Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins

Lemon poppy seed muffins are one of my all-time favorite pastries. My mom used to bake them at home every so often, so when I went to college I’d find myself craving their lemony flavor and sugary sweetness more often than not. Paired with a caramel latte or vanilla chai, bakery style lemon poppy seed muffins were the perfect study treat.

These days, we love having freshly baked muffins around for a cozy weekend brunch or an easy on-the-go breakfast on the way to the ski slopes!

No matter where or when you like to enjoy a good bakery-style muffin, these homemade lemon poppy seed muffins hit the spot every time. They’re super easy to make, and their fluffy yet moist texture is simply perfection. Pair one of these muffins with your favorite coffee or tea and it’s like you’re sitting at your favorite cafe, only in the comfort of your own home!

Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins Ingredients

You don’t need any fancy ingredients to make homemade bakery-style lemon poppy seed muffins. Here’s a list of everything you’ll need for this recipe:

• Unsalted butter
• All-purpose flour
• Granulated sugar
• Poppy seeds
• Baking powder
• Baking soda
• Salt
• Reduced fat milk
• Cream cheese
• Lemon
• Vanilla extract
• Eggs

One of the biggest changes we made to Jessica’s original recipe was to make our lemon poppy seed muffins without yogurt. Instead, we use a combination of milk and softened cream cheese. These two ingredients together mimic the texture of yogurt so that the batter is the right consistency, but yield extra moist results!

We also skipped the lemon glaze on top and instead opted for an extra dusting of sugar over the muffins before baking. Since I want my lemon poppy seed muffins to pack a punch, I increased the amount of lemon juice and zest in the recipe, and added vanilla extract for some extra sweetness! This more than makes up for the lack of glaze, and adds more flavor throughout the muffins.

How To Make Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins

This lemon poppy seed muffin recipe follows a simple, easy-to-follow method: make a mixture of dry ingredients and a mixture of wet ingredients, then fold the wet mixture into the dry mixture. We like to use a stand mixer for this muffin recipe, since it helps to incorporate all of the ingredients as evenly as possible.

Here’s a step-by-step breakdown of how to make lemon poppy seed muffins at home:

1. First, preheat the oven to 325 degrees F and line a 12-cup muffin tin with paper liners.
2. Next, melt the butter in 30 second intervals in the microwave, then set aside and cool for at least 10 minutes.
3. In the meantime, make your dry mixture. Combine flour, sugar, poppy seeds, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in the bowl of a stand mixer, using the whisk attachment on medium speed.
4. Then, make your wet mixture. In a separate large bowl, whisk together milk, cream cheese, lemon juice and zest, and vanilla extract until ingredients are well-combined and the cream cheese is fully incorporated. Then, beat in the eggs until thoroughly combined.
5. Switch to the paddle attachment on your stand mixer. Turn it on to the lowest speed, then slowly pour the wet mixture into the dry mixture to gently fold the ingredients in. Mix until just combined, then turn off the stand mixer and scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl with a rubber spatula. Mix again on low speed until all ingredients are combined well.
6. Next, pour in the melted butter with the stand mixer set to the lowest speed again. Mix until just combined. (Note: overmixing will lead to dense muffins, since this process encourages gluten development).
7. Divide the batter evenly among the muffin cups. They will be quite full – that’s okay! This will yield large muffin tops with a slight crisp around the edges, like the bakery muffins you know and love.
8. Lightly sprinkle the tops of each muffin with granulated sugar. Use about a quarter- to a half-teaspoon per muffin; use your best judgment and eyeball it! Nothing wrong with a little too much sugar on top, if you ask us 🙂
9. Bake on the middle rack of your oven (adjust the rack height if needed) until muffins are golden and a toothpick inserted in the center of the largest muffin comes out clean, 20 to 25 minutes.
10. Cool muffins in the pan for at least 5 minutes, then carefully transfer to a cooling rack. Use a knife to gently separate and loosen under the edges of the muffin tops if they are sticking slightly to the pan. Cool for another 10 minutes before serving, and cool to room temperature before storing.

Another change we made when adapting this recipe was to bake the muffins at a lower temperature (325 instead of 375 degrees F). We found that this yielded more moist results – these muffins just melt in your mouth, especially when they’re still warm!

Tips For Success

We learned a lot while working on this recipe adaptation! Here are a few tips to help you succeed on the first try:

• If you don’t have a zester for the lemon, use a cheese grater and then mince with a knife to achieve a fine zest. You don’t want to bite into a chunk of lemon zest hiding in one of these muffins – trust us.
• Make sure you leave the cream cheese out at room temperature for at least 20 to 30 minutes before baking so that it has time to soften. (You can microwave it briefly if needed, but we don’t recommend this since you don’t want it to be hot when you add it to the batter). 
• Thoroughly whisk the wet ingredients together so that the cream cheese is fully incorporated. It’s okay if it’s a little bit chunky, but the smoother it is, the more evenly it’ll distribute throughout the batter – which means more consistent results.
• Don’t forget to sprinkle the muffin tops with sugar before baking! It’s easy to overlook this step, but it’s what makes these lemon poppy seed muffins so delicious.

Why You’ll Love This Recipe

So, why are our lemon poppy seed muffins so good? 

For starters, this recipe really does yield bakery style muffins. They’re fluffy and moist with just a little crunch around the edges, and the flavor is irresistible. Just the right amount of lemon balanced with nutty poppy seeds and sugary sweet notes of vanilla. Mmm.

These muffins are also incredibly easy to make at home, which means you can bake them for a weekend treat or holiday brunch with no problem. There’s nothing like waking up to the smell of these lemon poppy seed muffins baking in the oven on Christmas morning 🙂