Surprising fact about me:
I love chocolate.
Oh wait, that’s not surprising at all, is it? Here’s something that is surprising: Every once in a while, I crave something other than chocolate. Yesterday afternoon, for example, I was craving… lemon poppy seed?
Okay, who are you, and what have you done with Katie?
The problem is, there are no poppy seed recipes in my archives.
This was a job for my good friends over at the Candle Cafe. I’ve owned their cookbook for years, and you know how many recipes I’ve made from it? Zero.
I used to be so bad about buying cookbooks. I’d flip through the recipes, bookmark pages, and then never make any. Therefore, I’ve forced myself to completely stop buying cookbooks in the first place. Before I purchase new ones, I ought to show some love to those I already own!
So yesterday, I dug out the Candle Cafe Cookbook and assembled ingredients for their lemon poppy seed muffins. However, if you’ve been reading my blog for a while, you know that I am incapable of following a recipe. True to form, I abandoned CC’s recipe halfway through and did my own thing.
Where’s the 12th mini muffin? In mah belly!
Lil Lemon Poppies
(Adapted from the Candle Cafe Cookbook)
- very scant 1 tbsp poppy seeds
- 1 tsp grated lemon zest
- 2 tbsp lemon juice
- 1/4 c milk of choice
- 1 c spelt flour (or white, ww pastry, or even try gluten-free mix!)
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 3 tbsp maple syrup
- 1/4 c butter-type spread (full-fat), applesauce, oil, or a combo (if using oil or applesauce, add 1/16 tsp salt)
- 2 tbsp sugar (I used less than 2tbsp because I used stevia)
- 1/2 tsp powdered ginger (You can omit this.)
Preheat oven to 355 degrees. Mix dry ingredients. In a separate bowl, mix liquid ingredients (and poppy seeds), then combine and stir until just mixed. Don’t overmix. Pour into mini liners or spray a mini muffin tin with oil, and bake for 10-12 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean. Makes 12 cute lil mini muffins.
If desired, you can top them with my Easiest-Ever Icing.
But they really don’t even need a glaze; these babies are perfect on their own.
The bake sale is over!
For the incredible results: Bake-Sale Results.
I know a lot of you want to know more details about the sale, and those of you who bid are chomping (literally!) at the bit to know exactly when you’ll get your delicious yummies. Please be patient with me; I have a terrifying amount of emails in my inbox at the moment, and there’s no way I can get to them all today. Please remember that I have other obligations; running the bake sale is not my job.
I’ll publish a big “bake sale wrap up” post tomorrow, listing the amount we raised and giving instructions on what to do next. (I’ll also be sending emails to the winners in the next few days; as I said, please be patient!)
Question of the Day:
Do you bookmark recipes from cookbooks or blogs, then never make any?
Or are you the kind of person who sees a recipe (either in a cookbook or a blog) and immediately goes out and makes it that night? And can you follow a recipe to a tee, or do you improvise as you go along?
Hela says
7th April 2011 at 2:14 pmoh yum, yum, yum!! I LOVE lemon-poppy seed-muffins!! one of the best combos EVER! also, I have successfully swapped the lemons for limes, which makes them taste even better! actually, I prefer the lime version 😉
Katie, you are the best for organizing the bake sale so well!! I bet you have put so much time in there already. Thanks for doing it 🙂
Hela says
7th April 2011 at 2:30 pmand to answer the question of the day: I totally bookmark tons of recipes and simply forget about them, but once in a while I would remember one and just recreate it, as I would be too lazy to look it up. I get a lot of inspiration from recipe books and I love them, but I never follow the instructions. I´m more like “oh hey, well, that is a great combination” and then I would go and make my own thing with those ingredients as the base. Hello to improvisation!
