lemon poppy seed muffins

Do you know the Muffin Man, the Muffin Man, the Muffin Man
O do you know the Muffin Man who lives in Drury Lane?

Baker May strikes again! I bought these pack of poppy seeds awhile back, thinking I could bake some bagels and use these seeds as a garnish. I didn't have much time to spend on baking today, and bagels take at least 3 hours to get done. Well then, what else could I do with poppy seeds?

I remember eating delicious lemon poppy seed muffins from Muffin Break while I was in Sydney. Oh, the craving's back! Ok then, today we'll make some lemon poppy seed muffins. A quick search on the Internet, and I found one from Recipe Source (visit this page for the original).

INGREDIENTS:
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 eggs
1 1/2 cups buttermilk or plain low-fat yogurt
1/4 cup poppy seeds
2 tablespoons rated lemon rind

For the syrup:
1/3 cup lemon juice
1/3 cup granulated sugar


DIRECTIONS:

1. Preheat oven to 400F/200C.
2. In bowl, combine flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Mix well.
3. In large bowl, beat oil with sugar, eggs, buttermilk or yogurt, poppy seeds and lemon peel.
4. Add dry ingredients to large bowl and combine just until moistened.
5. Spoon batter into 12 large non-stick, lightly oiled or paper-lined muffin cups. Bake in preheated 400F/200C oven for 20 to 25 minutes.
6. Meanwhile, in small saucepan, bring lemon juice and sugar to boil. Cool for a few minutes.
7. When muffins come out of oven, prick in a few places with toothpick. Spoon syrup over top and allow to soak into muffins. Cool and remove muffins from pan.

The batter can also be baked in a 9 x 5-inch loaf pan (2L loaf pan) for 45 to 50 minutes.

RESULTS:
Tangy, yummy muffins! The poppy seeds give them a slight crunch, and unlike strawberry & raspberry seeds, they don't stick between your teeth. I couldn't find buttermilk in any supermarket, so I opted for the low-fat yoghurt. They're kind of spongy and springy, not really cake-like compared to store-bought muffins. I wonder if the yoghurt had anything to do with the different texture?


I used the mid-sized, 12-muffin tray instead of the jumbo 6-muffin tray. Instead of making 12 like what the recipe indicated, I was able to make 20 mid-sized muffins. Maybe it's because I only filled each hole with 1/2 to 3/4 batter. If you want those with a little spillover crust all around, then fill the holes up to the brim. Watch them overflow in the oven!

A little side-note on the muffin trays:
I couldn't find these non-stick muffin trays in a lot of local supermarkets which stock the regular tin tart trays. I finally made a trip to Ikea and bought mine for RM29 each. Chan Tung sells the same kind for less than RM24 (haiya, should've bought from them instead!). Giant Supermarket at Klang Parade also sells these muffin trays for about the same price.


Oh yes, you might find that you'll have a lot of the lemon syrup left after drizzling a good amount of it over your muffins. Add some of it to a glass of cold water or two, and... ta-dahhh! You've got yourself some good ol' zesty lemonade... *winks*!


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