Lemon Poppyseed Muffins

When I was 11, we moved to Malaysia to live for 3 years (because of my Dad's job).  While there, we (being my Mum, her friend and her friends daughters) visited Starbucks, A LOT.  I mean, why wouldn't we, it was CHEAP there, and there was a Starbucks right across the road from where we lived!  Not even kidding.  Walk out of our apartment building, cross the street and we're at Starbucks.  It was amazing.  

Anyway, Starbucks used to serve lemon poppyseed muffins.  They were so good!  The top was always crispy and delicious, and there was so much lemon that the whole muffin was deliciously tangy and lemony, and the poppyseed just added a beautiful crunch to it.  Of course, they served them warm, with butter, which was just superb.  It quickly became one of our regular orders, and they were always amazing, never had a bad muffin.

And so this inspired me to try making lemon poppyseed muffins today, with a recipe I saw on via www.pinterest.com.  I followed the recipe to a tee, just because with baking you need to be a bit more careful with measurements and things because it's all based on chemical food reactions, and I didn't want to end up with terrible little bricks.

The only things I changed was that I didn't put any zest in (because I loathe the texture of lemon zest) and I forgot to put the salt in (maybe contributed to the disappointing flavour??).

INGREDIENTS

½ cup (~120g) sweet creamy butter, softened
²⁄₃ cup sugar
2 large eggs , separated
1 ¹⁄₃ cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
2 tablespoons poppy seeds
2 lemons, zest of , grated
¼ teaspoon salt
½ cup plain yogurt
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1 teaspoon vanilla

METHOD

• Preheat oven to 180 deg C
• In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar until fluffy
• Add egg yolks one at a time, beat well after each
• In a separate bowl, mix dry ingredients, poppyseeds, SALT, and lemon zest
• Add dry ingredients to cream mixture, alternating with yoghurt, lemon juice and then vanilla
• Original recipe says to beat, but in past experience, just mix/fold together gently - don't over mix.  Stir only a few times, until just mixed.
• In another bowl, whisk egg whites until soft peaks form
• Stir/fold gently into muffin mixture until blended
• Spoon into muffin pan (if it's not a silicon pan, be sure to grease your tins first!), filling 3/4 full
• Bake until a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean, and the muffins are golden

I was a bit disappointed with these muffins and won't be using this recipe again, but I thought I'd share it anyway.  They just weren't lemony enough!!!  I could barely taste any lemon.  I mean, they were still nice, and they density was good and they weren't little bricks or anything.  It's just they weren't tangy or anything like how I expected, even though I added over 2 tablespoons of lemon juice.

I shall keep looking for other recipes to try, and hopefully one day I'll find one as good as Starbucks!!!

Recipe Inspiration: http://www.food.com/recipe/lemon-poppy-seed-muffins-100943