Brandie says
7th April 2011 at 2:16 pmOMG! My mom just made lemon poppy seed muffins yesterday too! They’re the full fat full sugar not too healthy kind but MAN are they good! *giggle* Junior ate one and asked for more 4 times hahaha! Maybe I’ll try your recipe too and see how he likes ’em 🙂
Chocolate-Covered Katie says
7th April 2011 at 2:26 pmJunior is so cute! I want a Junior! Hehe I bet he’s a handful… but still!
Brandie says
8th April 2011 at 12:40 amAW THANKS!!!!! I just know you’ll love him – I’ll make sure we both come to visit you and have our Raw Bliss ‘date’ *giggle* You’ll LOVE him in person too!
(And Y.E.S. he’s a handful lol!)
Kristina @ spabettie says
7th April 2011 at 2:18 pmyou made these? they look BAKERY PERFECT !
great job on the bake sale, congrats!
Chocolate-Covered Katie says
7th April 2011 at 2:25 pmAwwww thank u! I must admit: photoshop helped a lot! I upped the saturation on the photos considerably ;).
Carrie (Moves 'N Munchies) says
7th April 2011 at 2:20 pmi LOVE LEMON POPPYSEED! one of my favs.. except when the poppyseeds get stuck in my teeth- awkward
i tend to make up stuff but thats becuz i get rly impatient and cnt focus on a recipe and do all the measuring and stuff– its so tedious!!
dont worry about the baksale!! im kind of scared for you for alll them emails you must have! duh.. duh. duhHhhH! (that was a scary sound effect)
Stefanie says
7th April 2011 at 2:21 pmI am the same way with recipes. I’ll bookmark a bunch but do not make them for a long time afterwards. It is more about saving money for me though since I am on a budget. Now I am craving lemon poppy seed muffins. Maybe I will try to make a lemon poppy seed breakfast tomorrow. 🙂 I’m excited to see the bake sale wrap up post tomorrow.
Freya says
7th April 2011 at 2:25 pmSO cute!
Yep I’m always thinking ‘oohh i want to cook that!’
I actually have a MASSIVE word document which lists all the things I want to cook from blogs 😛
Chocolate-Covered Katie says
7th April 2011 at 2:26 pmOMG me too! I copy and paste like crazy… I think I’ve made a grand total of 2 from that massive list!
Ashley (The Vegetable Life) says
7th April 2011 at 2:33 pmI love buying new cookbooks but I buy theym at a faster pace than I can make all the recipes I bookmark to make so I end up forgetting about some…. I need to work on that!
Ellen @ Undercover Runner Eats says
7th April 2011 at 2:37 pmI have the same cookbook problem. I have a million little sticky notes and a binder of recipes and I have yet to try probably 98% of them.
Laura says
7th April 2011 at 2:44 pmI have an entire shelf of cookbooks, and I’ve only cooked an average of about 2 recipes per book, though I they’re filled with post-it flags of things I want too try. I also still have a couple hundred recipes I starred in google reader during Vegan MoFo and never got around to making. And no, I basically never manage to follow a recipe as-is…and on those rare occasions that I do, I’m usually disappointed.
Kimberley says
7th April 2011 at 2:44 pmI love mini muffins, they are much more moist and not as dry as big ones and hey you can have more 😉
I have a list of recipes from blogs/cookbooks etc to try out. If i find a really interesting one I want to try out alot i will move it to the top of my list. I need to organize them better though!
Tulika says
7th April 2011 at 2:54 pmMini muffins ARE cute…and yours look cute AND tasty!! I hear ya on the cookbooks…I feel like it takes more effort to use a recipe from a cookbook than by looking it up online/bookmarking it!
Tara @The Game of Life says
7th April 2011 at 2:55 pmI always see tons of things I want to make, but I never end up making most of them! 🙁
Heather says
7th April 2011 at 2:58 pmYum! Lemmon Poppyseed, so unexpected!
Emily says
7th April 2011 at 3:00 pmI always buy my Mom cookbooks, she has OODLES covering all sorts of cuisines, filled with gorgeous pics. Yet Momma NEVER bakes anything from them. I inherited her love/avoid relationship with cb’s so I’ve not let myself purchase any. However, Elana Amsterdam has a new cupcake cookbook coming out (using ONLY coconut and almond flour!) so I may have to break my own rule. So tempting….
