Lemon Poppyseed Muffins: easter morning recipe

Easter is over, but spring is just beginning. Some of us may be PSL* lovers in the fall, but I am a LPS lover as soon as the snow begins to melt-- That’s Lemon Poppyseed lover. One of my favourite ways to enjoy this fresh and zesty flavour is as muffins. I baked up a batch of lemon-poppyseed muffins for my family this past weekend, and my brother ate four of them before we even got to the main course. That’s right. Four. And these are not small muffins.

(*That’s “pumpkin spice latte”, for those of us that are not fluent in Starbucks)

These muffins are like bakery-style muffins. Big, moist, and fluffy, with golden-kissed tops dangerously overflowing the muffin tin. This recipe has no healthy ingredient swaps, but it’s not loaded with anything except fresh lemon flavour and lots of poppy seeds. Not too sweet, but sweet enough to balance out the fresh lemon juice laboriously hand squeezed into these babies.

`muffins fresh out the oven on Easter morning`

You can eat these for breakfast with a smoothie or some fresh fruit, or if you’re in the mood for some procrasti-baking, whip up a batch of icing and turn them into some luscious lemon cupcakes.

And if you’re feeling really wild, eat some cupcakes for breakfast. Lemon is a fruit, right? And we need all the vitamin C we can get right now.

Let me know if these muffins convert you too!

Stay healthy, friends.

`lemon poppyseed muffins featuring my foot`

Main Ingredients

Vegan ~makes 12 large muffins

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 tablespoon baking powder

teaspoon ½ salt

4 tablespoons poppy seeds

cup ½ canola oil

⅔ cup sugar

4 tablespoons aquafaba, optional**

cup ¾ oat milk

cup ⅓ fresh lemon juice

2 - 3 tablespoons lemon zest

2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

Directions

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees and line a large muffin tin with paper liners.
Sift together all dry ingredients in a medium sized bowl: flour, baking powder, salt, and poppyseeds.
In another bowl, use a hand beater to whisk the aquafaba (if using) for a few minutes until it is light and frothy, much like beaten egg whites. If you are not using aquafaba, skip this part, and move on to the next step.
Zest one or two lemons to get at least 2 tablespoons of lemon zest. Slice lemons in half and squeeze out all the juice into a cup or shallow bowl until you have 1/3 cup of juice.
In a large bowl, whisk together all wet ingredients: canola oil, sugar, oat milk, lemon juice, lemon zest, vanilla, and beaten aquafaba, if using.
Once all wet ingredients are thoroughly incorporated, fold in the dry ingredients using a wooden spoon and a spatula to scrape the bowl occasionally. Stir until just combined, but be careful to not over mix!
Use a dough scoop or measuring cup to scoop batter into prepared muffin tin. Sprinkle the tops of the muffins a a spoonful of sugar for an extra sweet crumb on the top crust. Place muffins in oven and bake for 22-27 minutes, or until the tops of the muffins are golden and an inserted toothpick comes out clean.

Additional Notes

**Aquafaba is simply the liquid that you find in a can of chickpeas. To get the amount of aquafaba this recipe requires, strain a can of chickpeas over a shallow bowl or measuring cup, and reserve the liquid from the can. Save the chickpeas to toss into a salad, or even freeze them for another recipe later on.

*If you wanted to make these muffins lower in fat, you could replace half the oil with applesauce, although they will not have the same light and fluffy texture the next day.

*To make lemon-poppyseed cupcakes, simply make your favourite icing recipe, and frost these babies once they have fully cooled.

You can find a printable version of this recipe through this link here: Lemon Poppyseed Muffins