Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins

Justin started nightfloat on Labor and Delivery last night which has left me pretty bored during the nights. This weekend I was trying to figure out what I could make that he could take with him, not need to be refrigerated, and could be eaten quickly. I decided on some muffins because those seem to hold up well and are less prone to being squished in a lunch box.

I've been craving lemons lately so I decided to try my hand at lemon poppy seed muffins. They've always been my favorite muffin, but I've never actually made them before. A while back I found a recipe for them from a cookbook my mom got me for either my birthday or Christmas. I had all the ingredients so I figured I might as well make them for breakfast!

I did a little twist on the lemon poppyseed muffins and added jam in the middle. Justin has been craving blueberry jam all week and this was the easiest/non-messy way of incorporating jam into his nightfloat lunch box. Since I was experimenting I decided to only make some of the muffins this way. It turned out to be amazing and I'd recommend filling all of the muffins with jam. We used raspberry jam (for mine) and blueberry jam (for Justin's). I used the different colored muffin cups to help me remember which ones had which jams in them.

Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins
Adapted from Baking: From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan

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 vanilla extract
1 stick butter melted and cooled
2 Tbsp poppy seeds
Raspberry or blueberry jam/preserves

For the lemon glaze: 1 cup powdered sugar and 2-3 Tbsp lemon juice

Preheat oven to 400 ˚F. Line a 12 mold muffin tray with muffin cups (color coding if you are using different types of jam).
In a small bowl mix together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. In a large bowl, mix together the sugar and lemon zest with your fingers. Make sure all of the lemon zest is incorporated and the sugar smells like lemons. Mix in the flour mixture.
In a medium bowl whisk together the eggs, sour cream, vanilla, butter, and lemon juice. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients bowl and fold together quickly. Mix in the poppy seeds.
Fill the muffin cups halfway with batter. Then put 1-2 tsp of jam in the middle of the muffins. Cover them with more batter.
Bake for 15-18 minutes or until a knife/toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.
Let them cool in the pan for about 5 minutes before transferring them to a wire rack. Make sure they are cool before topping them with glaze.

To make the glaze: Sift the powdered sugar into a small bowl. Mix in 1 1/2 Tbsp of lemon juice. Then keep adding small amounts of lemon juice until the glaze can drizzle off the edge of the spoon. Pour glaze over the muffins.

Step 2 and lemon cookies

Sorry for not updating this past week! I was studying for my medical boards all last week (Step 2 CK to be exact). I finally took it on Thursday and I'm so thrilled to be done. That means I can focus on more important things like baking.
Over the past week I've become obsessed with summer flavors. Lemon is one of my favorite ingredients to work with and I feel like it is the quintessential summer flavor. That's why I was so excited when I saw a recipe for toasted almond lemon meringue cookies! I decided that I had to make it when my friends were coming over last night to watch Mad Men. All in all it ended up tasting amazing. I had a few hiccups along the way, such as mistakengly using a super old pastry bag, from the 1970s, and having it explode all over myself and the kitchen. They might not have looked as pretty as I was going for, but they definitely tasted amazing. I loved the rich flavors of the toasted almonds paired with the zesty tang of the lemon.



Toasted Almond Lemon Meringue Cookies
Adapted from Joy the Baker

1/4 cup finely ground almonds
1 Tbsp cornstartch
2 large egg whites
Pinch of salt
1/2 cup of granulated sugar
1/2 tsp of lemon juice
1 tsp of lemon zest
1/3 cup sliced almonds
1/3 cup powdered sugar

Preheat the oven to 200 F˚. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
Grind 1/2 cup of almonds in a food processor. Measure out 1/4 cup and spread them out on a baking sheet. Put them in the oven for about 10 minutes. After you remove them from the oven put them in a small bowl and mix with the cornstarch. Set the mixture aside.
In an electric stand mixer (or with a hand mixer), beat the egg whites on medium with the salt until they are frothy and peaks form.
Turn the mixer up to medium-high and gradually mix in the sugar. Add in the lemon juice. Continue to beat the mixture until it is glossy and can form stiff peaks.
Remove the bowl from the stand mixer and mix in the lemon zest and toasted almonds. Carefully fold them into the egg mixture.
Transfer the mixture into a pastry bag with a large tip and begin to make small circles on the baking sheet. You can also use a spoon if you don't have a pastry bag.
Sift the powdered sugar over the meringues and top with almonds.
Bake them in the oven for 50 minutes. After they are done baking, turn off the oven and leave the door cracked until they cool/are dry.