once, which takes more.

Lemon-y Sunshine Muffins

One of my favorite people, and one of the photographers of the cookbook absolutely LOVES lemon poppy seed muffins. These turn out very lemon-y and buttery in flavor. It's like baking up summer sunshine.

This particular recipe is being added to the updated version of the cookbook, so it doesn't yet have all of the typical instructions you will find on this website. If you need clearer instruction, please shoot me an email and let me know what doesn't make sense. I haven't put it through kid-testing yet as the borrowed kiddos are busy with school demands.


Lemon-Poppy Seed Muffins

1/4 cup butter (really soft or melted in microwave; I melt mine)
1/2 cup sugar
1 cup milk  (do NOT use water, but skim milk will work)
1 egg (Jumbo or Extra Large AA)
3 packets TrueLemon OR 3 tblsp. lemon extract or lemon juice
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp. salt
1 tblsp. baking powder
1-3 tblsp. poppy seeds (this depends on your preference, I tend to use 2 but for big fans I'll use 3)

You'll need 2 bowls. Mix the flour, poppy seeds salt, and baking powder in one bowl and put to the side (I use a whisk or fork for mixing the dry ingredients). In the other bowl mix the butter, sugar, and lemon hoice until well mixed. Add the egg until mixed in.  By hand stir in the remaining ingredients by alternating the milk and dry mixture. Be careful to not over mix.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour a muffin tin or use paper cups.  Fill cups about 3/4 full and bake for 20-30 minutes. This will depend on your oven, for mini-muffins mine takes 22 minutes, for regular size muffins it takes 25 minutes, for jumbos 30.  This recipe will usually make 24 mini-muffins, 12 regular muffins, or 9 jumbo muffins (depending on your tin sizes).


Lemon glaze:

1/4 + 2 tblsp. powdered sugar  (no powdered sugar on hand, you can use regular)
1/4 c. water + 4 packets TrueLemon OR 1/4 lemon juice

Mix the sugar and lemon until well mixed. Drizzle over the top of the cooled muffins.

I tend to double this glaze when I make the mini muffins as I remove them from the pan and drizzle it over the whole batch at once, which takes more.

Lemon Blueberry Brownies

As promised in my previous post of the recipe, I finally grabbed a picture of the completed brownies. Fair warning, these don't travel well as the glaze has a tendency to melt. I prefer them chilled anyway as I make these in Summer and Summer in Michigan tends towards hot and humid.  Who really wants to eat hot food when it's already hot?

Bear with me, I am not a professional photographer and do not have the funds to pay one to stop by and snap shots every time I bake something new. These were taken with my old phone, not too bad for a older model.

 

Here's another view with a filter added:

If these are enticing you to whip up a batch you can grab the recipe here:  Lemon Blueberry Brownies Recipe.

These have been a big hit this summer, hope you enjoy them too!

Lemon Blueberry Brownies

Yes, that’s right. Lemon Brownies! I’ll need to experiment with some other flavors as well in the near future, but it’s summertime so Lemon is King.

I saw a posting for Lemon Bars while I was waiting on Lemon Blueberry muffins to come out of the oven and decided to play around a bit with lemon and blueberries. It’s taken me a bit to get this nailed down, I had a few flops, but this recipe has meet with several thumbs up, murmured approvals, and sarcastic statements like “oh yeah, these are just SO bad”, nom, nom, nom.

Using a mixer makes them more “cakey” than I prefer, so I do everything by hand. You all, of course, are free to fiddle with this as you please and come up with whatever works best for you.

The batch I made for yesterday’s vendor show were some of the best I’ve made yet. I put on a bit more glaze than I have in the past and I think that makes a difference. I plan on playing with this recipe a bit more and will post results as I get them.

At this point I do not have a picture of these, I failed to snap a picture before I gave them all away. I will grab a picture of the next batch and add it to this post.

Equipment needed:

     Medium mixing bowl

     Small mixing bowl

     Whisk

     Wooden spoon or stiff spatula

     8”x8” baking pan (9”x9” works too)

     Parchment paper or baking spray

     Spatula for scraping and spreading the glaze

Groceries needed:

Brownies

     ½ cup butter, melted

     ¾ cups sugar, (granulated)

     1 packet TrueLemon^TM or Zest of ½ Lemon

     2 eggs (large or extra large)

     1 tblsp lemon juice

     ¾ cup flour

     ½ tsp baking powder

     2 cups frozen blueberries (or use fresh)

Glaze

     ¾ to 1 cup powered sugar

    1.5 to 2 tblsp lemon juice

    1 packet TrueLemon^TM or Zest of ½ Lemon

The glaze measurements depend on how thick a glaze you want. I used 1 cup powered sugar and 2 tablespoons of lemon juice for a thicker glaze. It’s still a light glaze, not a frosting but it packs a bit more lemon-y punch.

Full disclosure: I do not get any money from the True Lemon^TM folks, but I have found their product to be a really wonderful addition to my baking pantry. The blueberries I use are frozen Wild Maine Blueberries that I pick up at CostCo^TM. They have amazing flavor, and are a bit smaller, but oh-so-yummy! 

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350⁰ F
2. Line the baking pan with parchment paper OR spray with baking spray OR butter and flour pan
3. Melt the butter in a sauce pan or in the microwave
4. Place the butter and sugar into the mixing bowl and whisk until well blended
5. Add the True Lemon^TM or lemon zest to the mixing bowl and whisk very lightly
6. Add the 2 eggs, lemon juice, and baking powder and whisk until well blended
7. Lift the whisk from the bowl, letting the liquid drip into the bowl, then set aside
8. Add the flour and using the wooden spoon, mix until fully incorporated
9. Add in the blueberries and gently mix in
10. Pour the mixture into the baking pan
11. Bake for 25-35 minutes (my oven works best at 32 minutes), Let cool completely before making the glaze.

To make the glaze:

1. Using a clean whisk and the small mixing bowl, place the powered sugar, True Lemon^TM or lemon zest, and lemon juice into the bowl.
2. Mix until smooth
3. Pour the glaze on the cool brownies
4. Use the spatula to evenly spread out the glaze
5. Let sit until the glaze firms up a bit; you can “rush” this step a bit by putting the brownies into the fridge to set up

Cut when ready and prepare to get some sticky fingers from the glaze. These don’t last long though, so enjoy while you have them!