Easy Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins

Randomly placed lemon poppy seed muffins on a parchment paper-lined baking sheet with half of a lemon.

5 from 4 votes

These Easy Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins are a delicious way to start your morning! They're fluffy, flavorful, and smell insanely good! Drizzle this simple lemon glaze over the top for a little more burst of lemon flavor!

Prep Time25

Cook Time20

Muffin Batter Rest Time45

Total Time1 30

Course: Breakfast, Brunch

Cuisine: American

Servings: servings

Author: Jennifer

Ingredients

Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins

2 1/4 cups All-Purpose Flour sifted
2 tsp Baking Powder double acting
1/2 tsp Baking Soda
1/4 tsp Salt
1 cup Granulated Sugar
2 tbsp Lemon Zest
1 cup Sour Cream
1/4 cup Whole Milk
2 tbsp Lemon Juice fresh from approx. 2 lemons
1 tsp Lemon Paste or lemon extract
1 tsp Vanilla Extract
2 Large Eggs room temperature
1/2 cup Unsalted Butter melted
2 1/2 tbsp Poppy Seeds soaked in warm water and drained
Sparkling Sugar for sprinkling over cupcakes

Lemon Honey Syrup

1 tbsp Lemon Juice fresh
1 tbsp Honey

Lemon Glaze

1 cup Powdered Sugar sifted
3 tbsp Lemon Juice

US Customary - Metric

Instructions

Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins

In a small bowl filled with warm water, soak the poppy seeds for 1 hour or preferably overnight. Drain and set to the side.
In a heat-proof measuring glass or bowl, melt the unsalted butter in the microwave until fully melted. Set to the side and allow to cool slightly.
In a medium size bowl, whisk together the all-purpose flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Set to the side.
2 1/4 cups All-Purpose Flour, 2 tsp Baking Powder, 1/2 tsp Baking Soda, 1/4 tsp Salt
In a separate bowl and with clean hands, rub the granulated sugar and lemon zest together. Set to the side.
1 cup Granulated Sugar, 2 tbsp Lemon Zest
Using a whisk, hand-held mixer, or stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, mix together the sour cream, whole milk, lemon juice, lemon paste, vanilla extract, and eggs on medium-high speed until well blended. Add the granulated sugar and lemon zest mixture and continue mixing.
1 cup Sour Cream, 1/4 cup Whole Milk, 2 tbsp Lemon Juice, 1 tsp Lemon Paste , 1 tsp Vanilla Extract, 2 Large Eggs
With a spatula, stir the dry mixture in only halfway. If using a stand mixer, stop your mixer, add in the dry flour mixture in, then mix the batter on low speed only halfway.
Gently fold in the melted, slightly cooled unsalted butter and poppy seeds. Finish stirring the muffin batter until there are little to no visible areas of flour. A few visible streaks of flour are okay.
1/2 cup Unsalted Butter, 2 1/2 tbsp Poppy Seeds
Let the mixture sit covered in the fridge for 30-45 minutes. You can let this muffin batter rest overnight in the refrigerator, if needed.
Adjust your oven rack to the 2nd level rack (from the top) and preheat the oven to 400ºF. Line a 12-cup muffin tin with muffin liners.
Using a large scoop, divide the muffin batter into the 12 cupcake liners (the batter will come almost to the top of the liners), then, if desired, top each muffin with sparkling sugar. Bake for 18-20 minutes at 400ºF. When done, the muffin tops should spring back when lightly pressed.
Sparkling Sugar
Remove from the oven and allow the muffins to cool within the tin for about 5-10 minutes. If desired, you can immediately apply the honey lemon syrup mixture to the tops of each muffin using a pastry brush.
Transfer the muffins to a wire cooling rack to finish cooling a bit more or fully. Drizzle with the lemon glaze and/or garnish with lemon zest, if desired.

Lemon Honey Syrup

In a small bowl, whisk together the lemon juice and honey until blended. Brush over the tops of just baked muffins.
1 tbsp Lemon Juice, 1 tbsp Honey

Lemon Glaze

In a medium bowl, whisk together the powdered sugar and lemon juice until well blended. Drizzle over the top of somewhat cooled muffins.
1 cup Powdered Sugar, 3 tbsp Lemon Juice

Video

Notes

Soak the poppy seeds. I recommend soaking them in warm water for at least one hour or, for the best results, overnight.
Sift the flour. For fluffier lemon muffins, I highly recommend sifting your all-purpose flour.
Don't over-mix the batter. When you over-mix the muffin batter, you can wind up with a tougher-textured muffin when baked. Over-mixing also adds more air to the mixture, creating holes.
Rest the muffin batter. If time allows, I recommend resting your lemon poppy seed muffin batter in the refrigerator (covered) for 30 to 45 minutes, max. You can even let the batter rest overnight if you need to.
Filling the muffin liners. Filling the muffin liners almost to the top yielded 12 lemon poppy seed muffins for me.
Brush on the lemon honey syrup (optional step). You can brush some lemon-honey syrup over the top of each lemon poppy seed muffin right after they come out of the oven. I do this with my small-batch lemon cupcakes recipe, and it's easy to whisk together and adds an even greater lemon flavor!
Sparkling sugar topping. Optionally, before baking, you can sprinkle sparkling sugar over the tops of each muffin.
Storage. Store these lemon poppy seed muffins in an airtight container for up to 3 days at room temperature or up to 5 days in the refrigerator. Please note that storing the muffins at room temperature or in the refrigerator may cause them to develop mushy tops if the honey-lemon syrup or lemon glaze is applied. These muffins can also be kept frozen (cooled, then wrapped in plastic wrap, and kept in a freezer bag or container) for up to 3 months. Reheat (from frozen) in a 350ºF pre-heated oven for 10-12 minutes.
Nutritional information is only for the lemon poppy seed muffins, not the glaze, syrup, or sparkling sugar.

Nutrition