Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins

For extra-lemony lemon poppy seed muffins, a trio of lemony ingredients are combined in this sunny recipe: fragrant lemon zest, tart juice, and rich lemon curd (either store-bought or homemade). Begin with one of my favorite Dorie Greenspan tricks—rub the lemon zest into some sugar, which brings out a vivid lemon aroma, tints the sugar, and infuses it with the oils from the peel of the fruit. Lemon curd does double duty to sweeten as well as keep the muffins moist. Together these extra steps make for a bright and tangy individual-sized quick bread.

The key to yield a tall-topped and crispy-edged muffin reminiscent of the kind you’d find at a breakfast counter is to fill the muffin tin cavities to the brim. Consider baking with an empty baking sheet on the bottom oven rack while the muffins bake in their tray on the middle rack; this helps regulate heat in your oven as well as helps to catch any spills or potential overflow. Using the oven’s bottom rack rather than putting the sheet pan right under your muffin tin ensures that your muffins get good, consistent exposure to heat and bake evenly from bottom to top.

Poppy seeds have a high oil content and can go rancid quickly, so it’s worthwhile to buy your poppy seeds directly from a trusted source with high turnover (a good bulk section or vendor like Burlap and Barrel is a better choice than the dusty, neglected spice shelves of your local supermarket). Once purchased, store poppy seeds sealed in the fridge or freezer to maintain freshness. To see if poppy seeds you have in your cabinet are still fresh, give them a sniff and a nibble: they should be sweet and a little nutty when good, and may be bitter or flavorless when bad.

Baking a breakfast assortment? Check out Laurie Ellen Pellicano's Morning Glory Muffins and Banana Muffins, and click through for even more muffin recipes →