February was one of the hardest months I’ve experienced in a while. It was bitterly cold in St. Louis, I got the flu, and didn’t leave my apartment for eight days straight. At one point when I could barely breathe because I was so congested, it started snowing and I wanted hot chocolate, so I made myself a cup and chugged it out of deprivation. Note to self: Never do that again.

ANYWAY. Now I’ve thankfully turned a corner and things are mostly right side up again. I can’t speak to the state of the world, but I can speak to the state of my very small piece of it. Luckily, things are better and I’m back to my usual routine, which involves drinking too much coffee for my own good, going on long walks around St. Louis, and baking on Sunday mornings with the music turned up.

Which brings me to these lemon poppyseed muffins. As I’ve written extensively on this blog, I love poppyseeds. I don’t know why, other than they’re nature’s sprinkles. They make everything look cute, and they’re fun to throw into the flour mix. They basically deserve an Oscar for best supporting actor/actress.

I sent a photo of these muffins to my friend after we got brunch this morning, and he said, wow, you made those fast. Honestly, I could probably make muffins with my eyes closed, but in general this is also a super simple recipe. You whisk together some dry ingredients, whisk together milk with egg, melted butter, lemon juice, and lemon zest, and then use a rubber spatula to gently combine the two. I like to use an ice cream scoop to portion out the batter between the paper liners in the muffin tin.

About halfway through baking these muffins, the power went out in my apartment. I’m still not sure why, but I’m going to blame it on us losing an hour today with the time switch. I had a brief panic attack because there’s nothing worse than putting something in the oven and realizing you can’t finish it. I guess the time I set my oven on fire from melted butter from an apple tart was worse.

In any case, luckily this morning’s power outage was only a momentary hiccup. These muffins came out springy, light, and fluffy. They’re like little rays of sunshine, which we desperately need after weeks of snow and gloom.

Here’s a song to get you started on your lemon poppyseed muffin journey. I have *very* complicated feelings about Taylor Swift, which I’m sure is alienating a ton of people as I type this. Most of her songs make me feel embarrassed, like when your mom shouts at you out the window after dropping you off your freshman year of high school. But some really speak to me, and this is one of them.

Lemon Poppyseed Muffins

Ingredients

254 grams all-purpose flour
150 grams granulated sugar
2 Tbsp poppyseeds
1 Tbsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp fine salt
237 grams whole milk, at room temperature
113 grams unsalted butter, melted and cooled
1 large egg, at room temperature
2 Tbsp fresh lemon juice
1 Tbsp fresh lemon zest

Directions

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Line a 12-cup muffin tin with paper liners and set aside.

Whisk together the flour, sugar, poppyseeds, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a large bowl. In the bowl of a stand mixer, whisk together the cooled melted butter, milk, egg, lemon juice, and lemon zest. Use a rubber spatula to mix the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients until you can’t see any traces of flour. Don’t overmix.

Use an ice cream scoop or large spoon to portion the batter between the paper liners. Bake for about 15 minutes, or until the muffin tops spring back to the touch. Cool completely. Enjoy!