Blueberry Lemon Poppy Seed Muffin

The perks of being the wife of a composer is that you get to go to recording studios. I love being in the studios. You can sit in the booth where recording engineers like Al Schmitt sits by the mixing console and does his genius work.

You can look out a glass window and see the conductor work his magic with the orchestra. You can listen to the top musicians in town play beautiful music. If you’re lucky, you can even sit in the recording stage itself and listen from there. The acoustics is brilliant. It’s better than if you were sitting front row seats of any concert halls.

Three weeks ago, I was at Capital Records. Mr. V was assisting a good composer friend with his recording of the song I’m feeling good. FYI, that was where this BBQ Chicken Pizza pictures were edited. Perhaps you can feel the music in the images.

An intern came by to ask whether we would like something to eat. Mr. V promptly ordered eight muffins.

Yup.

Not twelve. Not twenty. Just eight.

Not bagels. Not fruit. Nothing else. Just muffins.

EIGHT MUFFINS.

The intern looked at him oddly but Mr. V was very sure of it.

When the muffins came, sure enough, there were eight of them. Eight ginormous muffins. I saw Mr. V take a blueberry muffin. Man, it looked really good. I wanted one too. But when I went to help myself to some, all that was left were two cinnamon-y type of muffins and one lemon poppy seed muffin.

Not feeling cinnamon-y that day, I quickly grabbed the lemon poppy seed muffin before it was gone. There were only eight after all. I took a bite. It was sickingly sweet. I think I had a mild attack of diabetes. Yes, there’s such a thing. I made it up. I took 5 bites altogether and I was done. I can’t deny the lemon flavor was excellent and the muffins were super light and moist. BUT.THEY.WERE.TOO.SWEET.

Not being able to enjoy the blueberry nor the lemon poppy seed muffin properly, the craving stayed with me and was engraved so deep in my mind, that I kept thinking about it for days… even weeks after.

So I did the most logical thing anyone would do. I made my own. I combined both the blueberry and lemon poppy seed into one muffin. Craving solved.

It was ultra moist, full of lemony flavor with burst of little poppy seeds and juicy, sweet blueberries all over a perfectly sweet muffin. Aaah, life is good. Let’s see what the next recording will bring.

These muffins are made from yogurt which gives them the moist-ness. They’re healthier and lighter too yet packed with flavor. I also used half whole wheat flour which you wouldn’t even be able to discern it’s there. Trust me.

If you love these babies, then you’re definitely going to love these Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins. Also moist & fluffy with most of its sweetness coming from super ripe bananas. They’re perfect for breakfast, snack or even dessert.

Also, if you haven’t already, check out my last post One Pan Jerk Chicken and Mediterranean Rice. Juicy Jerk Chicken seared beautifully with herbed Mediterranean Rice cooked in chicken broth. All done in one pan. So good. So addictive.

What is the perk of marrying your other half?

Blueberry Lemon Poppy Seed Muffin                      Makes 12 muffins

what you need:

4.25 oz unbleached all purpose flour (1 cup scoop & sweep)
4 oz whole wheat pastry flour or white whole wheat flour (1 cup scoop & sweep)
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp salt
3/4 cup cane sugar (more or less depending on how sweet you like yours)
2 large eggs, beaten (room temperature)
1 cup plain yogurt
6 tbs unsalted butter, melted and cooled
2 tbs lemon juice (from 2/3 lemon)
2 tbs lemon zest (from 2 small lemons)
2 tbs poppy seed
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup fresh blueberry

directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 425 F.

2. In a bowl, whisk together the all purpose flour, pastry flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt.

3. In another bowl, crack the eggs and add the sugar. Whisk until combine. Add the yogurt, butter, lemon juice, lemon zest, poppy seed and vanilla. Combine well.

4. Add the wet ingredients to the dry. Using a spatula, fold until almost combined. Add the blueberries and do a couple more fold. Do not over mix. The batter is going to be thick.

5. Scoop the batter into a greased 12 cup standard muffin pan. It’s going to fill almost to the brim of each muffin cups. Place it in the oven and bake for 5 minutes.

6. Turn the temperature down to 400 F and bake for another 15 – 18 minutes until light brown or when toothpick is inserted into the center of the muffins, it comes out clean.

7. Place the muffins on a wire rack and let it cool (in the pan) for 10 minutes. Remove the muffins from the pan and let cool completely on the wire rack.