Saturday 22 September 2007

From my home to yours


Dorie Greenspan's latest book, From Baking: From my home to yours, is one my go-to books whenever I'm looking for something to bake. Her recipes have never failed me and some of my favourites from this book are the World Peace cookies and Devil's food white-out cake, the cake that is featured on the cover of this book. So, when looking for a sweet treat to serve at our brunch last week, I once again pulled this trusted book from my shelf. Eventually I settled on these Lemon poppy seed muffins.

I was tempted to leave out the icing on these muffins but I'm glad I didn't. As she says in the recipe, the icing really does help to give an extra irresistible burst of lemony flavour.


Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins
From Baking: From my home to yours

2/3 cup sugar
Grated zest and juice of 1 lemon
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
3/4 cup sour cream
2 large eggs
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
1 stick unsalted butter, melted and cooled
2 tbsp poppy seeds

For the icing:
1 cup confectioners' sugar, sifted
2-3 tbsp fresh lemon juice

Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 400F. Butter or spray the 12 molds in a regular-size muffin pan or fit the molds with paper muffin cups. Alternatively, use a silicone muffin pan, which needs neither greasing nor paper cups. Place the muffin pan on a baking sheet.

In a large bowl, rub the sugar and lemon zest together with your fingertips until the sugar is moist and the fragrance of lemon strong. Whisky in the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. In a large glass measuring cup or another bowl, whisk the sour cream, eggs, vanilla, lemon juice and melted butter together until well blended. Pour the liquid ingredients over the dry ingredients and, with the whisk or a rubber spatula, gently but quickly stir to blend. Don't worry about being thorough - a few lumps are better than overmixing the batter. Stir in the poppy seeds. Divide the batter evenly among the muffin cups.

Bake for 18 to 20 minutes, or until the tops are golden and a thin knife inserted into the center of the muffins comes out clean. Transfer the pan to a rack and cool for 5 minutes before carefully removing each muffin from its mold. Cool the muffins completely on the rack before icing them.

To make the icing:
Put the confectioner's sugar in a small bowl and add about 1 1/2 tablespoons of the lemon juice. Stir with a spoon to moisten the sugar, then add enough additional lemon juice, a dribble at a time, to get an icing that is thin enough to drizzle from the tip of the spoon. You can then drizzle lines of icing over the tops of the muffins or coat the tops entirely, the better to get an extra zap of lemon.