#2,720: Lemon-Poppy Seed Zucchini Muffins

Mmm...lemon and zucchini...that makes quite the summery pair for these muffins.  These were the muffins for the month of July from Food Network's year of muffins segment they published in January.  I wasn't sure my kids would like these and actually shoved a piece into M's mouth before he could look at it because if he saw specs of poppy seeds or zucchini I knew he'd never eat it.  Instead he loved it and said, "I can't wait to eat this for breakfast!"  The lemon-sugar-poppy seed topping is probably my favorite part of the muffin.  It gives the muffin top a great crunch.  In fact, if you happen to have one of those muffin top tins I think this would be wonderful made in those!    

1 lemon (I used 10 drops of young living lemon vitality essential oil)

1 cup sugar

2 teaspoons poppy seeds

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup vegetable oil

1/4 cup buttermilk or plain yogurt 

1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

2 large eggs

1 cup packed grated zucchini (about 1 zucchini)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line a 12-cup muffin pan with paper liners. Using a vegetable peeler, remove the zest from the lemon in wide strips, being careful not to remove the white pith. Combine the lemon zest and sugar in a food processor and process until the zest is finely chopped, scraping the bowl halfway through, about 1 minute. Stir in the poppy seeds. Scoop out 3 tablespoons of the lemon-poppy seed sugar and set aside.

Whisk the flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt in a large bowl. Whisk the remaining lemon-poppy seed sugar, the vegetable oil, buttermilk, vanilla and eggs in a medium bowl; stir into the flour mixture until just combined. Stir in the zucchini.

Divide the batter among the muffin cups, filling them three-quarters of the way. Tap the bottom of the pan lightly on the counter to smooth out the batter. Sprinkle the tops of the muffins with the reserved lemon-poppy seed sugar. Bake until the muffins are golden brown around the edges and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, 23 to 25 minutes. Let the muffins cool 5 minutes in the pan, then remove to a rack to cool completely.