juice of two lemons + milk to the level of 1 cup (240mL)3
zest of 1 and ½ lemons
½teaspoonvanilla extract
Instructions
LEMON STREUSEL
Place flour, sugar, salt, and lemon zest into a small bowl. Toss together with a fork until combined.
Add the butter to the bowl, then use a fork to smash the pieces of butter into the mixture.
Use your fingers to press the ingredients together until butter is in small chunks. I like to pick up chunks of butter and gently pinch them between my thumb and pointer and middle fingers to flatten slightly. I then drop the flattened pieces of butter back into the mixture so they pick up the dry mixture, then go through the whole bowl again with all of my fingers to "fluff" the mixture and turn the flattened pieces back into larger chunks. You are aiming for mostly medium-size chunks and some smaller and larger chunks.
Place streusel in the refrigerator while you make the muffin batter.
LEMON POPPY SEED MUFFINS
Preheat the oven to 400ºF (204ºC). Spray 18 wells of two 12-count muffin pans with non-stick spray or line the wells with cupcake liners. Set aside.
In a large bowl, toss together the flour, poppy seeds, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.
In a medium size bowl, whisk together the brown sugar, granulated sugar, and butter until smooth. Add the eggs, lemon juice/milk mixture, lemon zest, and vanilla extract and whisk again until everything is combined.
Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and stir gently with a spatula until just combined. Spoon batter into prepared muffin pans, being careful not to overfill (I aim for about halfway to just under ⅔ of the way full for this batter). Sprinkle 1 scant Tablespoon of lemon streusel onto the tops of each mound of batter.
Bake the muffins for 5 minutes, then reduce heat to 350ºF (171ºC) and bake for an additional 13-15 minutes until streusel starts to brown and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out mostly clean. Remove from oven and allow to cool completely on a wire rack. Muffins will stay fresh in an airtight container at room temperature up to 3 days or in the refrigerator up to one week. Muffins freeze well, up to 2 months. Thaw in microwave for 45-60 seconds before eating.
Notes
Butter: I typically cut my ¼ cup of butter into 16 pieces. Cut the stick in half long ways, turn it on its side and cut in half long ways again, then slice into 4 slices. This will make 16 small pieces.
Room temperature ingredients: it is always a good rule of thumb to use room temperature eggs when using room temperature butter. To bring eggs to room temperature quickly, place in a bowl of warm water for 10 minutes.
Lemon juice + milk: add lemon juice to a glass measuring cup. Two lemons will give you approximately ½ cup of juice. Add milk to the cup with the lemon juice until the level is at 1 cup. This is similar to making buttermilk.
All nutritional values are approximate and provided to the reader as a courtesy. Changing ingredients and/or quantities will alter the estimated nutritional calculations.