Morning smiles

I don't get to eat muffins often, but when I do I like to make sure it's a good one. I made brunch for my future mother-in-law, her friend, and my fiance and I decided that I needed to have muffins. Nothing makes me happier in the morning than a deliciously fresh and lemony lemon poppy seed muffins with TONS of poppy seeds and sweet glaze. My go-to recipe is from one of the first pastry cookbooks I'd ever purchased...Baking From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan. Here's the recipe:

Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins
Dorie Greenspan
(She says it makes 12 muffins, but I can usually get 12 muffins plus about 8 mini muffins)

Ingredients:

• 2/3 C sugar
• Grated zest and juice of 1 lemon
• 2 C all-purpose flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 3/4 C sour cream
• 2 large eggs
• 1 tsp pur vanilla extract
• 1 stick (8T) unsalted butter, melted and cooled
• 2 T poppy seeds

Icing:

• 1 C confectioners' sugar, sifted
• 2-3 T fresh lemon juice

Directions:

1. Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Butter or spray the muffin tins or fit with paper muffin cups.
2. In a large bowl, rub the sugar and lemon zest together with your fingertips until the sugar is moist and the fragrance of lemon strong.  
3. Whisk in the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
4. In a large glass measuring cup or another bowl, whisk the sour cream, eggs, vanilla, lemon juice, and melted butter together until well blended. Pour the liquid ingredients over the dry ingredients and, with the whisk or rubber spatula, gently but quickly stir to blend. Don't worry about being thorough - a few lumps are better than overmixing the batter.
5. Stir in the poppy seeds. Divide the batter evenly among the muffin cups.
6. Bake for 18-20 minutes, or until the tops are golden and a thin knife inserted into the center of the muffins comes out clean.
7. Transfer the pan to a rack and cool for 5 minutes before carefully removing each muffin from its mold. Cool the muffins completely on rack before icing.

Icing Directions:

1. Put the confectioners' sugar in a small bowl and add about 1 1/2 T lemon juice.
2. Stir with a spoon to moisten the sugar, then add enough additional lemon juice, a dribble at a time, to get an icing that is thin enough to drizzle from teh tip of the spoon.
3. You can then drizzle lines of icing over the tops of the muffins or coat the tops entirely.