Lemon Poppy Seed Sour Cream Muffins

Spring has finally sprung! Yay!

Seriously, the past few days have been so wonderfully warm, and the clear skies and beautiful sunshine have melted away the last few piles of snow. The grass is beginning to turn green now, and I even saw some vibrant green daffodil sprouts poking out of the ground today. Yep, spring is here!

And so to celebrate the return of spring, I made these sunny, yummy lemon poppy seed muffins. I really like these muffins. They are sweet, but not too sweet, and are lightly scented with lemon. The sour cream in these muffins makes them really soft and tender while the poppy seeds give them a little bit of a crunch. Warm them up and top them with some jam and you have the perfect breakfast for a sunny spring morning!

This recipe is adapted from the lemon poppy seed muffin recipe found in Dorie Greenspan's Baking: From my home to yours:

Lemon Poppy Seed Sour Cream Muffins

2 c (280 g) all purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
2/3 c sugar
1 tsp lemon zest (about 1 lemon's worth)
1/4 c lemon juice (about 1 lemon's worth)
2 eggs
3/4 c sour cream
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 c butter (melted and cooled)
2 tbsp poppy seeds

1. Move a rack to the center of your oven and preheat it to 400°.

2. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.

3. Place the sugar into a medium-sized bowl. Using your fingertips, rub the lemon zest into the sugar until the sugar is moist and fragrant. Add the lemon juice, eggs, sour cream, and vanilla extract to the sugar mixture and whisk until everything is well combined. While whisking continuously, slowly pour in the melted butter. Whisk until everything is well blended.

4. Add the sour cream mixture to the flour mixture and gently stir until the batter just barely comes together. Gently stir in the poppy seeds.

5. Divide the batter evenly between the 12-cups of a well greased muffin pan. Bake for 18-20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean. Allow the muffins to cool in their pan for 5 minutes before turning them out onto a wire rack to cool completely.