OK, I’m just going to say it. These muffins are good. Crazy good. Up there with the best I’ve ever made.
The combination of tart yet sweet Meyer lemons and juicy
blackberries all in a buttery, light and caky muffin is sublime. Then I took this Meyer lemon blackberry
muffin and dipped it in a light lemony sugar glaze that made the muffin top
glisten with sweet goodness.
I can’t take full credit for this lemon muffin. One of my favorite lazy Sunday
afternoon activities is to look through some of my old cookbooks for
inspiration. Most of the really
old books don’t have pictures which is a bit disappointing, but it does let my
imagination run wild with all the ways I could photograph the item to make it
eye popping delicious. I found my lemon muffin recipe in a little book simply called "Muffins" that was published in 1985. It's very unassuming but has great recipes.
Our family happened to have made a Costco run this
weekend. We don’t go very often,
but we had a gift card and wanted to take full advantage of this shopping
opportunity. My sixteen year old
son loves the trip and generally makes lunch out of all the samples being
distributed. It requires patience
but somehow he finds a way to leave the store with a full belly.
There’s always lots of fun and good quality products at
Costco. My daughter and I spotted
a large carton of Meyer lemons and snagged them at once. Our love affair with these lemons
started when we lived in the Bay Area.
We had a small Meyer lemon tree in our front yard, which produced copious
amounts of this golden citrus.
This varietal is almost a cross between an orange and a lemon. It has floral undertones and a nice
balance of sweet and sour. My daughter actually often eats them straight, like
an orange.
If you don’t have access to Meyer lemons you can definitely
use regular lemons. They will be a
little different but delicious all the same. Couple recipe notes; I employed a couple of new techniques
while preparing these muffins.
First I used a food processor to chop the lemon zest with the sugar and
to then cream the butter and eggs.
I was really pleased with the results. As well, I incorporated the baking soda into the yogurt
before combining it with the rest of the batter. The yogurt will bubble since it’s reacting with the acid in
the yogurt. I’m not sure how much
of a difference these techniques made, but the muffins are extremely light,
fluffy and moist – a dreamy way to start your day.
Sugar Dipped Meyer Lemon Blackberry Muffins
Yield: 8 large muffins or 12 medium muffins
Ingredients
- 1 medium meyer lemon, peeled with vegetable peeler
- 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, room temperature
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 cup plain or vanilla yogurt
- 2 cups all purpose flour
- 1 cup blackberries
- 1/4 cup fresh meyer lemon juice
- 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
- Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees fahrenheit.
- Put the lemon peel and 1 cup of sugar into your food processor fitted with a steel blade. Process one to two minutes, scraping sides once, until lemon peel is finely chopped. Add butter; process about 30 seconds until creamy. Add eggs, one at a time, processing briefly after each addition.
- Scrape mixture into a large bowl. It make look curdled but that is fine.
- Stir baking soda into yogurt, it will start to bubble and rise up. Fold flour into lemon mixture one third at a time, alternating with yogurt. Fold in blackberries (if your blackberries are really large you may want to cut them in half).
- Scoop into paper lined or well greased muffin tins. Bake 15 minutes for smaller muffins (12) and 20 minutes for larger ones (8).
- While muffins bake mix lemon juice and sugar in a small bowl. Stir until sugar dissolves.
- Remove muffins from oven and let cool for 3 to 5 minutes. Remove from pan and dip muffin tops in lemon sugar mixture. Place on cooling rack.
A long long long time when the world was flat I was in high school, I made a peach muffin
ReplyDeletethat you dipped the whole thing in butter and rolled in sugar. This reminds me of it, except it is extra appealing, because lemon is Queen.
Your daughter has a keen eye! These bright happy muffins give me hope for warm summer days to come :)
ReplyDeleteThanks Erin! Have a great weekend :)
DeleteThese look amazing! I absolutely LOVE Meyer Lemons on Blackberries. I just posted a recipe using the same combination. Can't wait to try this!
ReplyDeleteThanks so much! Just took a look at your blog - it's great :)
DeleteI think every day should start this way. These look especially fluffy and delicious!
ReplyDeleteThanks Kimberly Ann!
DeleteLemon muffins sound like such a great way to start the day! I'm going to have to try to adapt these for my gluten-free diet. Thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteThanks Lisa! I just started out on a gluten free diet too. Right now coconut flour is my favorite baking ingredient.
DeleteMeyer lemon and blackberries sound delightful in a muffin! I had a friend asking me for lemony muffins the other day and I'm going to send her your recipe :)
ReplyDeleteThanks Barbara!!
Delete