Lemon Muffins (gluten free or traditional)

Well, this lemon muffin has become my sister’s favorite. I invented this recipe one winter morning while visiting my folks. It was one of those “I need muffins” mornings, and I was feeling creative. Mom and Dad had some lemons that needed to be used so I thought that could potentially be a yummy muffin (Yep.).

I have a basic muffin recipe I use (I’m sure I’ll be sharing that at some point), and that is my jumping off point for making a new type of muffin. I tweak from there. But it’s a great guideline for remembering general dry to wet ingredients ratios and such. I tend to use whole grains whenever possible so my recipes generally reflect that. If you prefer, you can substitute more refined flours.

My sister likes to add blueberries if she has them. I’m sure that is delicious. I’d suggest that if you want to add fruit to a muffin that you add 1-2 TBS of additional flour or slightly decrease that amount of liquid by maybe 1-2 TBS. The fruit will add some moisture to the muffin so this adjusts for that. Also, if you add frozen fruit to a recipe, add the fruit to the already mixed DRY ingredients and toss. This way the fruit will stay separated and will mix throughout the batter because if you add frozen fruit to the already mixed wet batter they will likely melt together into clumps. Oh, one more thing about frozen fruit in batter, it will make the batter thick because it is slightly freezing parts of it so don’t start adding liquid to thin the batter. It will be fine…..Be aware that you baking time will also increase when using frozen fruit.

This muffin is so delicious. I’ve also used it as a base for strawberry shortcake. Very super duper!

Lemon Muffins (gluten free or traditional flour)

2 ¼ c. flour mix of choice- traditional wheat or otherwise (I use 50% “sweet” white sorghum flour/ 50% brown rice flour for gluten free)

2 tsp baking powder

½ tsp xanthan gum (omit if using a traditional wheat flour)

1 c. sugar

¼ tsp salt (optional)

Zest of 2 lemons

Juice of 2 lemons (equaling ¼ to 1/3 c. lemon juice, you can use bottled juice if needed)

1 c milk of choice less amount of lemon juice

2 eggs

½ c oil (I use grapeseed oil)

½ tsp vanilla

Combine all dry ingredients and lemon zest. Stir with wisk to combine well. Wisk together wet ingredients. Add wet mixture to dry mixture and fold together until combined. Spoon into greased or paper lined muffin tins. Top with a sprinkling of sugar if desired (course sugars work best).

Bake 375 F for 18-20 minutes until muffins feel spongy and spring back when touched in the center  (I’m sure that thing people do with a toothpick would work too…with some crumbles). Cool in tins for 5-10 mins then remove to cooling rack if desired.