Mix the muffins

1. Place butter to melt, slowly, on the stove top.  Heat the oven to 350 degrees F. Spray your muffin tins or place paper cups inside each cup of the tin.

2. Scale the sugar, poppy seeds, and lemon zest into a bowl.  Sift the flour and baking powder and salt into another bowl.  Crack the eggs into a small bowl.

3. When the butter is cool to the touch, and still melty, add it to the sugar mixture.  Whisk together until it is homogenous.  Add the two eggs, the sour cream and lemon juice and whisk again.  It will come together as a stiff and shiny mixture.  This is good.

4. Pour the egg mixture onto the flour and fold the mixture together, taking care not to over mix the batter.  

   Approximately 10 good deep folds should be enough to bring the batter together.  Muffin batter needn't be mixed smooth. 

5. Allow the batter to stand 5 minutes before scooping into the prepared tins.

6. Scoop each muffin cup half full.  These do come up quite well.  They will not peak but instead ooze out.  Not a bad thing, but good to know.  Over filled tins will make a mess on the bottom of your oven.  If you are unsure, bake the muffins on a sheet pan to catch any mess and make cleaning easier.

7. Garnish the muffins with purple and blue sugar, or don't.  The muffins don't need it, but the kids might. 

   Bake them for 20 minutes, or until they are firm to the touch.

8. When done, remove to a rack and allow to cool 5 minutes before removing.  When they are cool, remove them from the tin to the rack on which the pan rested.

   

9. For the glaze, add 1/2 C of powdered sugar to a bowl, pour in 1 t of lemon juice and whisk. It will not come together yet, so add small portions of lemon juice and whisk until it is the consistency you wish. I used the teaspoon of lemon juice and some half and half to keep the lemon flavor subtle and add a bit of richness.