Citrus poppy seed muffins
Cookbook Challenge: Week 15
Theme: Muffins
Recipe: Citrus poppy seed muffins
Cookbook: Australian Women’s Weekly “Bake”
The theme for the Cookbook Challenge last week was “muffins”, so I turned to the trusty AWW Bake as it has a whole chapter on muffins. Despite the entire chapter, nothing really took my fancy. Perhaps there’s still a lingering obsession with cupcakes, and muffins just seem unrefined and boring by comparison?
In Bake, there were a lot of recipes for savoury muffins, but I had already decided I wanted to make sweet ones. There were also quite a few recipes with berries and banana, neither of which I wanted to use. In the end, I finally decided on citrus poppy seed muffins. It was a pretty good choice because it’s a really easy recipe to put together. All the ingredients get thrown into an electric mixer and voila! Muffin batter! I think it took me longer to line the muffin trays with baking paper.
As you can see in the pictures, these have quite a cakey texture, unlike most other muffins. They definitely need a good amount of citrus rind – don’t skimp on the rind if you make them. It’s also far too easy to over bake them. Mine tasted okay when they were warm from the oven, but the next day they seemed a bit dry. Ahh well. It was okay when washed down with a cup of tea but I’m not sure if they’re good enough to warrant another try. So many muffins in the world, and so little time!
Update: See the round up at My Food Trail.
Citrus poppy seed muffins
From Australian Women’s Weekly “Bake”
Makes 12 regular sized muffins (I got 8 large ones out of the batter)
125g butter softened
6 teaspoons finely grated assorted citrus rind eg lemon, lime and orange
2/3 cup (150g) caster sugar
2 eggs
2 cups (300g) self-raising flour
1/2 cup (125ml) milk
2 tablespoons poppyseeds
Preheat oven to 200°C. Grease a 12 hole muffin pan.
In an electric mixer, beat the butter, citrus rind, sugar, eggs, flour and milk until combined. Increase the speed to medium and beat until the colour of the mixture is paler. Stir in the poppyseeds and spoon the mixture into the muffin tin.
Bake for about 20 minutes or until a skewer in the middle comes out clean. Stand the muffins int he pan for 5 minutes, and then tip out on to a wire rack to cool.
March 1, 2010 @ 9:42 pm
I do like poppy seed muffins. I find it refreshing from the rest. And easy ones like these are good for me. No stress!
March 1, 2010 @ 9:47 pm
LOL for both picking muffin recipes out of AWW Bake!
Yours sure look good even though they ended up being dry! I applaud you too for lining them with baking paper like in the shops! 🙂
March 1, 2010 @ 10:01 pm
They look good.. shame about being dry the next day! I saw that book at Costco but there wasn't enough pictures for me 😛
March 1, 2010 @ 10:08 pm
An oldy but a greaty flavour combo for muffins/cupcakes, even if it always results in me looking horrendous until I can find a toothpick to dislodge all the poppyseeds from my teeth.
Love the look with the lining. Tres professional 😉
March 1, 2010 @ 11:28 pm
They look great though! And I love the simple combination of citrus and poppyseeds, although I always end up with the seeds all through my teeth later =p
March 2, 2010 @ 8:10 am
Your photos….are AMAZING. So much character and feeling……
March 2, 2010 @ 9:14 am
You are right, so many muffin recipes, so little time to try. I really like the idea of citrus flavoured muffins. Too bad they turned dry the next day! 🙁
March 2, 2010 @ 10:29 am
I agree – it's hard to settle on making repeat muffin recipes when there are just soo many out there waiting to be tried. At least this was a super fast recipe and you had nice treats to go with tea 🙂
March 2, 2010 @ 8:49 pm
Yes, don't skimp on the citrus rind- love it!
March 3, 2010 @ 7:53 am
Scrumptious muffins, so good with citrus flavor and poppy seeds!
March 3, 2010 @ 2:54 pm
I made citrus muffins too, the other day with Miss Four. Ours weren't poppyseeds, but they were very nice. Don't know what they were like the next day though, as I froze them for school lunches, but the one I didn't freeze got eaten the next day at school, so it can't have been too bad lol.
I'm not a big muffin fan generally, because I always find them dry – I think it's something to do with overmixing?
March 4, 2010 @ 11:19 am
Your photos always look so good, very stylish! I've always been wary of poppy seeds, though – they get stuck in my teeth and that's not a good look 😛
March 4, 2010 @ 3:23 pm
I love poppy seeds – I think they look so cute in muffins and cakes.
March 4, 2010 @ 9:09 pm
I love citrus and poppy seeds so these would be perfect for me. Great photos.
March 4, 2010 @ 9:34 pm
Penny: I really like poppy seed cakes/muffins too! I have a recipe for a poppy seed torte that I have been trying to try for ages. I should get on to it.
Rilsta: it was my first time trying to line them with baking paper like that! It was easy to do.
Shellie: hehee, it's a pretty good book, despite this recipe and the lack of pictures. I've used it a ton!
Conor: that is the danger of poppy seed muffins. One always needs a mirror check after eating them!
mademoiselle: Haha, me too. And sometimes I forget to check for seeds until hours later. Argh!
Kitchen butterfly: aww, thanks!
Anh: if I look on the bright side, the dryness the next day meant that I didn't polish off the rest of the muffins. It was a win for my thighs! 😉
Chanel: Yes, I do like something sweet to have with a cup of tea. 😀
Adrian: I love the citrus rind too!
5 star foodie: they were pretty good when they were still warm from the oven.
Silvermoon Dragon: I used to be all about the muffin, until I became obsessed with cupcakes last year. Now I'm all about the cupcake!
Belle: it's a shame that poppy seeds have a tendency to hang around in teeth after eating!
Katie: Poppy seeds do look cute! I also like how they give cakes a bit of savouriness.
Yen: if you give them a try, let me know how you go! I wonder if I over baked them.
March 7, 2010 @ 10:44 am
I would love to try these fresh from the oven. delish.
March 18, 2014 @ 6:48 pm
Hello, I made them, they are delicious!
Thanks.