Whole Wheat Pear Walnut Muffins with Poppy Seeds

8 am and I'm baking muffins. I really like my lazy mornings. I was supposed to garden today but it got cancelled so I have the whole day to bake and study. Baking takes priority obviously.

This recipe comes from Bon Appetite. It was originally a tea cake but I changed out the butter and subbed whole wheat flour for the almond meal.

Ingredients:

1/2 cup 2% buttermilk
1 1/2 cups
1 cup whole wheat flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
2 tablespoons poppy seeds

1/2 cup sugar
2 egg yolks
3/4 cup soy milk

1 ripe pear, cut into small cubes
1 cup chopped walnuts

Method:

Preheat oven to 450.
Mix first paragraph of dry ingredients, set aside.
Mix second paragraph of wet ingredients, set aside.
Add dry to wet and mix until almost combined.
Add pear and nuts and mix until just combined.
Divide batter into prepared muffin tin and bake at 450 for 5 mins.
Lower baking temp to 400 and bake for another 12 mins or until muffins bounce back to the touch.

Lemon Poppy Seed Doughnuts with Maxine

Today my friend Maxine and I made Lemon Poppy Seed Doughnuts. It's a basic muffin recipe that we baked in the Wilton doughnut pan. The original recipe called for sour cream but we just subbed extra milk instead. We also changed the milk from whole to 2% since that's what my aunt Nan left in the fridge. Here is the link to the original recipe.

Maxine is so good at zesting lemons!! She also helped me make lemon curd for a cake I'm making later this week. We're planning on baking again this Thursday and I'm thinking pumpkin granola bars. I have to remember to buy pumpkin. And an assortment of nuts. Look for Maxine in the future, we're thinking of making this collaboration a regular thing.

Ingredients:

1/2 cup plus 3 tablespoon 2% milk
1 1/2 cup all purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature
1/2 cup sugar
1 large egg
zest of 1 lemon
1 tablespoon poppy seeds

For the icing:
juice of 1 lemon (about 2 tablespoons)
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar

Method:

Preheat oven to 400.
In a small bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside. In large bowl, or stand mixer, cream together butter and sugar, until light and fluffy - about 1 minute. Add egg, lemon zest, and poppy seeds. Beat to combine, scrapping down the bowl as needed. Then add milk to mixture and then add flour and beat just til combined. Do not over mix.

Grease your doughnut pan and fill the cups just below the rim. Bake about 12 to 15 minutes or until they bounce back to the touch. Knock them out of the pan and let them cool.

Combine powdered sugar and lemon zest into bowl with whisk and drizzle the icing over top of the doughnuts.
Enjoy!!