Lemon Muffins

Yesterday was quite an indulgent day with Ninka. First, we went to the radio station to record a programme for next week. It was Ninka’s first time on the radio, and she admitted she was quite shy. All in all, though, the programme turned out pretty well. We tried to talk about tolerance, which is very important at the moment. You can support the foundation working to encourage tolerant attitudes in Poland yourselves, too. You can do so here: tolerance 🙂

After the radio visit and a short break for lunch, we went to the cinema. I found the film rather formulaic and boring, but Ninka liked it, which is what matters most. Sawa Saves the World, or something like that… No need to dwell on it.

To finish the day, shopping and the subject of this post: lemon muffins. It started when Ninka spotted some star-shaped moulds in the shop and quickly came up with an idea for the evening. So we made them. Quite tasty, based on a variation of Magda Gessler’s recipe, but naturally modified a little further.

Above all, they contain juice from a real lemon and seeds from a vanilla pod instead of vanilla sugar. And buttermilk rather than kefir. That seems to make them a little more delicate. They certainly have an exceptionally lemony flavour, enhanced by the aroma of vanilla.

Anyway, I recommend them: in autumn, when it’s wet and windy, baking something is the best thing to do. They’re good for the holidays too 🙂 And you can make them in literally half an hour. So they’re an all-purpose everyday “dessert”.

At a glance:

Preparation time: 6 minutes

Baking time: 16 minutes

Baking temperature: 200 degrees Celsius

Serves: 10 people?

How many calories: lemon-loads

Ingredients for lemon muffins:

• 1 large glass of flour
• 2/3 of a glass of sugar
• 1.5 teaspoons of baking powder
• zest of half a nice lemon
• 1 tablespoon of lemon juice
• 1 real vanilla pod
• 1 glass of buttermilk
• 2 hen’s eggs
• half a block of butter 
• a pinch of salt

How to make lemon muffins:

I got out two deep bowls. Into one went the flour, sugar, baking powder and a pinch of salt, which I mixed thoroughly.

Into the other I poured the buttermilk, then added two hen’s eggs, melted butter, seeds scraped from one vanilla pod, the scalded and very finely chopped zest of half a lemon, and 1 tablespoon of lemon juice. I mixed everything very thoroughly, especially to distribute the vanilla seeds throughout the mixture. You have to crush them apart because they stick together.

Then I poured the liquid mixture into the bowl of dry ingredients for the lemon muffins and mixed quickly. It’s fine if some lumps remain.

I spooned the batter into silicone muffin moulds (you can see them in the photos) and baked for about 16–17 minutes in an oven preheated to 200 degrees Celsius. Once baked, the muffins need to cool, and you can decorate them as we did, with coloured icing, for example. The lemon muffins are ready. Enjoy!