[email protected] DiVa DiSh says
7th April 2011 at 3:07 pmgood job on the bake sale katie!!
i have tons of cookbooks…tooo many. i haven’t used half!!
Jen @ keepitsimplefoods says
7th April 2011 at 3:38 pmThese are precious!
Gen says
7th April 2011 at 3:43 pmThose muffins look AWESOME!!!!
I have a laundry list of recipes both on blogs and in cookbooks that I’d love to make but haven’t! hahahahaha
Val says
7th April 2011 at 3:47 pmI always bookmark recipes and then never get around to making them because as much as I want to try them, I usually end up going back to whats quick and simple for my meals when I’m hungry. Sometimes I even buy the ingredients for a certain recipe and then never end up making it haha. Those look great though!! Also I made your Boatmeal the other day (for supper haha) and it was amazing!!!!! I will defs be making that again!
Alaina Rose @ Sweetness of Life says
7th April 2011 at 3:55 pmThose look like such sweet, tasty little muffins! I have been on a huge muffin kick lately. I think I might have to make these next! 🙂
Janna says
7th April 2011 at 4:46 pmYES! Huge fan of lemon poppyseed muffins! I’m putting these on my to-bake list for when I move into a place with a kitchen in June!!
[email protected] says
7th April 2011 at 4:53 pmhaha im terrible at following recipes too but i do use them for inspiration 🙂 muffins look fab soo perfect for spring!
Tina @ Faith Fitness Fun says
7th April 2011 at 5:07 pmYum yum yum! I was on a HUGE lemon kick when pregnant last year and it has stuck with me. I love lemon goods. These look fabulous!
Brooke says
7th April 2011 at 6:16 pmAdding my “bookmark but have a hard time making them all” vote… 😀
I’m finally getting to the point where I’m comfortable improvising the first time through on a recipe. I think it stems back to biochem grad school, where I’d run through a protocol (basically, a recipe!) perfectly, so I thought, and it didn’t give me the results I wanted–so I had to be so, so picky. (and I couldn’t even eat the results–waaahhh!) Finally, almost 13 years after grad school, I’ve learned to move on. 🙂
Lyza says
7th April 2011 at 6:25 pmThe beautiful thing about this being a blog, and not a real-life auction, is you can address everyone’s questions in a simple blog post and they’re all bound to read it!! 🙂 Lol I can’t imagine what a pain in the butt it must be to work a real-life auction with everyone’s questions and questions, pressing on you urgently and all waiting until they begin to get angry!! 🙂 I work at a restaurant and it’s hard enough. People have to remember that it’s just this: we are all people. But many times the worst ones forget–how hypocritical!
I so want to make these muffins for my mom 🙂 Lemon is her favorite. Actually, I think I just want to make mini-muffins or mini-cupcakes in general and give them away everywhere. So cute!!
Holly @ The Runny Egg says
7th April 2011 at 2:28 pmI’m glad the bake sale was a huge success! Good luck with the wrap-up and all that, I’m sure it is a ton of work!
I love lemon poppyseed — bread, muffins, cake, anything!
There are plenty of recipes that I have stashed away that I have never and may never make!
kaila @healthy helper blog! says
7th April 2011 at 2:29 pmOMG! Lemon poppy seed is my absolute favorite muffin flavor ever! You have no idea how long I have been looking for a healthy LP muffin recipe! This just made my day! I am rushing home (after school of course) to make these…..first I have to find some poppy seeds though 🙂
Congrats on the bake sale being such a great success! I will get to making my granola right away for the lucky bidder!
