Lemon Muffins

A tiny post for a sweet & easy recipe.

Tweets aside, *ahem* I usually try to retain a journalistic-like neutrality when it comes to certain issues. So please, just this once allow me to speak freely by saying how incredibly proud I am of our President! The election was long and brutal (on both sides). It's over. I'm over the moon, I'm walking on air, I'm just...I can breathe again.

Maybe now we can all just take a breath, dunk a few cookies into a shared glass of cold milk, and bring our level of arguing back down to casual library mode. ♥

My refrigerator had two sad lemons that were looking for a recipe to live in. I was more than happy to oblige. You can literally whip up a batch of these muffins in a matter of minutes. And since it's okay to toss on the glaze while they're still warm, gratification is almost instantaneous.

The muffins are not too sweet, which makes them pair perfectly with a cup of hot tea (I recommend almond!).

Without even realizing, I somehow ended up eating five in one sitting. They're that whimsical and airy. Stash several at will. ;)

Lemon Muffins
yields 12-14 muffins

for the muffins
2 cups granulated sugar
zest from 2 large lemons (roughly 2 Tablespoons of zest)
3 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 + 1/8 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
4 room temperature eggs
1 cup sour cream
1 cup (that's 2 sticks) unsalted butter, melted and cooled to room temp.
1 Tablespoon fresh lemon juice

for the glaze
1 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar, sifted
2-3 Tablespoons fresh lemon juice

method
Preheat the oven to 350 F. Butter (or line) muffin tins. {Note: This will make 12-14 muffins, so have 14 ready, just in case..}

In a large mixing bowl, combine the sugar and lemon zest. Use your fingers to rub the zest into the sugar until it's moist and fragrant. Add the flour, baking Soda, and salt. Whisk and set the bowl aside.
In a separate large mixing bowl, whisk together the eggs, sour cream, melted butter, and lemon juice. {It may look slightly curdled. That's okay.} Pour the wet ingredients over the dry and stir/fold just until moistened. Try not to over mix or the muffins will be tough. grrr.
Pour into prepared muffin tins (about 3/4 full for each).
Bake 20-25 minutes, or until a thin knife inserted into  center muffin comes out clean. Remove the muffin tin from the oven and onto a cooling rack. As the muffins cool, prepare the glaze.

Glaze: In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the confectioners' sugar and 2 Tablespoons of lemon juice until smooth. If the glaze is too thick (you're aiming for runny) slowly start to add the remaining Tablespoon of juice until it's the right consistency.

Gently pry the muffins out of the tin and place them on a sheet of parchment paper, or anything else that you won't mind making sticky. Use a whisk or the end of a fork to drizzle the glaze over the muffins. Enjoy!

Muffins can be stored at room temperature for about two days.

Recipe adapted from Taste of Home