Lemon Ginger Muffins
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I've been experimenting lately with lemon ginger muffins, looking for just the right recipe. Unfortunately, with all the heat we've been having around here lately, my experiments took a hiatus for a couple of weeks. Who wants to turn on the oven when the AC is struggling to keep the house below 80°F? In California we've finally had a break in the hot weather (my apologies to those of you on the East Coast who are getting it now) and I got up early this morning to bake these muffins. They are based on the blueberry muffins recipe, but use lemon zest and ginger in place of the berries, and have a lemon sugar glaze.
Lemon Ginger Muffins Recipe
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Ingredients
3 cups of all-purpose flour
1 Tbsp baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup 1/2-inch cubes of peeled, fresh ginger
1 large lemon
1 cup sugar -divided into 1/4 cup and 3/4 cup
10 Tbsp unsalted butter (1 1/4 stick), softened
2 large eggs
1 1/2 cup plain yogurt
Glaze
2 Tbsp fresh lemon juice
1 cup confectioner's sugar (powdered sugar)
Method
1 Adjust the oven rack to the middle-lower part of the oven. Preheat oven to 375°F.
2 Whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt and set aside.
3 Using a vegetable peeler, peel off the lemon zest from one large lemon (avoid the white pith). Coarsely chop the zest. You should have approximately 1/4 cup of chopped lemon zest. Add this zest, the cubed fresh ginger, and 1/4 cup of sugar to a food processor. Pulse until a paste forms.
4 In a large mixing bowl, cream butter and remaining 3/4 cup of sugar together, beating until fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, beating until incorporated after each one. Beat in the lemon zest and ginger paste.
5 Beat in one half of the dry ingredients until just incorporated. Beat in one third of the yogurt. Beat in half of the remaining dry ingredients. Beat in a second third of the yogurt. Beat in the remaining dry ingredients and then the remaining yogurt. Again be careful to beat until just incorporated. Do not over beat.
6 Use a standard 12-muffin muffin pan. Coat each muffin cup lightly with olive oil, grapeseed oil, or a little melted butter using a pastry brush. Distribute the muffin dough equally among the cups. Bake until muffins are golden brown, about 25 to 30 minutes. Test with a long toothpick (we use a thin bamboo skewer) to make sure the center of the muffins are done. Set on wire rack to cool.
7 While the muffins are cooling, in a bowl, whisk together the powdered sugar and lemon juice for the glaze. Add more lemon juice if necessary. While the muffins are still a bit warm, use a pastry brush to brush the glaze over each muffin. The muffins will absorb some of the glaze, so you add more glaze to each muffin if you like.
Makes 12 muffins.
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These look yummy and once the East Coast cools a little, I'll definitely give them a go. If I use my Microplane grater to get the zest rather than a veggie peeler, do you think it would make a difference?
Note from Elise: Depending on the kind of microplane grater you are using (a grater or a zester) your lemon zest could be very fine from using it. I don't think it will make much of a difference, but if you hand chop you will get bigger pieces which may give you more bursts of lemon flavor.