Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins

Every Sunday morning I stop at the bakery and pick myself up a lemon poppy seed muffin for breakfast. It is my snack while I am preparing Sunday dinner. I have tried to make these muffins in the past, but nothing ever compares to the one from the bakery, so I surrender and just buy one each week. Well today, all that has changed. I have finally figured out how to get the light, moist interior I crave, with all the flavor I could ever ask for. After research and plenty of trial and error, I honestly believe I have the most perfect lemon poppy seed muffin recipe there is. Try it out and let me know if you agree!

Recipe yields 12 muffins

Ingredients
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp kosher salt
2 tbsp poppy seeds (make sure they are fresh or you will have a bitter flavor!)
1/2 cup unsalted butter
2/3 cup white sugar
2 large eggs
3/4 cup sour cream
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 lemon (zest and juice)

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees and set a rack in the lower-middle area of the oven. In a large mixing bowl, mix together sugar and lemon zest. Use your fingers to squish the lemon zest into the sugar until fragrant.

Add flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt to the mixture. Whisk to combine.

In a separate bowl, add melted butter, vanilla extract, lemon juice, eggs and sour cream. Whisk together until all ingredients are combined.

Now it is time for your dry ingredients to meet your wet ingredients. Pour the wet ingredients on top of the dry and use a spatula to combine. Go around the bowl 3-4 times to mix the ingredients together but do not over mix! It is alright if there are still lumps of batter.

Now add your poppy seeds and mix those into the batter.

Using a scoop or a spoon, evenly distribute the batter among the muffin tin. Be sure you use muffin liners or generously coat the muffin tin with non-stick cooking spray. Bake muffins for 18-20 minutes. You should be able to cleanly remove a toothpick from the center of the muffin when it is done.

Place tray on a wire rack to cool for about 5 minutes. Remove the muffins from their tin and allow them to remain cooling on the wire rack until warm

These muffins are best served warm, so once they are cool enough to handle dig in and enjoy!