The other day I got it in my head to make lemon muffins for a friend who is going through chemotherapy treatments. She is having a hard time keeping up her appetite, and she loves lemon flavored anything. I thought that lemon muffins might make a nice breakfast for her.
I set out to find a quick and easy lemon muffin recipe that I could make with the ingredients I had on hand. It’s amazing how many lemon muffin recipes require lemon concentrate or lemon zest or sour cream or cream cheese. I had only the basic ingredients in my kitchen, including a bottle of lemon juice (no lemons).
I finally found one that met all my criteria — except it uses real lemons. I quickly googled to find how many tablespoons are in a typical lemon and subbed the lemon juice I had in my fridge for the juice of a lemon in the recipe. This is not gluten-free because my friend is not gluten-free, but you could definitely use gluten-free all-purpose flour and add a teaspoon of xantham gum in this recipe if you want.
Because I wasn’t using juice from a fresh lemon, I went to the extra step of poking holes in the cooked muffins with a toothpick drizzling a lemon/sugar mixture over them to make sure they had enough lemon flavor.
If you like lemon muffins, you MUST try these. I hear they are more cake-like than muffin-like, which makes them sound all that more appealing, if you ask me. I’m sure you could try using less sugar, but hey, everyone needs a sugary treat every once in a while, yes?? (Says the girl who is currently on a sugar detox, lol.)
Aren’t they pretty!? And they came together in just 10 minutes. Easy peasy!
Quick & Easy Lemon Muffins
- 1/2 cup butter, soft
- 1 cup + 2 Tablespoons granulated sugar (divided)
- 2 large eggs, beaten
- 1/2 cup whole milk
- 5 Tablespoons lemon juice (divided)
- 1-1/2 cups all purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- powdered sugar for dusting (optional)
- Heat oven to 350 degrees.
- In a large mixer bowl, blend butter and 1 cup sugar on medium-high. Add the eggs; beat on high for a minute or until fluffy. Add milk and 3 tablespoons lemon juice. Mix thoroughly. Add the flour, baking powder and salt. Beat on medium speed until combined, scraping the sides of the bowl to ensure all ingredients are well mixed.
- Butter a muffin tin or line with cupcake liners. Spoon batter evenly into 12 prepared muffin cups.
- Bake for 20 minutes or until the muffins bounce back when touched lightly with a fingertip.
- Remove from the oven and cool for 5-10 minutes.
- Meanwhile, in a small bowl, mix the remaining 2 tablespoons sugar and 2 tablespoons lemon juice.
- Remove muffins to a wire rack. Use a toothpick to poke holes in the muffins, then immediately drizzle with the lemon/sugar mixture. Dust with powdered sugar, if desired.
Lemon is a nice change from blueberry, chocolate chip, etc! These look delicious! Thanks for sharing!
Jill
Doused In Pink
Yes, it’s odd that lemon muffins aren’t as common as the others. Lemon anything is a win in my book! 🙂
Once in a blue blue moon, I read a recipe, then get up and make them right away. Obviously all the stars have to align (moon? stars? Who am I??)… Time, ingredients, desire. But that’s exactly what happened this morning! Once I realized I had all the ingredients, you sold me by telling me how quick and easy they are. Also I’m a big muffin fan and have NEVER had a lemon muffin that sounded like this!! What no poppyseed?! Well they did not disappoint! We are eating them plain (no lemon/sugar mixture on top… Keeping it easy) and wonderfully moist with a delicate buttery lemony flavor. I’m definitely pinning these to make again!!! Thx Jo-Lynne!
YAY! That makes me so happy. 🙂
These would be perfect for Easter Brunch! So pretty 🙂
Made these, me and grandkids loved them didn’t use glaze just sprinkled with little sugar.
Awesome!! So glad y’all liked them.
These turned out delicious even though my muffins were not pretty. There was too much batter for a dozen standard muffin cups. Not wanting to waste the batter, I overfilled all the cups which resulted in overflowing and ugly muffins. I wonder what I did wrong. Oh well, they were still yummy!
Oh, no! I’m sorry. They always made 12 for me. Glad they were yummy though.
Is the recipe for real lemon juice or lemon juice concentrate?
It’s real lemon juice.
Can you use 2% milk instead of whole milk for these muffins.
Sure! I just always have whole milk in the house.