Summer comes early when these little muffins are being baked. The balance of sweet and tangy is just right with a perfectly moist crumb and the slight crunch of the poppy seeds.
Tried and true, I’ve probably tweaked this recipe every which way before settling on this method that produces the best crumb and sweetness level.
💕 Here’s why you’re going to love these little bites of summer:
- These mini muffins are clean eat, paleo-friendly, and gluten free.
- They’re made using wholesome ingredients.
- They are versatile enough that you can enjoy them for breakfast or as a dessert.
- They take 30-minutes to make from start to finish.
- These muffins aren’t overly sweet and are sweetened using natural honey.
To make these muffins you’ll need the following ingredients:
For the dry ingredients we’re going to use:
- Blanched almond flour: Opt to use a super fine grind or you can also use unblanched almond flour (aka almond meal)
- Coconut flour: this adds both flavor and texture to the muffins.
- Baking powder and Baking soda: These rising agents will ensure our muffins have a light and airy crumb structure.
- Salt: I’m using a pink Himalayan salt but you can also use a sea salt.
- Poppy seeds: These seeds add both a wonderful crunch as well as a slightly nutty and earthy texture to our muffins.
- Lemon zest: Our main profile, using a fresh zest is the most ideal option for both texture and flavor.
Our wet ingredients include:
- Eggs: whole large eggs work best.
- Lemon Juice: Freshly squeezed is ideal though you can use bottled if you prefer.
- Coconut Oil: The coconut oil does add a touch of flavor to the muffins, if you don’t enjoy it, you can always use a neutral flavored clean eating oil such as extra light olive oil.
- Honey: Raw natural honey is ideal however if you’d like to experiment you can try using a different flavor honey such as a smoked honey or lavender-infused honey!
- Coconut Milk: This adds both richness and a touch of flavor to our muffins.
- Vanilla Extract: This adds a wonderful undertone of flavor that our muffins will feel lacking without.
Here’s how easy these muffins are to throw together:
After combining all the dry ingredients in one bowl (I usually omit the zest and add it in last), we’re going to blend all the wet ingredients in the blender until we have a smooth, thick and creamy consistency. This is an important step. We need the solid coconut oil to be evenly broken down and dispersed. The reason we’re not going to melt the coconut oil is because we need the wet ingredients to be thick. If it’s too runny it is going to make the batter runny and that will affect how the muffins bake. They will be on the wet and dense side. No bueno. We want them to be as light and fluffy as possible!
Mix the wet and dry ingredients together and your batter will look like this. You will already be able to see it’s fluffiness, and as we set it aside for a bit to grease our muffin tin it will get a bit more rise.
After we fill the muffin tin by dropping in a teaspoonful (or a scoop if you prefer), we’ll bake our little pretties until they are golden brown on the sides and cooked through in the middle.
Look at that gorgeous crumb texture!
And, as an added bonus you can make a simple lemon glaze for your muffins! It’s a perfect way to add a touch more sweetness and a splash more lemon flavor!
I hope you guys enjoy this recipe as much as I do. From my sunshiny citrus kitchen, I bid you all happy eats!
Lemon Poppy Seed Mini Muffins (with glaze)
Ingredients
For the Muffins:
- 1 1/2 cup blanched almond flour or unblanched (super fine grind)
- 2 tbsp organic coconut flour
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1 tbsp poppy seeds
- 1/4 tsp Himalayan salt
- 1 tbsp lemon zest (approx one whole zested lemon)
- 1/4 cup lemon juice (approx one juiced lemon)
- 4 tbsp coconut oil (solid)
- 3 tbsp coconut milk
- 3 large eggs
- 1/4 cup honey
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
For the Glaze:
- 1 tbsp coconut oil
- 1 1/2 tbsp honey
- 1 tbsp coconut milk
- 1/2 tsp lemon zest
- 1 tbsp lemon juice
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
Instructions
For the Muffins:
- Pre-heat oven to 350°F (175°C).
- Mix together the almond flour, coconut flour, baking soda, baking powder, poppy seeds and salt in a large bowl.
- Add the lemon juice, solid coconut oil, coconut milk, eggs, honey and vanilla extract to a blender and blend until smooth. The mixture will resemble a thick smoothie.
- Add the liquid mixture along with the lemon zest to the dry ingredients and combine.
- Set the mixture aside allow it to rest while you grease a mini muffin tray with coconut oil (omit if using muffin wrappers).
- By now the batter should have fluffed up a bit. Using a scoop or two teaspoons, spoon the batter into each of the muffin molds until all the batter is used.
- Bake at 350°F (175°C) for ten minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out with crumbs attached. If the toothpick comes out wet give it another two minutes before checking again.
For the Glaze:
- Blend all ingredients together until smooth in a pot on low heat until it begins to simmer.
- Remove from the heat and allow to cool to room temp stirring occasionally to ensure the glaze is well incorporated. If a skin forms you can skim it off.
- Pour the glaze into a bowl and put into the refrigerator for 10 minutes. Mix the glaze to blend it all together as it cools down to ensure the oil is well distributed.
Notes
- It's essential that you blend the wet ingredients of the muffin batter together to evenly disperse the solid coconut oil. The reason behind this is that melted coconut oil makes the batter too wet and runny and that affects the density of the muffins and its crumb structure.
- If you want a stronger lemon flavor feel free to add a few drops of lemon extract or even lemon oil to the batter!
- The glaze can be a little bit tricky as the oil sometimes makes a "skin" or forms a crust on the top. If this happens warm it slightly in the microwave until it softens and mix well before chilling again. Alternately you can simply skim the hardened coconut oil "skin" from the top and the glaze will thicken up properly after that.
