Lemon and poppyseed muffins

I was so far behind for bookclub this week that I didn't start the book til 24 hours before the meeting.  Life is a little like that at the moment.  Once I finished the book late on Sunday morning, there was a little time for hanging out washing and baking bread and then I turned my attention to making these lemon and poppyseed muffins.  They were still warm when I left the house.

If you look at my lemon tree you will see why there were lemons in the muffins.  Last year we got two or three lemons and this year we have oodles.  At the moment the lime tree is ejecting limes every time we go in the backyard.  I have taken them to work, to my mum and to my regular coffee morning.  But lemons are even more common so less people need them.  I hope they will hang about on the tree for a while.  Though ours are Meyer lemons which some people really like.

I am not a huge lemon cake fan but it is useful to have a lemon tree.  My mum tells me that only those without friends buy lemons.  (And does that mean that those with lemons buy friends?)   And with so many lemons I decided it was time to develop an appreciation of lemon cakes.  I had recipe that I would make and a plan to add poppyseeds.  Then time was so tight I decided muffins would be quicker.

I had also said I would bring in morning tea at work.  Sylvia took care of that with a batch of coconut ice, just as she made me pancakes while I read my book on Sunday morning.  What a sweetie!  I think her coconut ice was more popular than my muffins but it was a small bookgroup with lots of great gozleme and intense discussion.  We had the author of the book visit which is a real treat.  So many times when I read a book I wish I could ask the author a question.  I was very happy to come home with lots of muffins.  They were delicious.  Not too sweet and everything tastes better with poppyseeds.  We were all sad when they were eaten so I might just have to make some more!

More sweet lemon recipes on Green Gourmet Giraffe:
Baked lemon cheesecake (gf)
Lemon and honey cake (gf)
Lemon slice
Lemon yoghurt cupcakes (gf) 
Tim's lemon trickle mash cake (gf)  

Lemon and poppyseed muffins
Adapted from Allrecipes
Makes 12

125g butter or margarine, softened
125g granulated sugar (I used raw)
50g poppy seeds
1 lemon, zest and juiced (3-4 tbsp)
2 eggs
185g self raising flour
a pinch of baking powder

Glaze:
2 tbsp lemon juice
1/4 to 12 cups icing sugar

Mix butter and sugar well by hand, then add poppyseeds and lemon rind, then juice and eggs.  Lastly gently fold in flour and baking powder. 

Spoon into a 12 cup muffin tin and bake at 180 C for about 25 minutes.  They are baked when golden brown, a skewer comes out clean and they are pulling away from the edges.  Turn out onto a wire rack and mix up some glaze. 

I added enough icing sugar to the glaze so it was white rather than translucent but still very thin.  I spooned a little glaze on each muffins and swirled it around with a spoon so it trickled down the sides.

NOTES: I don't have a really sharp microplane to zest the lemon.  So I used my peeler to peel the lemon, scrapped the pith off the peel and then I sliced the lemon really thin and chopped it finely.

On the Stereo: 
Curiouser: Kate Miller-Heidke