Mini Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins

Every now and then, I get very strange cravings.  Today, my craving was for poppy seed muffins.  All of this stress & running is starting to really up my appetite.  I cut the recipe in half (otherwise I would be eating all of them because they are so easy to pop in your mouth in passing).

Tip:  If you are ever planning to make a recipe that calls for a minimal amount of one ingredient, check the bulk section at the grocery store (or natural food store / co-op).  Especially items like dried fruits, wheat germs, etc.  Things that you may not have good use for after the recipe.  I purchased just the right amount of poppyseeds for this recipe instead of buying a bunch.  Total cost = 47 cents!  Score!!

These tiny muffins are really good.  I enjoyed the lemon flavor.  I used egg-beaters because that's all I had, but I couldn't tell the difference.  I also had to make my own buttermilk (1 cup milk + 1 tbsp lemon juice, sit for 5 minutes) because I forgot to get some at the store.

Mini Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins
adapted from The Parsley Thief

Yield:  About 3 dozen*

Ingredients

• 2 cups flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 cup buttermilk
• 2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 stick unsalted butter, softened
• 1 packed tablespoon grated lemon zest
• 2 large eggs
• 1/4 cup poppy seeds 

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees & grease two mini muffin tins.
2. Sift the flour, baking powder, salt & baking soda into a mixing bowl & set aside. 
3. In a liquid measuring cup, whisk the buttermilk & lemon juice together. 
4. Using either a hand, or stand mixer, beat the butter, sugar & lemon zest together until blended. 
5. Add the eggs, one at a time, mixing after each & occasionally scraping down the bowl.
6. Add the dry ingredients in 3 additions, alternating with the buttermilk mixture, in 2 additions.
7. Mix until just blended. 
8. Stir in the poppy seeds.
9. Fill the muffin tins with heaping tablespoonfuls of the batter.  (They should be nearly full to the top.)
10. Bake until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, about 22 minutes. 
11. Let the muffins cool for 5 minutes before transferring to a metal rack to cool completely.

*I cut the recipe in half and the recipe yielded about 20 mini muffins.  Each one is around 65 calories or so.