Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins with Cardamom Browned Butter are made with white poppy seeds, and are a delicious twist on a classic American muffin. Keep reading to see what other muffins our Muffin Monday bakers made this month!
I was not planning to make these muffins. I have a cake coming up to share with you, and my kitchen did not need more baked goods. However, we are celebrating Leap Day with our muffins this month–with Leap of Faith Muffins. The assignment, which we do not usually have, was to choose an ingredient we are less familiar with and take a chance on using it in our muffins. In other words, my kind of challenge.
I cheated a little because I am familiar with white poppy seeds–but only in Indian cooking, and never in baking. The white poppy seeds are used in the East and more for cooking, while the dark blue ones are used in the West and more for baking. I was out of dark blue ones and was wondering if white poppy seeds would work. Of course then, as I was making the muffins, I started thinking about white poppy seeds in Indian cuisine and suddenly cardamom seemed like the perfect spice for these muffins.
These lemon poppy seed muffins were a huge hit. I contemplated a glaze, but decided we prefer to indulge in butter–you could, of course, do both. I promise I won’t tell. But for me no glaze was needed. The browned butter gives them a nutty richness, the cardamom perfumes them and the poppy seeds give a fun texture just like the darker versions do. And since they are half whole grain, I figure they are darn near health food, right?
Right?
- 1/2 cup (8 T, 1 stick, 113 g) unsalted butter
- 1 t ground cardamom
- 2/3 cup sugar
- zest of 2 lemons
- 1 cup (126 g) AP flour
- 1 cup (136 g) white whole wheat flour
- 2 t baking powder
- 1/4 t baking soda
- 1/4 t fine sea salt
- juice of 1 large lemon or 1 1/2 smaller lemons
- 3/4 cup sour cream
- 2 eggs
- 1 t vanilla
- 2 T white poppy seeds
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Line a 12 cup muffin tin with liners and lightly spray the insides of the liners as well as the top of the pan. Set aside.
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Preheat the oven to 400 F.
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Place the butter in a small, heavy bottomed pan on medium heat. When it starts to melt, stir frequently--butter browns spottily, so you want to keep mixing it and scraping the bottom of the pan to encourage it to brown more evenly.
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Keep stirring the melted butter--when it turns brown and becomes quite fragrant (do not let it turn black or smell burned at all), turn off the heat and add the cardamom. Stir to completely incorporate.
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Let it set for about 1 minute, and then scrape it into a small bowl to cool.
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Rub the lemon zest into the sugar with your finger tips in a large bowl. When it becomes fragrant and a little moist, add the flours, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Whisk to evenly incorporate. Set aside.
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Whisk together in a medium sized bowl the lemon juice, sour cream, eggs and vanilla. Drizzle in the browned butter while whisking and then scrape the bottom of the butter bowl to add all of the cardamom into the batter. Whisk the butter completely into the sour cream-egg mixture.
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Whisk the poppy seeds into the liquid mixture and then stir the liquid mixture into the dry. Do not over-mix.
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Divide the batter between the prepared muffin wells. I like to use a cookie scoop.
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Bake for 18-20 minutes, or until the tops are starting to brown and a cake tester inserted into the center of one of the muffins comes out clean.
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Transfer the pan to a cooling rack and let the muffins cool for 5 minutes. Then remove them to finish cooling on a cooling rack.
#MuffinMonday is a group of muffin loving bakers who get together once a month to bake muffins. You can see all our of lovely muffins by following our Pinterest board.
Updated links for all of our past events and more information about Muffin Monday, can be found on our home page.
- Berry Mango Swirl Muffins from Farm Fresh Feasts
- Brown Sugar, Pistachio and Garam Masala Muffins from Karen’s Kitchen Stories
- Carrot Muffins from Kelli’s Kitchen
- Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins with Cardamom Browned Butter from The Spiced Life
- Marmite Muffins from Passion Kneaded
- Prawn and Curry Leaf Muffins from Food Lust People Love
- Spinach, Bacon and Cheese Breakfast Muffins from A Day in the Life on the Farm
For the collage lovers…
I didn’t even know that white poppy seeds were a thing! I love regular poppy seeds so I’m sure I’d love these too, they look delicious!
I love you infuse cardamom in your recipe. Lemon and poppy seeds? well…count me in! they looks gorgeous Laura
Wow, these are gorgeous muffins!! And white poppy seeds??? That’s awesome!
These muffins look amazing, I love the browned butter that goes with it!
I’ve never seen white poppy seeds, Laura. I was most intrigued to see your recipe when I saw the first title. And the cardamom is the perfect spice for these muffins!
I’ve never heard of white poppy seeds! How interesting! Love the combination of flavors. Yes, they are practically health food!
These sound absolutely wonderful! I love cardamom and that cardamom browned butter is just amazing!
I’ll bet the cardamom went wonderfully with the lemon and poppy seed flavors.
Laura,
I’m a fan of cardamom in Finnish baked goods, so you know I’m interested in these treats.
They look wonderful.
I’m glad you joined in the Leap of Faith this month!
I love cardamom in Scandanavian treats too, which is one of the reasons I started playing with it in American baked goods….
that browned butter sounds awesome, and for so many things! i’ve never heard of white poppy seeds but they’re super groovy, and i obviously need to get my hands on some. 🙂
LOL I think “groovy” is the best comment I have gotten in a while!!! We need to talk tv!
These are great. I used 3 T black poppyseeds. Cut sugar to 1/2 cup. Added 1/4 tsp ginger. Fabulous recipe.