This is the best recipe for big, fluffy Bakery-Style Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins with those beautiful domes - full of real lemon flavor and studded with poppy seeds!
3tablespoonslemon juicefresh preferred, but bottled is fine
2tablespoonsgrated lemon zest
2large eggs
Icing
1cupicing sugar
3tablespoonslemon juice
Instructions
Prep: Heat oven to 425°F and line 12 cup muffin pan with nonstick liners.
Combine ingredients separately: Combine dry ingredients in large bowl. Whisk together wet ingredients in large measuring jug until smooth.
Make batter: Pour wet over dry ingredients and stir just to combine - lumps are fine. Evenly divide batter between prepared muffin cups.
Bake: Reduce oven temperature to 400°F. Bake muffins at 400F for 5 minutes, then reduce oven temperature to 360°F (DO NOT OPEN OVEN DOOR FOR THIS!) and finish baking muffins for 15-18 minutes, until toothpick inserted comes out clean.
Cool and glaze: Cool muffins in pan for 5 minutes, then remove to cooling rack to cool completely. Combine glaze ingredients into thick glaze, spread over cooled muffins.
Notes
Ingredient notes
Flour: Feel free to swap half of the all-purpose flour for whole wheat. You may need to add 1-2 tablespoons of milk to the batter if it’s too thick. I cannot advise on using an alternative flour like almond, because the behavior in baking of these types of flour are very different from wheat.
Butter: A neutral vegetable oil is fine to use in place of the melted butter.
Greek yogurt: I use plain full-fat Greek yogurt. You can use low fat, but it must be Greek yogurt, not regular yogurt. A thick sour cream can be used in place of the Greek yogurt.
Baking powder and soda: I highly recommend using both in this recipe, for best results. If you only want to use one type, it should be the baking powder.
Recipe tips
This batter is on the thick side, but it shouldn't be gloopy. If you think you accidentally added too much flour, you can thin out the batter with 1-2 tablespoons of milk.
Don't use a whisk when combining the wet and dry ingredients - use a rubber spatula or a wooden spoon to avoid overmixing.
An ice cream or cookie scoop makes it virtually mess-free to transfer the batter into the muffin cups.
For the perfect domed muffins, stick to the oven temperature instructions in the recipe. The initial boost of heat quickly activates the baking powder and causes the muffins to rise very nicely.