I love muffins. They are soft, yet firm. They are light, yet cakey. They are technically a "breakfast food," but you can certainly eat them at anytime of the day. They are versatile, and easily adaptable, all things that I love about baked goods, are packed into that simple liner.
Poppyseed muffins are hands down my favorite. Throw in some almond flavor and slivers on top, and the combination becomes my best seller, and ultimate weakness when it comes to pastries. Poppyseed muffins remind me of some of the few good memories from high school mornings. My mom always bought me the giant four-pack of towering poppyseed muffins from our local market. She always froze them, to "preserve them," as she says. I got used to heating up a muffin from the freezer on a daily basis. Enjoying a giant warm muffin, with a large cup of chai tea is how I mustered up energy for my daily 5 a.m. (yes 5 a.m. extracurricular activities that I like to say helped get me into college...) days.
Over spring break nostalgia set in, and with a fully stoked pantry, I had to make my own batch of poppyseed muffins. Muffins are extremely easy to bake, in particular this batch, which technically only requires one bowl (I used two, but that's because I like to be orderly). The cleanup is minimal, and the overall time to prep, bake and cool is about one hour!
So far my post has been completely raving about poppyseed muffins, but frankly these muffins I made were good, but not great. I definitely enjoyed them, and I do recommend baking them. However, I was expecting a stronger almond-poppyseed flavor, that I felt was lacking, leaving these cakes a tad bland.
Yet, these muffins were very moist. According to my personal food critique who ended up with the batch, he really enjoyed them and said they are the perfect snack. They truly are awesome snacks, especially if you are a "grab and go," type of person. I am going to test out another poppyseed muffin recipe in the near future. Until then, I hope you enjoy these!
Almond Poppyseed Muffins
Adapted from Betty Crocker
Yields: 12 Muffins
Ingredients:
1/2 cup sugar
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
1/2 cup sour cream*
1/4 cup milk
1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
2 tablespoons poppy seed
3 teaspoons sugar
2 tablespoons sliced almonds
Steps:
1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Line 12 medium muffin cups with baking cups (or spray with cooking spray, or grease with butter).
2. In a large bowl, stir together 1/2 cup sugar, oil, egg and almond extract.
3. Beat in sour cream and milk with spoon until well blended.
4. In a separate bowl combine flour, baking powder, salt, baking soda and poppy seeds.
5. Add dry ingredients into wet ingredients in 2-3 additions, stir until well blended.
6. Divide batter evenly among muffin cups.
7. Sprinkle batter with 3 teaspoons sugar and the almonds.
8. Bake 14-17 minutes, or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.
9. Remove pan from oven, and take muffins out of the pan and place on wire rack.
10. Serve cool or warm!
What I Did Differently:
1. I did not see sour cream in our fridge, so I used Greek yogurt (I personally love yogurt muffins, and Greek yogurt is healthier than sour cream, but it will still provide that same "tangy" flavor).
2. In my directions above I explained how I combined the ingredients using two bowls. I've baked so much lately that I have become a stickler for combing dry ingredients separately first, and then combining them with the wet ingredients.
3. I added a couple dashes of extra almond extract...I wish I added even more!
4. I had just enough granulated sugar to bake the muffins, so I did not put any on top.
5. I eyeballed the amount of almond slivers to put on top!
6. Eat these WARM! That's a tip...not exactly something I did differently.
