Lemon Poppyseed Muffins

Friends and cooking just go so good together, don't they? Our dear friends Linda and Brian, our old neighbors from Michigan, were kind enough to fly out to visit us for our spring break. One week off from teaching and some good friends visiting - we're feeling pretty lucky right now! I decided to make these delicious sounding muffins this morning, as our friends had been traveling yesterday and I felt they deserved something warm and fresh for breakfast. I have never baked with poppyseeds, nor made muffins with lemon. I was very excited to be able to use my new microplane zester, which I recently received as a birthday gift from Sheldon, a man who has been a father figure to me my whole life. These muffins came out beautiful! The lemon zest really added to the flavor, and they were perfect! I will make them again as soon as possible. According to my friend Linda, these muffins made her feel like she was in a quaint Bed & Breakfast! I took that as a nice compliment. I am submitting these muffins to Joelen's blogging event, Tasty Tools. I cannot get over how handy of a tool the microplane zester is, especially considering that before I was using this awful box grater that I had to slam on the counter to get any zest out of it. It was not fun. Yeah for microplane zesters and yeah for Joelen for creating a blogging event around this great tool!

2 c. all-purpose flour
2 T. poppy seeds
1/2 t. salt
1 1/4 t. baking powder
1/4 t. baking soda
1/2 c. unsalted butter
3/4 c. granulated white sugar
2 large eggs
Zest of one lemon
1 c. plain yogurt (do not use non fat yogurt)
1 t. pure vanilla extract

Lemon Glaze: (Optional)
1/2 c. powdered sugar
2 T. fresh lemon juice

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (177 degrees C) and place rack in center of oven. Line a 12 cup muffin pan with paper liners or spray with a non stick vegetable spray. Set aside.
In a small bowl, whisk or stir together the flour, poppy seeds, salt, baking powder and baking soda. Set aside.
In the bowl of your electric mixer, or with a hand mixer, cream the butter and sugar. Beat in eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in the lemon zest, yogurt, and vanilla until well blended. Stir in the flour mixture just until moistened. Do not over mix. Spoon the batter using either two spoons or an ice cream scoop into the prepared muffin tins and bake for 18-20 minutes or until a wooden toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. (If making jumbo muffins increase the baking time to about 25 minutes.) Remove from oven and place on a wire rack to cool for 5 minutes before removing from pan and glazing.
Glaze: While muffins are baking stir together the powdered sugar and lemon juice. The mixture should be runny. Once the muffins are removed from the oven, wait five minutes, and then drizzle the glaze over the muffins with a spoon.
Makes 12 muffins

Source: Joy of Baking