RECIPE: Lemon Poppyseed Muffins

 These muffins make a great breakfast when paired with a bowl of fresh strawberries. It's nearly time for fresh local strawberries here in Southern Ontario, and I can't wait to have some with one of these muffins on the side! If you prefer a more "cakey" muffin, you can use all white flour instead of half white and half whole wheat.

Makes 12 muffins

Ingredients:
1 cup flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
1/3 cup sugar
2 tbsp poppyseeds
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt

2 eggs
1 cup vanilla or plain yogurt
1/4 cup canola oil (or other light vegetable oil)
1 tbsp grated lemon zest

 In a medium sized mixing bowl, combine flours, sugar, powder, soda, poppyseeds and salt. In another bowl, combine eggs, yogurt, oil and lemon zest and beat well until thoroughly combined. Gently stir the egg mixture into the flour mixture, stirring just until blended (over-stirring the batter will result in a tough muffin).

Spoon the batter into greased muffin tins, filling each cup about 2/3 full. Bake at 375F for about 20 minutes, or until golden brown on top and tops spring back when lightly touched.

While muffins are baking, prepare lemon glaze:


Lemon Glaze:
1/4 cup lemon juice
1/4 cup sugar
2 tbsp water

Combine all glaze ingredients in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil; boil for 1 minute then remove from heat.

When the muffins are done, poke the top of each muffin several times with a fork. Drizzle glaze over muffin tops and let muffins cool in pan for 5-10 minutes to absorb glaze before removing to serve.