I know it’s fall, but let’s take a step back from all of the cinnamon and pumpkin spiced recipes to enjoy a year round recipe: these lemon poppy seed crumble muffins! These large muffins are bakery style and combine the classic lemon poppy seed combo with a buttery crumble. I love this recipe because they’re easy to make and are perfect to enjoy year round.
This recipe makes 8 jumbo muffins. You can also make 12 normal sized muffins, just reduce the baking time by 5 minutes. It is very important when baking these to start at the higher temperature for 5 minutes and then reduce to a lower temp for the remaining time. This will get you those nice round muffin tops that look just like the bakery kind! Sounds weird, but believe me I tried the recipe both ways and the height on these babies is way better using that method 🙂
Recipe tips
- Crumble: Make the crumble first, then refrigerate until needed. This will ensure it doesn’t all sink into the muffin when it bakes. I also pulse for only 1 second in between adding the butter, to keep that wet sand-like consistency. If you mix too much it will turn into one big dough ball, which we don’t want!
- Lemon sugar: You heard it hear first, lemon sugar is a thing! I find pulsing the granulated sugar with the lemon zest before mixing it into the batter brings out the most lemon flavor. It releases the oil in the zest and amplifies the citrus. It’s so so good!
- Room temperature ingredients: This is superrrr important. If your buttermilk and eggs aren’t room temperature, the muffins won’t rise right. If you don’t have time to let the eggs come to temperature, heat one cup of water in the microwave for 30 seconds. Set the eggs in the water and let sit for 1-2 minutes. Wha-la!
I’m a sucked for lemon anything, and I hope you enjoy these muffins as much as I do!
Lemon Poppy Seed Crumble Muffins
Ingredients
For the crumble:
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- ⅔ cup granulated sugar
- zest of 2 small lemons
- ½ cup salted butter, cold and cubed
For the muffins:
- 1 ⅓ cup granulated sugar
- zest of 2 lemons
- ½ cup salted butter, melted
- ¼ cup vegetable oil
- 2 eggs room temperature
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 tbsp baking powder
- ½ tsp baking soda
- ¾ cup buttermilk room temperature
- juice from 1 small lemon, about 3 tbsp
- ¼ tsp kosher salt
- 2 tbsp poppy seeds
Instructions
For the crumble:
- In a large food processor, add 1 cup of all-purpose flour and ⅔ cup granulated sugar and pulse to combine, about 10 seconds. Zest 2 lemons into the mixture, and add in cold butter, 1 cube at a time, pulsing to combine. pulse until the mixture resembles sand, about 30 seconds. Add crumble to a bowl and put in the refrigerator until needed.
For the muffins:
- Preheat oven to 425° and line a jumbo muffin pan with muffin liners. Wipe out the food processor bowl and add 1 ⅓ cup granulated sugar and zest 2 lemons. Turn the food processor on for 30 seconds, creating a lemon sugar. Once blended, add lemon sugar, melted butter and vegetable oil to the bowl of a stand mixer. With the mixer on the lowest speed, crack in one egg at a time and mix until combined.
- In a separate bowl sift all purpose flour, baking powder and baking soda. With the mixer on the lowest speed, alternate adding dry ingredients and the buttermilk until combined. Add lemon juice, salt, and poppy seeds and mix on low for an additional 20 seconds.
- Remove the crumble from the refrigerator. Fill each muffin tin ⅔ of the way full with batter. Sprinkle about 3 tablespoons of crumble on each muffin and place in the oven. Bake for 5 minutes at 425°, then without opening the oven, change the temperature to 375° and continue to bake for an additional 15-20 minutes, or until the muffins are baked through. Remove from the oven and let cool for 5 minutes before removing from the pan.
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