Lavender Lemon Muffins

I have this new 750 muffin recipe cookbook, which I absolutely love, and I’m trying to knock out one recipe at a time to ultimately complete all 750 muffins. I think I’m off to a good start as these muffins are #2 of 750 (the first was the Banana Brickle Muffins).

I was really excited about this recipe, mainly because I never made anything with lavender before. Now I thought finding a small quantity of dried lavender would be a task in and of itself but thankfully, Whole Foods sold them in 3 gram boxes and it was more than enough for the 1 1/2 teaspoons that I needed. But even with this quantity, I was surprised as to how subtle the lavender taste was. I definitely wouldn’t have minded a more bold lavender taste but either way, I loved these muffins, mainly because of the sprinkled sugar on top. They made these muffins more like a sophisticated donut muffin, with such refreshing flavors of summer.

Lavender Lemon Muffins (adapted from Camilla Saulsbury in 750 Best Muffin Recipes):

Yields 10 muffins

• 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 2/3 cup granulated sugar
• Zest of 2 lemons
• 1 1/2 teaspoons dried lavender
• 1 egg
• 2/3 cup buttermilk
• 1/3 cup olive oil
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

Line a 12-cup standard muffin tin with paper liners; set aside. (If you don’t want to use paper liners, you could coat a muffin pan with cooking spray instead.)

In a large bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.

In the bowl of a food processor, combine the sugar, lemon zest and lavender until lavender is finely chopped. Reserve 2 tablespoons; set aside.

In a large glass measuring cup or another bowl, whisk together the lavender mixture, egg, buttermilk and oil.

Pour mixture over dry ingredients and stir using a rubber spatula just until moist.

Scoop the batter evenly into the muffin tray.

Place into oven and bake for 17-21 minutes, or until a tester inserted in the center comes out clean.

When the muffins are done, cool for 3 minutes and brush warm muffin tops with butter and sprinkle with reserved lavender mixture.

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