I love lemons! They are such a bright, happy, versatile fruit. You can use them in savory dishes, salads, dips, drinks, desserts, and breads. You can use the juice, the zest, or even the entire lemon! Lemons are available year round, but my favorite time to use them is in spring and summer. Since we are about a week into spring I decided it was time to start doing some baking with lemons. I kicked off spring baking with these oh so yummy Strawberry Meyer Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins!
Muffins are a great breakfast or snack to have around the house. They are portable and easy to grab on the go when you are in a hurry. These particular muffins use Meyer lemons which are slightly sweeter than a regular lemon, sort of a cross between a lemon and an orange. Since Meyer lemons are in season right now I figured they would be perfect to use in these Strawberry Meyer Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins.
I decided to make these into mini muffins because I love how small and cute they look. They will be perfect to serve at Easter brunch alongside my delicious Salmon Asparagus Frittata and Sunrise Smoothies.
The recipe for these muffins was slightly adapted from Two Peas & Their Pod’s recipe for Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins. I absolutely love Maria’s website! She has recipes for the most delicious cookies (her specialty) and breakfast items, as well as many vegetarian dishes, go check her out! Back to these Strawberry Meyer Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins. They are as easy to make as any muffin recipe and they are healthy!
To make the muffins healthy I used mostly whole wheat pastry flour and only four tablespoons of butter for 52 mini muffins or 12 regular size muffins. The muffins are kept moist thanks to my favorite butter or oil substitute, non fat Greek yogurt. Of course the star ingredients in these muffins are the Meyer lemon zest and juice, fresh strawberries, and poppy seeds. Poppy seeds aren’t something I use very often but I love how they give these muffins a speckled look and a little crunch.
I also chose to use a little almond extract in the muffins instead of vanilla because it’s a flavor I adore! Check out my Strawberry Almond Cream Cups, Almond Matcha Biscotti with Chocolate Chips, Banana Almond Matcha Smoothie, and Raspberry Coconut Almond Financiers for more recipes involving my obsession with almond. These moist muffins are sweet without being overly sweet, they have a bit of tang from the lemon, freshness from the zest, and the slightest crunch from the poppy seeds. They scream spring which is what I am all about right now. So embrace the spirit of spring and bake a batch of these Strawberry Meyer Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins!
More Spring Inspired Muffins:
Blueberry Lime Muffins– The Novice Chef
Orange Sour Cream Muffins with Zesty Orange Glaze– Damn Delicious
Peach Yogurt Muffins– Savory Simple
Lemon Raspberry Muffins– Lemons for Lulu
The hubs doesn’t like lemon (we are in therapy to address the issue) which means…more muffins for me!
There are people who don’t like lemon? I didn’t know it was possible! Hopefully therapy will help. ;-)