Spring Lemon & Poppy Seed Muffins

It's one of those days today where its pouring down one minute and blindingly bright sunshine the next. The moments of sunshine are bliss and I can't help but think of the long summer days to come! To counteract the rain and will summer to arrive I wanted to bake something sunshiney. I did contemplate a classic lemon drizzle cake but then I came across some beautiful photographs of some lemon poppy seed muffins on Pinterest and I knew it had to be these.

The zesty lemon and slightly nutty poppy seeds really work well together and a sharp lemon icing finishes them off perfectly. I think we will be breakfasting on these all week.

For this recipe I based the ingredients on an American version, that uses sour cream, and then adapted the measurements and method to suit my kitchen. I always have to convert cup measurements into grams, especially for butter as trying to measure a cup of butter requires a bit too much faffing for my liking. So I have written below the quantities in grams. It must just be an American thing as all the recipes I find on US blogs seem to measure in cups...

Ingredients
(makes 12)
260g self raising flour
2 tsp baking powder
140g sugar
120g butter, softened
2 eggs
pinch of salt
180ml sour cream
zest of 2 lemons
2 tbsp lemon juice
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 tbsp poppy seeds

For the icing:
250g icing ugar
5-6 tbsp lemon juice

First of all preheat your oven to 200°C and place your muffin cases into a 12 hole muffin tin then set to one side.

In a large mixing bowl (I used an electric mixer as my mum gave me a really cool retro looking one and I love using it) cream together the sugar and softened butter along with the lemon zest.

Add the eggs one at a time and continue to mix. Then add the sieved flour, salt and baking powder gradually, about a third at a time. Once combined add the lemon juice and vanilla extract and then the sour cream and mix.

Add the poppy seeds last and mix until evenly distributed then divide into the 12 muffin cases - they should be fairly full.

Bake for about 20 minutes but keep an eye on them as all ovens are different (you know they're done when a skewer comes out clean). Transfer to a cooling rack and leave to cool completely.

Finally, for the icing; sift the icing sugar into a bowl then add the lemon juice and stir until you get a slightly runny icing. Drizzle onto the cooled muffins and leave to set. Then enjoy with a nice cup of coffee (or tea depending on your persuasion - I won't judge). They will keep for about 3-4 days if kept in an airtight tin but if it's anything like our house they probably won't last that long!

Toffee Apple 'Volcano' Muffins

Toffee and apple is a classic combination and I have wanted to make these for ages. It actually ended up being half toffee apple and half fudge apple muffins in the batch but both were equally delicious. I have been at my parents so used I their kitchen which is far more organised than my own and I was able to get some really nice photos during making these. My niece and nephew were there with my sister and they loved these sticky little treats (with ice cream). We named them Toffee Apple 'Volcano' Muffins because the toffee all bubbled up and over the sides! I know its a long way off but I plan to make these on bonfire night!

I loved displaying them on this vintage tea set with a nice cup of green tea with lemon. I think next time I make them I will do a toffee sauce topping but at the time I thought it might make them too sweet but they actually do not contain a lot of sugar. So here's what you need:

Ingredients
(Makes 15)
300g plain flour
2 tsp baking powder
80g golden caster sugar
240ml milk
100g butter melted
2 eggs
pinch of salt
pinch of cinnamon
2 apples, peeled and cubed (I recommend a tart variety like a granny smith or a bramley)
200g mix of toffees and fudge

These toffees and fudge were left over from Christmas so I decided it was high time to make use of them. Preheat the oven to 190°C and line 15 muffin tins (the recipe I adapted these from said they made 12 but I seemed to have a lot of mixture left over and I didn't want to overfill the cases so I'd say they make more like 15 to 16).

Cut the fudge into smaller cubes (I did quarters) and smash up the toffee in a sandwich bag with a small hammer. This bit can be a bit tricky as the toffee has a habit of jumping about.

In a large mixing bowl mix together the eggs, milk, sugar and melted butter then sift in the flour, baking powder, salt and cinnamon and stir until thoroughly combined.

 Add in the chopped apples and mix.

Spoon the mixture into the muffin cases so you just fill them about a 3rd then sprinkle the toffee pieces on to half and the fudge pieces onto the other half. Keep a bit behind for sprinkling on the top. Then spoon the rest of the mixture into the cases to fill the cases about 3/4. Sprinkle the remaining toffee and fudge on the top.

Pop in the oven and bake for about 30 minutes. Then transfer to a cooling rack.

Serve warm or cold (they are especially lovely warm with a scoop of vanilla ice cream as a pudding!)