mondomulia

The list of recipes that I want to make has grown so much over the past four months, but luckily the Christmas holidays have been the perfect occasion to do some baking.

I used a recipe from Shutterbean blog to make Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins. I like to experiment with extravagant flavours, but sometimes it's good to prepare something that is simple, like vanilla and lemon muffins, and so satisfying. The recipe was easy to follow and worked out perfectly.

I made a batch of muffins for our Christmas breakfast and I am sharing this recipe as part of the Breakfast Club, a monthly bloggers' event organized by Helen of Fuss Free Flavours. This month's club is hosted by Bangers & Mash Chat and the theme is brunch.

Back in the summer, I attended Lakeland Christmas Collection launch. For those of you who do not live in the UK, Lakeland is a chain of kitchenware shops and a place any food blogger would like to be locked in! :)

After the event, the PR team sent me a few products to review from the Merry & Bright Cupcake range: Christmas cupcake cases, with toppers and gift boxes. I used them for my Lemon Poppy Seed muffins and I am so happy with the result! The paper cases held the batter perfectly without getting soaked, the toppers came in four designs (gift box, Christmas tree, Santa Claus and reindeers) and were super cute. The boxes were easy to build, had a muffin holder inside and a gift tag to attach to the ribbon. They were perfect to make pretty Christmas presents for my friends!

Ingredients

• 1 cup plus 2 tbsp sugar

• grated zest and juice of 1 large lemon

• 2 eggs

• 1 cup plain yogurt

• 1 cup whole milk

• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

• 3 cups plain flour

• 1/2 tsp baking soda

• 1 tsp baking powder

• 1/2 tsp salt

• 3/4 cup unsalted butter

• 3 tbsp poppy seeds

Preparation

Pre-heat the oven to 190°C. Prepare a 12 cup muffin tray.

Combine the sugar and lemon zest in a bowl. Add the lemon juice, eggs, yogurt and milk. Whisk until blended.

In another bowl, sift the flour, baking soda and baking powder together. Add the salt and lemon sugar to the dry ingredients and stir with a wooden spoon until combined.

Cut the butter in 2cm cubes and add them to the dry mix, together with the poppy seeds. Make a well in the center and pour in the wet ingredients. Gently combine with a spoon, be careful not to overmix the batter.

With a large spoon, fill the muffin cases to the top.

Bake in the oven for 25-30 minutes or until the muffins are light golden brown. Let cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then move the muffins onto a wire rack.