I used to love Lemon Poppy Seed muffins and not long ago I indulged in one whilst we were out.  Apart from finding it oversweet, the lemon flavour was very synthetic and I didn’t enjoy the experience at all,  so when I spotted this recipe in the book The Art of Eating Well by Hemsley and Hemsley I just knew I had to try making some.

I have also just discovered the amazing fact that I can freeze a whole lemon, grate ALL of it (zest, pith and flesh) and keep it in the freezer to use as and when I need lemon zest (or lemon flavouring etc).  This recipe was an ideal one to experiment using these frozen lemon ‘granules’.   *Instead of using 1 tablespoon of lemon zest as suggested in the recipe, I just scooped out approximately 3 tablespoons of my grated lemon and used that instead.  One frozen lemon grated yields quite a large quantity of ‘granules’.

To say these muffins are delicious is an understatement.  They are absolutely superb.  So freshly lemony, light and tasty with the added crunch of the seed.  I used chia seeds rather than poppy seeds.

INGREDIENTS:

65g butter
1 tablespoon unwaxed grated lemon zest (from about 5 small lemons) *see note above
3 eggs
4 tablespoons maple syrup
1 tablespoon poppy seeds or black chia seeds, plus extra to sprinkle
¼ teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
2 pinches of ground turmeric
45g coconut flour
A tiny pinch of sea salt

METHOD:

Preheat the oven to 170°C.

Line a 6-hole cupcake tin with 5 cupcake cases, or a 12-hole mini muffin tin with 10 mini-muffin cases.

Gently melt the butter with the lemon zest in a saucepan to release the oils.

Whisk the eggs together with the cooled melted butter, then add the rest of the ingredients. Taste the batter and add more zest if needed. Leave to cool.

Divide the mixture among the cases.  I used cupcake cases rather than muffin cases and made nine muffins of a reasonable size.

Bake the muffins for 15-20 minutes depending on their size. They are ready when they’re still a little soft inside as they continue to cook as they cool.

Remove from the tray immediately and cool on a wire rack.

Lemon Poppy (Chia) Seed Muffins

Coconut flour has its own set of rules, so follow the instructions carefully.  I left my muffins in the oven for 20 minutes and they looked very slightly undercooked when I took them out, but they soon finished cooking as they cooled.  They really were perfect.

These muffins will keep in the fridge for up to a week, or freeze them and heat through in the oven to serve.

NB: All the photographs used in this blog have been taken by me, and are of food I have prepared myself.