breafast

We’re setting our thoughts and minds on spring and summer with today’s Crazy Ingredient Challenge. When it was announced that Lemon and Basil were to be February’s ingredients my first thought went to muffins.

Lemon and Basil is a pretty classic combination – perfect for seafood, chicken, and pastas. I wanted to try going in a different direction by baking!

I was scrambling to get this recipe made and photographed. With the winter storms that have been blowing by I didn’t get a chance to get to the grocery store until Wednesday night. Hey, at least I’m not in the Northeast! First thing Thursday morning these babies were baked. Happily the sun was shining and there was a lot of light being reflected off of the white snow. I did have to take down the beach towels that are duct taped to the sliding glass door. Yes, folks, beach towels have been severely downgraded now that we live in Ohio! They now protect against drafty doors and windows, act as a resting place for snowy wet boots, and are used to protect the carpet underneath my son’s booster seat when he’s eating. Okay, that last use might be an upgrade. 😉

These muffins are bright and help you forget about the negative temperatures outside. They make you want to lie down on those beach towels amongst green grass and flowers reading a good book.

There is a lemon sugar glaze that gets poured over the muffins after pulling them out of the oven – I didn’t use all of the glaze and even used more than was probably necessary. I also found these muffins to be a little too eggy for my personal preference – next time I’ll see if it would work with just 2 eggs.

This recipe makes 12 muffins.

Lemon Basil Muffins

Ingredients:

1 stick butter, at room temperature
1 1/4 C sugar, divided use
3 eggs
1/2 C sour cream
zest 1 lemon
2 tbsp chopped fresh basil
1 C flour
1 tsp baking powder
juice of 1 large lemon

Steps:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
In the bowl of a stand mixer cream together the butter and 3/4 C sugar.
Add in the eggs until combined. Add the sour cream, lemon zest, and basil. When incorporated add the flour and baking powder. Mix until a consistent batter is achieved.
Pour batter into 12 lined muffin cups. Bake 15-20 minutes, until a toothpick inserted comes out cleanly.
Whisk together remaining sugar with the lemon juice. Spoon lemon-sugar mixture over top the muffins while hot. Allow to cool in the muffin tin 10 minutes before removing to a cooling rack.

*This recipe is adapted from Lesa at http://www.edesiasnotebook.com/2011/07/lemon-basil-muffins.html*