Sour Cream Lemon Muffins

Deciding what to cook this week has been tough. You see I gave up grocery shopping a week ago, deciding to cook with what I have on hand. I'm forcing myself to clear out my refrigerator a bit before I leave on my trip.

Of course the pre-travel grocery ban complicates my general household cooking and food blogging: "What can I make with 3 dozen eggs, a huge hunk of Swiss cheese and a bunch of celery?!"

So I'll be baking with my most perishable ingredients (dairy, eggs, produce) this week. Anything that will be hairy, rancid or capable of launching itself at me when I return home in June. Just the sort of ingredients used in today's sour cream lemon muffins.




They're a moist, cakey and simple to make muffin (one bowl!), with a delicate lemon flavor. They're not tart or overpowering, despite all the zest, juice and extract used. They make a nice breakfast with a hot cup of canarino.



Perfect for the busy Mr. Humble, who can't manage to assemble even cold cereal in the morning.

Sour Cream Lemon Muffins
yields 6 jumbo muffins or a dozen standard muffins
2 cups (282g) all-purpose flour
1/2 cup (102g) granulated sugar
1 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
zest of one large lemon, finely grated
1 1/4 cup sour cream (250g)
2 large eggs
5 tablespoons (75g) unsalted butter, melted
1/4 cup (55g) fresh lemon juice
1 teaspoon lemon extract (or 1/4 teaspoon lemon oil)

coarse sugar for sprinkling (optional)

Prep your muffin pan with a little non-stick spray and preheat the oven to 375°F.

In a large mixing bowl, combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt and lemon zest. Use a whisk to break up any lumps and thoroughly combine. Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients and add the sour cream, eggs, butter, lemon juice, and lemon extract.



Mix together with the whisk quickly until the batter is moist but combined. It shouldn't take more than 30 seconds or 20 strokes. Expect the batter to be thick and a little lumpy. If it seems overly thick (there will be some variation in moisture content between sour creams) feel free to add a splash more lemon juice.

Divide the batter between the wells in your muffin pan (roughly 3/4 full) and sprinkle with coarse sugar, if desired.

Bake for 16-24 minutes (depending on the size of your muffin) until the muffins are light golden brown on top and a toothpick comes out clean. Do not over bake.

Allow the muffins to sit in their tins on a wire rack for 5 minutes to cool. Then tap them out of the pan.

Serve slightly warm or at room temperature.



In other news, this is the last week to get your pies in for the Not So Humble Pie Contest next week. I'll be confirming all the entrants via email this weekend, so keep an eye out for an email from me if you submitted a pie. (Edit: Due to a very busy weekend, I'll be doing the confirmations on Monday the 17th)

Also, for those folks out there who just can't get enough lemony desserts check out Food-ology and Kitchen Koala. They've been filling my blogger-feed with some seriously tempting lemon desserts this week. Nom.