Almost Tassajara…lemon poppy seed muffins
GH and I got married in 1988 in San Francisco. We were renting a studio apartment in the outer sunset and either the weather was glorious with luminous sunshine, or cold and miserable with incredibly dense fog. Honestly I don’t remember what it was like that day, but I do remember friends and family came from afar to join us, the radio played KJAZ, and we had a case of champagne.
Besides the actual ceremony, which I remember very well, I especially remember the cake (of course!). It was a poppy seed cake from Tassajara Bakery and it was moist and tender, its lemony, vanilla cake combined with the poppy seeds to create a mellow, nutty goodness. KJAZ and Tassajara are both gone and I’ve spent the intervening years searching for a cake like that one…to no avail. However, these muffins from Dorie Greenspan’s book Baking From My Home To Yours come as close as anything yet. They have the same mellow nuttiness and their lemon flavor can be played up or down by varying the amount of lemon juice in the icing.
Lemon Poppy Seed muffins
Adapted from Baking From My Home To Yours by Dorie Greenspan
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
2 tbsp poppy seeds
2/3 cup sugar
Juice of one lemon
1/2 cup yogurt
1/4 cup half-and-half
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1 stick unsalted butter, melted
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Combine the all the dry ingredients except for the sugar, set aside.
Add the sugar to the butter mixture and stir. Combine the yogurt and half-and-half and stir until no longer lumpy, add to the butter/sugar mixture. Add the eggs, vanilla, and lemon juice to the butter and combine.
Combine the wet ingredients with the dry ingredients. Make sure not to overstir, just gently fold and combine…lumps are okay.
Spoon into the muffin cups. Bake for 12 -15 minutes or until golden brown and a knife inserted into a muffin comes out clean.
Cool on a rack for 10 minutes. Drizzle with icing made from lemon juice and powdered sugar. I use about 2 tsps lemon juice and enough sugar to make a thick, drizzley glaze.
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4 Responses to “Almost Tassajara…lemon poppy seed muffins”
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I’ve made these wonderful muffins too and I think they’re just so pretty.
I could really use one of these with a second cup of coffee right about now….!
My son is a lemon poppyseed anything freak and I know he would swoon over these. They look yummy.
I am your friendly neighbor across the border in MN waving ‘Hi’ to you!!
These muffins look fabulous and I’ve been looking for a proper recipe for awhile, thanks!