I’m blogging these for the sake of…education, I guess. I didn’t love these. The texture lacked that fluffiness I like in a lemon muffin, and the flavor was okay but not really enough to make up for it. Maybe a more seasoned baker can take a look and let me know what I did wrong. (Huh? Can you? Please?)
This recipe was all about prep, so I started by zesting and juicing the lemons. I had one Meyer lemon left from the season, so I used that first and then regular lemons to make up the rest. I used more than a teaspoon of zest, probably 1 1/2 and possibly two. I like lemon.
(Also, I’ve been unhappy with all the shadows in my baking photos as of late, so I started playing with the flash, taking shots both with and without it to see which I prefer. Jury’s still out.)
While the butter was melting (and subsequently cooling), I beat the egg. I wanted everything at hand when it was time to mix the batter.
(See, that one I preferred without the flash, despite the shadow.)
The directions said to add the lemon juice to the milk in a “large glass”, and we happen to have, randomly, an EXTREMELY large glass in our kitchen. Dave’s. No idea why. It’s large, though! I put it next to a can of baking powder so you could see just how large it is.
I whisked the dry ingredients together: all purpose flour (a rarity in my baking), cane sugar, salt, and baking powder.
Then to the less visually appealing mixture, in another bowl: the milk mixture, melted butter, beaten egg, yogurt, lemon zest, and vanilla. Fortunately the recipe was very reassuring about how unattractive this combination could be. (I used the flash so you’d get the full effect.)
It looked better once mixed. I poured it into a well in the center of the dry ingredients. I’m including the no-flash and the flash photos of this, and wish they’d just met in the middle.
I stirred the batter together, being very careful not to overmix. In a light lemon muffin, proper mixing can make or break the texture. I swear, I was careful.
I scooped the batter into muffin cups.
They were done in about 20 minutes, and they smelled lemony and lovely.
I let them sit in the pan for a few minutes, then moved them to a wire rack to cool.
So…I guess I wouldn’t make these again. I didn’t roll them in butter & sugar as the original recipe directed, but a muffin should be able to stand on its own without such things, and these would not have been saved by it. They weren’t terrible; I ate a couple of them over a few days, and so did my co-workers, but I think I’ve used better recipes.
Still, it’s entirely possible that I messed these up, so here’s a link to the recipe and please let me know if you fare better so I can try again. They were fun to make.
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