Luciana says
7th April 2011 at 2:35 pmI have a ton of cookbooks (including the Candle Cafe book that I meant to make a dozen things from when I bought it) that I regularly flip through, intending to make something, then never do. I read so many blogs, have so many recipes saved from blogs, and I have a huge list of my own recipe ideas. You know what I end up eating most nights after a long day at work? A bowl of steamed broccoli or kale, and some baked tofu/tempeh/frozen vegan burger thing. It’s sad, really.
I’m forcing myself to cook at least three times a week from some other source, or to try something on my own list of ideas. I’m not perfect, but I’m eating way better, and the husband is enjoying it, too!
The worst part is that I actually have a recipe program, so I could just plug in ingredients I have and pick something! Instead of eating chickpeas out of the can as I stand over the sink!
Chocolate-Covered Katie says
7th April 2011 at 2:52 pmI hear you! I just don’t usually get around to making recipes; I’ll pull something from the freezer or make a quick stir fry. When I DO make a recipe, though, I make sure to cook in bulk so it’ll last a long time :).
Mary @ Bites and Bliss says
7th April 2011 at 3:00 pmLemon poppyseed muffins!!! My mom used to make these all the time!! Ahhh I love, I love, I lovee!
[email protected] says
7th April 2011 at 8:07 pmYummy! Those muffins look awesome! What a creative recipe…they look like they came straight from a bakery (I mean that in a good way, hehe).
kspar66 says
7th April 2011 at 8:09 pma) your lemon pop muffins are gorgeous
b) i think you are so creative and generous (with time, patience, fudge babies!) for running a very big online bakesale for japan!
c) don’t feel rushed by the impatient kiddos! remember ur amazing!!
d) I made a chocolate single lady muffin w/ cacao nibs mixed in last night & it was so fantastic it made me gasp
e) I’ve been making delish balls with a combo of pb/molasses/flax seed/oats/cacao nibs/cinnamon, best snacky dessert ever, you’re so on point!!
thanks!
Chocolate-Covered Katie says
8th April 2011 at 1:19 amAwww this comment made me smile so much!
Ashley says
7th April 2011 at 4:12 pmGrowing up whenever my mom baked muffins or scones, It was always lemon poppy seed. Now, I haven’t had them in forever. Your muffins looks so cute and delicious. Lemon Poppy Seed also always reminds me of Spring. Maybe that’s why you were craving them!
bitt of raw says
7th April 2011 at 8:32 pmSo interesting, I just posted about my trip to Candle Cafe and a recipe I made from it. You have to try the paradise casserole. And I will try these muffins. I was craving lemon poppy seed awhile back.
I usually do make the recipe true to form the first time, other than any necessary changes for allergies (like gluten). I like to see what the chef/cook intended it to taste like. The second or third time, I feel more free to change it around.
Kat @ Cupcake Kat says
7th April 2011 at 8:53 pmI love poppy seed muffins! I recently made orange poppy seed muffins but I still have some poppy seeds left so I think I’ll try this recipe
Sarah says
7th April 2011 at 4:54 pmI made mini lemon poppy seed muffins last night too!! I haven’t had them in years and I just got the urge. They are so delicious and adorably small and cute 🙂
Katherine: Unemployed says
7th April 2011 at 5:23 pmlove poppy seeds and lemon combos. why would anyone eliminate ginger? psh
[email protected] says
7th April 2011 at 9:33 pmThank you for the bake sale update; I was wondering whether I needed to start cooking yet!
And I bookmark so many recipes and never get round to making them – but I can never follow them to the letter either 🙂
Maya says
7th April 2011 at 9:34 pmI work full time and am a full time student (with an internship) so I don’t have time to cook much. I basically read food blogs all day, drool over the recipes, and then when I have time/an occasion to cook for, I make like 12 at once. Lots of leftovers 🙂 And I totally improvise and Mayafy everything. I don’t think I’ve ever followed a recipe to a T in my life.
Great job with the bake sale!
