Lemon, Extra Virgin and Poppy Seed Muffins

Step 1

First, preheat your oven to 180C/160C fan/Gas 4. Heavily grease your muffin tins with plenty of butter – sticking is fairly disastrous.

Step 2

In a large bowl, start by weighing out your milk, sugar, oil, egg, salt and grating in your lemon zest. Whisk these together to combine them – no need to go at it for ages trying to incorporate imaginary air.

Step 3

Onto this liquid mix, dump your flour and poppy seeds. Very gently, fold everything together until combined. Use a wooden or metal spoon, and try not to over-work things here. Think bread: you knead bread to make it bready. You don’t want your muffins bready, do you? So treat them with love and care.

Step 4

Use two teaspoons to divide your mix into your muffin tins – try to make them as equal as possible. Baking for longer to cook the larger ones will dry out the wee ones.

Step 5

Place your tins in your preheated oven and bake for 20-25 minutes, or until the muffins are a medium golden brown.

Step 6

Once baked and cooling in the tins, it’s time to make the drizzle. Squeeze your juice into a pan and add the caster sugar, before placing on a high heat and bringing to the boil.  As soon as it’s bubbling furiously, remove from the heat.

Step 7

Remove your muffins from their tins (they should plop out easily), then drizzle generously with your lemon syrup. Leave to cool, then enjoy for up to a day or freeze.

Top Tips:

• The yumminess of muffins correlates to positively to their freshness, so do enjoy these within 24 hours of baking. If you aren’t getting through them, though, don’t fret: freeze in airtight bag. Zap in the microwave to defrost.
• I’ve asked you to weigh out your liquids here, as it’s a good practice to get into. It’s much, much more accurate than measuring in volumes, especially with electric scales. You’ll watch your baking transform.

Enjoy!