Poppy Seed Pound Cake Muffins

These have never been my favorite kind of muffin, but I was craving muffins and wanted to try something new. These poppy seed muffins are buttery yet light and when you combine that with crunchy poppy seeds and the citrus flavor of lemon, you have a muffin that will be sure to please anyone. I omitted the Lemon Glaze, though I am sure that would have made the muffins even tastier.

Poppy Seed Pound Cake Muffins
(Source: Joy of Baking)

2 cups all-purpose flour
2 Tbsp poppy seeds
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 cup unsalted butter
3/4 cup granulated white sugar
2 large eggs
Zest of one lemon
1 cup plain yogurt (do not use non fat yogurt)
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1. Preheat oven to 350 F and place rack in center of oven. Line a 12 cup muffin pan with paper liners or spray with a non stick vegetable spray. Set aside.

2. In a small bowl, whisk or stir together the flour, poppy seeds, salt, baking powder and baking soda. Set aside.

3. In the bowl of your electric mixer, or with a hand mixer, cream the butter and sugar. Beat in eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in the lemon zest, yogurt, and vanilla until well blended. Stir in the flour mixture just until moistened. Do not over mix.

4. Spoon the batter using either two spoons or an ice cream scoop into the prepared muffin tins and bake for 18-20 minutes or until a wooden toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Remove from oven and place on a wire rack to cool for 5 minutes before removing from pan.


Makes 12 muffins

Old-Fashioned Apple Crisp

My husband found this recipe a couple years ago after we made our first trip to the apple orchard. We were crazy about the recipe the first time we made it and, now that I've made it for a third time, it's still just as good. What we like about the recipe is, because of the zest and juices, you can pretty much use any kind of apples you want. Which is really good because, if we are using apples we picked at the orchard, we really have no idea what kind they are.

Some people complain that the citrus kick that all the zest and juice add to this apple crisp cover up the homey, delicious, comforting tastes of the apples and the cinnamon. That may be true, but we love it and it will definitely be a recipe we keep using year after year.

Old-Fashioned Apple Crisp
(Source: Food Network)

5 pounds McIntosh or Macoun apples
Grated zest of 1 orange
Grated zest of 1 lemon
2 Tbsp freshly squeezed orange juice
2 Tbsp freshly squeezed lemon juice
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground nutmeg

For the topping:
1 1/2 cups flour
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup light brown sugar, packed
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1 cup oatmeal
2 sticks (16 Tbsp) cold unsalted butter, diced

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Butter a 9 by 14 by 2-inch oval baking dish.

2. Peel, core, and cut the apples into large wedges. Combine the apples with the zests, juices, sugar, and spices. Pour into the dish.

3. To make the topping, combine the flour, sugars, salt, oatmeal, and cold butter in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Mix on low speed until the mixture is crumbly and the butter is the size of peas. Scatter evenly over the apples.

4. Place the crisp on a sheet pan and bake for 1 hour until the top is brown and the apples are bubbly. Serve warm.

Allspice Crumb Muffins

Apparently I was way too tired to bake this morning because I almost forgot to add the vanilla and then, as I was finishing scooping the batter into my pan, I realized I forgot to add the lemon zest. I debated about just skipping the zest, but I am very glad that I decided to take the time to scoop all the batter back into the bowl so I could add the zest.

I don't know that I've ever baked anything with allspice in a starring role, but it was a nice treat in these muffins and perfect for this time of year. The muffin itself is very moist, and the streusel topping provides nice slightly crunchy texture contrast. The addition of lemon zest is an optional ingredient in the recipe, but I thought it provided essential flavor to complement the spice.

If you don't want to buy whole milk, you can substitute equal amounts of evaporated milk and water. I mixed 1/2 cup of evaporated milk with 1/2 cup of water, stirred it up really good, and then used a 3/4 cup of it in this recipe. The muffins still turned out really well, and I now I don't have extra whole milk, that I will never use (at least not before it goes bad and has to be thrown out), taking up space in my refrigerator.

Allspice Crumb Muffins
(Source: Sticky, Gooey, Creamy Chewy)

For the Streusel:
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup (packed) light brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
5 Tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into bits

For the Muffins:
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup sugar
1 Tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup (packed) light brown sugar
1 stick (8 Tablespoons) unsalted butter, melted and cooled
2 large eggs
3/4 cup whole milk
1/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Grated zest of 1 lemon (optional)

Getting ready:
Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 375°F. Butter or spray the 12 molds in a regular-size muffin pan or fit the molds with paper cups. Place the muffin pan on a baking sheet.

To Make the Streusel:
1. Put the flour, brown sugar and allspice in a small bowl and sift them through your fingers to blend.

2. Add the bits of cold butter and toss to get irregularly shaped crumbs. Set aside in the refrigerator.

To Make the Muffins:
1. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, allspice and salt. Stir in the brown sugar, making certain there are no lumps.

2. In a large glass measuring cup or another bowl, whisk the melted butter, eggs, milk, and vanilla extract together until well combined. 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--the batter will be lumpy, and that is just the way it should be.

3. Stir in the lemon zest, if you're using it.

4. Divide the batter evenly among the muffin cups. Sprinkle some streusel over each muffin, then use your fingertips to gently press the crumbs into the batter.

5. Bake for about 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.

Lemon Buttermilk Cookies

These Lemon Buttermilk Cutout Cookies, found over at Baking Bites, are soft, but not cakelike, cookies (almost like a shortbread cookie) with a hint of lemon, which adds a nice and springlike flavor to what would otherwise be a relatively plain cookie. The dough comes together very quickly and bakes up in only a few minutes, which means that it doesn’t take too long before you can get to the most important parts of cooking-making: decorating (which I am not so good at) and eating (which I am very good at).

Lemon Buttermilk Easter Cookies
(Source: Baking Bites)

2 3/4 cups all purpose flour

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup butter, very soft

1/2 cup buttermilk

1 large egg

1 tbsp lemon zest (from one lemon)
1 tsp vanilla extract

1. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.

2. In a large bowl, cream together sugar and butter. Beat in buttermilk, egg, zest and extract. Mixture may look a bit curdled if your buttermilk was cold. Don’t worry. With the mixer on low speed or by hand, add in the flour mixture, mixing just until no streaks of flour remain. Dough will be very soft.

3. Divide dough into two pieces. Wrap in plastic wrap and freeze for about 2 hours.

4. Preheat oven to 350°F.

5. Working with 1 piece of dough at a time, roll out to no more than 1/4-inch thick (slightly less than that is best) on a lightly floured surface and use a floured cookie cutter to make desired shapes. Transfer cookies to a parchment lined baking sheet. Reroll remaining dough, chilling for a few minutes if it becomes too warm to handle easily. Repeat with second piece of dough.

6. Bake for 10-12 minutes at 350F, until the edges are slightly firm to the touch but cookies are not browned (they may be slightly gold at the edges). Cool for a few minutes on baking sheet, then cool completely on a wire rack before icing.

Makes 3 dozen fairly large cookies.