[email protected] says
7th April 2011 at 9:35 pmJust thought; that wasn’t a criticism! You’ve got so much to do and it was a brilliant thing to organise; I was just thinking I might have been rubbish and disorganised for not making the cookies yet 🙂
Alyson says
7th April 2011 at 5:41 pmMmmmm…. Poppy Seed muffins are soooo good! 🙂
Also, I ALWAYS bookmark recipes or copy them, then NEVER make them. I think I have about 300 saved on my computer that I’ve always aimed to make, but never made it that far! 😉 Hahahaha. Laaaazzzzyyyy bones!
Loves,
Aly
Kathleen @ KatsHealthCorner says
7th April 2011 at 9:42 pmLemon poppy-seed is my Mom’s favorite!!! THANK YOU KATIE! 😀
Lauren (Diary of a Vegan Girl) says
7th April 2011 at 9:46 pmI totally agree agree! Mini muffins are the cutest! And these ones look especially yummy!
Crafty lil vegan says
7th April 2011 at 11:32 pmHow have i Never tried this flavour combo?!?! I think i know what’s next on my list ^^ and i just so happen to have a container ther size of my head (well, maybe not.. i have a rather large head..) full of poppy seeds, and a fruit bowl full of lemons! It’s like you posted this recipe just for me!
The cooking bug has truly set in.. and in a wild attempt at being organised, i made a batch of chocolate chip cookies and chocolate pinwheels for the wonderful people who bid on them in the bakesale! … not thinking that it will probably take a while for things like addresses to come through and they may be stale by then! Gah! Oh well.. My poor family will just have to eat the lot =P (i have saved some though, just in case!)
Congrats on the amazing bakesale katie! x
Averie (LoveVeggiesAndYoga) says
7th April 2011 at 7:32 pmI wing it 100% on all recipes. I see thing that inspire me, make a mental note of some of the ingredients and then get to work on my own version. Usually with far less steps and ingredients than the orig recipe b/c long ingredient lists and complicated recipes scare me off!
The bake sale and emails…I was thinking that if hypothetically each item had 10 bids on it and you had maybe 40 items, that alone is 400 emails. And then each winner and multiple bidders asked a couple questions, that’s another 100-200 emails.
Plus your normal blog traffic emails and life emails and oh yes, your life…yes honey, I am sure you are beyond slammed and probably wondered why you took this project on…major thanks to you for doing it 🙂
Keri - I Eat Trees says
8th April 2011 at 12:17 amI have lemon poppy seed cravings all the time!
Hmm… I can follow a recipe exactly if I want to review it, but generally I just try doing my own thing. I own quite a few cookbooks and I’ve hardly touched them lately. It takes planning to have the right ingredients, and I’ve kind of given up on the meal planning thing for now… 😛
Lauren @ WWoB says
8th April 2011 at 12:27 amOh my gosh, Katie!! This is such a different recipe for your blog! I love it!!
I bookmark tons of recipes but I only get around to making some of them. I have tons of desserts bookmarked but I hardly ever make those because dessert doesnt appeal to me all that much. Except icecream/froyo/gelato. And I have no desire to make that myself!
Katarina says
8th April 2011 at 12:48 amYummy 🙂
Christina says
8th April 2011 at 1:08 amThey are gorgeous Katie! Can’t wait to give a gluten free version a go.
I am definitely the sort of person who sees a recipe and then heads straight out of the shops and gets all the stuff to make it.
One of the things I aim to do one day is work my way through an entire cookbook – I’ve started the mission but not eating meat etc etc means I don’t usually succeed (or I end up having friends over ALOT and cooking for them)
🙂
McKella says
8th April 2011 at 1:12 amI’m a huge cookbook junkie, and I love to look through and organize all my recipes but I rarely use them. I’d rather throw something together quickly. Well, no one expects a stamp collector to use her stamps on letter, so why do I have to use my recipes?
Alexa @ Simple Eats says
7th April 2011 at 9:14 pmThese look delicious, they’re adorable! I like that these don’t have almond extract in them, which lemon poppy seed muffins usually have. Definitely have to try these!
