Recipe Review of Dine & Dish Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins

My friend Wayne (hey Wayne!) messaged me about this recipe by Dine & Dish for Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins and I was intrigued! Not just because I have been meaning to make this type of muffin but because she uses the egg whites to help with leavening them. The foodie scientist in me was intrigued so I made these last night.

Do You Have What It Takes?

For the ingredients you will need: 1⁄2 cup room temperature butter, 2⁄3 cup sugar, 2 large eggs that are room temperature and separated, 1 1⁄3 cups flour, 1 tsp baking powder, 1⁄2 tsp baking soda, 2 tbsp poppy seeds, zest of 2 lemons, 1⁄4 tsp salt, 1⁄2 cup buttermilk or 1⁄2 cup plain yogurt, 2 tbsp lemon juice and 1 tsp vanilla. Note: If you do not have buttermilk you can add some lemon juice to your milk and let it sit for a few minutes.

Quick Tip

The original recipe does not call for room temperature eggs but make your life easier and do so. To do this fast, add the two eggs to some warm water to take the chill off. Yes, they will be a little harder to separate but you will be able to get soft peaks with your egg whites if you do.

The Baking

You want to cream the butter and sugar together until fluffy. Then add the egg yolks one at a time. 

Whisk together the dry ingredients. 

With the mixer on low speed, add the dry ingredients to the creamed mixture, alternating two times with the buttermilk…

Then lemon juice and then vanilla. But! Always finish with the dry ingredients. Always! Beat just until smooth.

In another bowl, beat the egg whites until soft peaks form. (See! Even with this wet weather I could get soft peaks thanks to those room temperature egg whites.)

Fold in 1/3 of the egg whites. Once combined, add the other 2/3 until batter is well blended. 

Spoon the batter into buttered muffin tins until 3/4 full.

I sprinkled the tops with some coarse all natural sugar and put them in a preheated 350°F oven for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Let sit for 5 minutes before removing from tins to cool completely.

Foodie Results

These came out nice and golden brown, not too heavy thanks to those egg whites. 

I found the flavours to be quite subtle but quite lovely, especially with a big old mug of tea. A little taste of sunshine during our dark and wet winters on the west coast.

Thank you Wayne for sharing this recipe with me! Made using my baking techniques, I give it four out of five wooden spoons.

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