Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins
Incredibly tasty, luscious lemon poppyseed muffins made super-moist with Greek yogurt and topped with sweet and tangy cream cheese lemon glaze!
Servings:12
Ingredients
- 1 ⅓ cups flour
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¼ cup butter, (4 tablespoons)
- ¾ cup sugar
- 2 eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla, (or almond)
- zest of 2 small lemons , (or 1 large lemon - about 2 tablespoons)
- 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
- ¾ cup plain fat free greek yogurt
- 1 tablespoon poppyseeds
Icing
- 2 tablespoons butter, softened
- 2 ounces cream cheese, softened
- 3-4 cups powdered sugar
- 1-2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 450 (see note) and grease a muffin pan or line with cupcake liners.
- In a medium bowl whisk together flour, baking soda, and salt.
- In a large bowl cream together butter, sugar, eggs, vanilla extract, lemon zest and juice, and greek yogurt.
- Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients and mix until combined. Stir in poppyseeds.
- Fill muffin tins about 2/3 full with muffin batter. Bake for 12-16 minutes until an inserted toothpick comes out clean. Allow to cool on a wire rack.
- (See note about icing) To make the icing, cream softened butter and cream cheese for 2 minutes until very fluffy. Add powdered sugar and lemon juice and mix well. Taste and add more lemon juice if desired. Drizzle icing over cooled muffins. (If icing is too thick you can warm it up in the microwave for a few seconds ) Serve immediately or store at room temperature in an airtight container for up to 3-5 days.
Notes
***This recipe was originally posted in 2014 and has since been updated (February 2021). So many readers love this recipe exactly as written so I have not changed the recipe BUT, for those who have asked about the oven temperature and the amount of icing, I have a few updated tips to share.
Oven temperature: I live at a high altitude (northern Utah) and this temperature will work for anyone living at high altitudes. If you live at sea level, you can reduce the oven temperature to 375.
For the icing: The recipe as written makes a large batch of icing (too much probably) so feel free to half the icing portion of the recipe!
A few more tips:
- Did your glaze come out more like a frosting? That's okay. You can thin the glaze out a bit by warming it up in the microwave for a few seconds at a time until it's to your desired consistency.
- Want to skip the poppy seeds in this lemon poppy seed muffin recipe? No problem. Simply don't add them and the lemon muffins will still be delish!
- If you don't have Greek yogurt, you can substitute sour cream or you can use vegetable oil but it's not a 1:1 ratio, so you'll need to add about 1 ½ cups of oil instead of yogurt.
- For a lighter lemon glaze you can just use powdered sugar and lemon juice. The ratio is about 1 ½ cups of powdered sugar and 3 tablespoons of lemon juice. Whisk and drizzle over the top of the muffins for a sweet, light tasty glaze.
Nutrition
Calories: 259 kcal, Carbohydrates: 54 g, Protein: 4 g, Fat: 3 g, Saturated Fat: 1 g, Trans Fat: 1 g, Cholesterol: 34 mg, Sodium: 182 mg, Potassium: 66 mg, Fiber: 1 g, Sugar: 43 g, Vitamin A: 116 IU, Vitamin C: 1 mg, Calcium: 45 mg, Iron: 1 mg