Tara says
8th April 2011 at 2:41 amAHHH I LOVE MUFFINS! I’m so excited that you posted this. It’s going into favorites.
Which leads me into my next thing. My favorites is EXPLODING with recipes that I want to make. A lot of them are unhealthy recipes that I plan on revamping (or not!), and most of them come from blogs. I also have a ton of magazine clipped recipes and cookbook recipes to make.
Kate (What Kate is Cooking) says
8th April 2011 at 3:41 amOooh, I just made some lemon poppyseed muffins a few weeks ago! I love mini muffins- everything is cuter when it’s tiny 🙂
Chocolate-Covered Katie says
8th April 2011 at 11:59 amhaha so true! Mini revolution!! Bars, balls, ice cream sundaes… well ok, maybe I’d rather have a huge ice cream sundae ;).
beccah says
8th April 2011 at 3:46 amyes,all the time or i’ll overplan meals so imake too much lol i go through recipe vs no recipe times
Marina says
8th April 2011 at 5:26 amI love poppy seeds! I constantly bookmark recipes on blogs, but most of them, I never make 🙁
And I just saw you had an international bake sale for Japan, I am so sorry I haven’t seen that earlier, I would have participated 🙁
Meghan @ StruggleMuffins says
8th April 2011 at 1:54 amI had a love affair with lemon poppy seed muffins years ago before I became a healthy eater and ever since then I haven’t really yearned for anything lemon, but I admit your muffins have me intrigued. I bookmark or email myself recipes from blogs and other websites and neglect to make them all the time. If I had about 6 more hours each day I could probably do all the cooking I want, but sadly a 30 hour just isn’t in the cards 🙂
BroccoliHut says
8th April 2011 at 2:20 amSuper cute muffins! My computer’s recipe file is so huge, but I’ve probably made only 30% of the recipes.
[email protected] says
8th April 2011 at 6:41 amMmmm Lemon poppy seeed is bombbb!! I used to go ahead and make it right.away. but things have been changing and although I LOVE the recipes I just don’t make them how they’re supposed to anymore! 😛 I’m trying though hehe. and God bless ya Katie for your efforts for Japan and such a great feat you’ve done!
katie says
8th April 2011 at 4:11 amthat is so surprising that you like chocolate! lol!
yummy… i love poppy seeds so much!! these look awesome.
Bella says
8th April 2011 at 8:24 amoooOooO! i’m bookmarking this recipe! my boyfriend *loves* lemon poppyseed muffins!!
Alexandra (Veggin' Out in the Kitchen) says
8th April 2011 at 11:48 amI’m definitely going to make these very soon for my mom!!! She LOVES lemon poppy seed (as do I!) 🙂
So you chili bowl was absolutely AMAZING (no surprise there, of course), and I also made you pineapple stir fry but subbed mango for the pineapple and also added cilantro. I learned something from that dish: I love you and your awesome recipes! (But waaaait! I knew that a looong time ago, so I guess it just continued to strengthen my previous claim 😀 )
I mark so many recipes from cookbooks and blogs!! But it takes me forever to get around the them (if I even do!). I always feel so bad if it’s one from a blog. I need more time for baking!!
<3
Chocolate-Covered Katie says
8th April 2011 at 11:56 amYou are ALWAYS so sweet!!! How do you manage this, Alexandra? I must know! 😉
Alexandra (Veggin' Out in the Kitchen) says
8th April 2011 at 9:50 pmAwwww thanks! That completely made my day! 😀 But what are you talking about?? You’re ALWAYS so sweet too! 😀
<3
Malika says
8th April 2011 at 2:00 pmDo you think this will work without poppyseeds? :/ I’m worried it won’t turn out right..
Great recipe though! Also How many regular size muffins do you think this will make?
Chocolate-Covered Katie says
8th April 2011 at 2:11 pmI really have no idea about omitting the seeds.
It would make 6 regular muffins :).
Malika says
10th April 2011 at 2:12 pmThree words: Heaven. Dangerous. Dangerous.