Lemon Muffins

The secret to moist, bakery-style Lemon Muffins is plain yogurt. Yogurt makes for a tender crumb in this fast and easy muffin recipe, and a simple lemon-infused powdered sugar glaze adds a sweet citrus touch on top.

Course Dessert

Cuisine American

Prep Time 10

Cook Time 20

Cooling Time 30

Total Time 1

Servings muffins

Calories 315kcal

Author Meggan Hill

Equipment

Muffin pan

Ingredients

For the muffins:

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder (see note 1)
1/4 teaspoon Salt
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup plain yogurt (regular or Greek, see note 2)
4 eggs
4 teaspoons lemon zest (see note 3)
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup vegetable oil (see note 4)

For the glaze:

2 cups powdered sugar
1/4 cup lemon juice
1 teaspoon lemon zest (optional)

US Customary - Metric

Instructions

Move an oven rack to the middle position and preheat oven to 350 degrees. Prepare a muffin pan with cupcake liners and spray with nonstick spray. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.
In a large bowl, whisk together granulated sugar, yogurt, eggs, lemon zest, and vanilla. Add the dry ingredients in batches, whisking to incorporate after each addition. Fold in oil and stir carefully until uniformly combined. Fill prepared muffin cups with batter.
Bake until a toothpick inserted comes out clean with a few crumbs attached, about 20-25 minutes. The muffins should be fragrant and spring back when pressed lightly. Cool muffins on a rack for several minutes before removing from pan. Cool completely.
Meanwhile, in a medium bowl, stir together powdered sugar, lemon juice, lemon zest (if using) until smooth.
Place muffins on a wire rack set over a baking sheet. Slowly brush or drizzle glaze over the top. The glaze will harden in 20 to 30 minutes.

Notes

Baking powder: Instead of yeast, quick breads such as loaf breads, muffins, biscuits, and scones use chemical leavening agents, in this case baking powder (baking soda is another example).
Yogurt: Use Greek yogurt, regular yogurt, whole milk yogurt, or even French yogurt.
Lemons: Always zest your lemons before you cut them open to juice. It's much harder to zest half of a lemon!
Vegetable oil: Avocado oil, rapeseed oil, sunflower oil, or canola oil are all neutral-flavored oils that will work here.
Yield: This recipe makes 12 standard-sized muffins.
Storage: Store covered at room temperature for up to 4 days.

Nutrition