July m.o.m. - Whole Grain Lemon-Poppy Seed muffins

I know that today is actually the first day of August, and I'm just now posting the July muffins-of-the-month. My mom has been on vacation in Maine for the last part of the month, so I made muffins to have bring with me when I pick her up at the airport later today. Lemon-Poppy Seed might be her very favorite muffin flavor, so when I saw a recipe in my new King Arthur Flour Whole Grain Baking book, I knew I had to make it. Nothing says "Welcome Home" better than your favorite muffins, right?

n.o.e.'s notes:

- I've heard great things about the book, so my hopes were high for my inaugural KAFWGB recipe.

- The recipe is for a Lemon-Poppy Seed bread, but gives directions for making a muffin variation. Scroll down to find the recipe as I made it.

- I followed the recipe exactly as written, with one exception: I didn't have lemon yogurt, so I used nonfat plain yogurt and added about 1/4 tsp of lemon extract.

- Actually there was an unintentional change from the recipe that I didn't realize until I typed it up - I only used 1/4 cup of lemon juice rather than the 1/2 cup that the recipe specifies.

- I order oat flour through my farm box, and it's fairly coarse. I love the texture that it gives my breads and other baked goods.

- There was enough batter to fill 15 silicone cupcake cups, which are a little bit smaller than the wells on regular muffin tins. I only made 14, so a few overflowed.


the verdict:

I loved these muffins, and I hope my mom loves them also. Some lemon poppy seed muffins are fluffy and cake-like, but these are moist, compact, and chewy from the oat flour. They are quite lemony and a little crunchy from the poppyseeds and the browned edges.

Lemon-Poppy Seed Bread (or Muffins)

1 1/2 cup (6 oz) white whole wheat flour
1/2 cup (1 5/8 oz oat flour
3/4 cup (3 1/8 oz)
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup (1 stick, 4 oz) unsalted butter
1 cup (7 oz) sugar
2 large eggs
2 T grated lemon zest (was 2 lemons for me)
1/2 cup fresh lemon juice (oops, I used 1/4 cup)
3/4 cup lemon yogurt, non-fat to full fat (I used plain non-fat yogurt)
1/4 tsp lemon extract (my addition)
1/4 c (1 3/8 oz) poppy seeds

[There is an optional lemon glaze, which I omitted.]

1. Whisk together the dry ingredients in a medium bowl.

2. Cream butter and sugar in a large mixing bowl until fluffy.

3. Add the eggs, one at a time.

4. Add 1/3 of the dry ingredients

5. Add the lemon juice.

6. Add 1/3 of the dry ingredients

7. Add the yogurt and poppy seeds.

8. Add the remaining 1/3 of the dry ingredients.

9. Scoop the batter into muffin liners or prepared pans (makes about 15 smallish regular muffins)

10. I baked at 360 convect/bake setting for 15 minutes, cooled a few minutes then popped them out of the muffin cups and cooled on a rack.