Every time that I bake a batch of mini muffins, I tell myself that I don’t make them nearly enough. Mini muffins take a bit less time to bake than regular muffins and since you get about three mini muffins with the amount of batter that would make one regular muffin, you get a huge batch that is perfect for sharing at home, at parties or at the office. They’re smaller, of course, but no less satisfying than their bigger brothers.
These are lemon poppyseed mini muffins, which I made using lemon zest from some of my last Meyer lemons of the season. Regular lemon zest works just as well and will, if anything, give them an even brighter lemon flavor. The muffins also get some of their flavor from ground coriander, which is a spice that usually appears in savory dishes but actually has a nice lemon tang to it (as well as a bit of a yellow color). There are, of course, plenty of poppyseeds in here, too.
The finished muffins have a nice lemony flavor and a little bit of crunch from the poppyseeds. They’re just firm enough that you could spread them with butter but tender enough that you’ll still be satisfied munching them on their own. They’re not too sweet, so if you want to infuse a little bit of extra sweetness, give all of the mini muffins a generous sprinkle of coarse sugar on top before you bake them.
Lemon Poppyseed Mini Muffins
2 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp ground coriander
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
3/4 cup butter, room temperature
1 cup sugar
1 tbsp lemon zest
2 large eggs
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
2 tbsp poppyseeds
Preheat oven to 350F. Line 36 mini muffin cups with paper liners.
In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, coriander, baking soda and salt.
In a large bowl, cream together butter, sugar and lemon zest until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs one at a time, followed by vanilla. Beat in flour mixture and poppyseeds on low speed. Batter will be fairly thick.
Divide batter evenly into prepared mini muffin cups.
Bake for 11-14 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean.
Cool mini muffins on a wire rack.
Makes 3 dozen.
Tiffany
August 19, 2010Gosh! It looks so delicious! Thanks for the recipe and preparation. I will surely try this on weekends.
Sherry
August 19, 2010Mmmm I love how light, yet flavorful lemon poppy seed muffins come out. Thanks for sharing; they look great!
Reagan @ Recipesmademyway
August 19, 2010Oh I love lemon poppy seed muffins! SO good!
Jeniece
November 14, 2010I loved the lemon flavour in the muffins, it was delicious without being too strong or too weak. The poppyseeds were also a great touch.
I didn’t have a mini muffin tin so I ended up baking them in larger muffin sizes. The result was a bit denser than I was expecting, but that didn’t stop me from eating them quicker than I should’ve!
Jen
January 25, 2012These were delish! I loved the subtle lemon flavor. These muffins were not too sweet or tangy. They took much longer to cook them then suggested in my mini-muffin pan.