poppyseed

My Best Mini Muffins

Best Mini Muffin Recipe by Wood and Spoon blog. This master mini muffin recipe is easily adaptable to make into your favorite flavors: sprinkle, funfetti, chocolate chip, or lemon poppyseed! Give this base muffin recipe a try to add in your favorite mix-ins to make your favorite muffins ever. Find the recipe and how-to on thewoodandspoon.com

Many of us who enjoy cooking or baking have a few of those back pocket recipes we reach for time and time again. Maybe it’s a nostalgic taste from our past, a family favorite, or one of those simple recipes that is guaranteed to be a home run every time. Back when I was a newlywed, I was loaded to the brim with enthusiasm for trying new recipes; I wanted to create and feed, exploring what I was able to accomplish in the kitchen. But over time, as our family grew from 2 to 5, I quickly realized my best efforts wouldn’t always get the red carpet welcome I desired- cooking for a crew was not the Betty Crocker dream I thought it would be.

Best Mini Muffin Recipe by Wood and Spoon blog. This master mini muffin recipe is easily adaptable to make into your favorite flavors: sprinkle, funfetti, chocolate chip, or lemon poppyseed! Give this base muffin recipe a try to add in your favorite mix-ins to make your favorite muffins ever. Find the recipe and how-to on thewoodandspoon.com

Seasons of creativity come and go. Some weeks, I feel energized by keeping my hands busy with new flavors and tinkering around with fresh recipes. On others, I’m one puckered face, one questionable glance, one, “Do I HAVE to eat this, Mom?” away from setting fire to my oven and calling Dominos. Feeding an unenthusiastic audience isn’t always easy, and if you, like me, have found yourself responsible for feeding even just a single picky eater, here’s a word of solidarity: NO, YOU’RE NOT CRAZY- THIS IS, IN FACT, HARD.

Best Mini Muffin Recipe by Wood and Spoon blog. This master mini muffin recipe is easily adaptable to make into your favorite flavors: sprinkle, funfetti, chocolate chip, or lemon poppyseed! Give this base muffin recipe a try to add in your favorite mix-ins to make your favorite muffins ever. Find the recipe and how-to on thewoodandspoon.com

-“All this hard stuff isn’t for nothing.”

Despite all the judgy glances from a table full of toddlers who would prefer to eat Lunchables most nights, I find myself in the kitchen time and time again. Deep down, I know that being tasked with the job of nourishing little people is a privilege, and whether they’re getting a terrific homemade meal or carry-out pizza (again), those few short minutes around the table are an opportunity for impact, love, and connection. I come back to the kitchen, because I remember all the times my heart was fed simply by sharing a few minutes of conversation and a meal with someone; I know all this hard stuff isn’t for nothing.

Best Mini Muffin Recipe by Wood and Spoon blog. This master mini muffin recipe is easily adaptable to make into your favorite flavors: sprinkle, funfetti, chocolate chip, or lemon poppyseed! Give this base muffin recipe a try to add in your favorite mix-ins to make your favorite muffins ever. Find the recipe and how-to on thewoodandspoon.com

The recipe I’m sharing today is crazy simple, but it’s a favorite. These are my best mini muffins, and because my kids go wild for them, we make them pretty regularly. Having a fun, go-to recipe like this is good for morale, particularly on those harder weeks when squash (and subsequently, bad attitudes) is on the menu. With just one bowl, less than 10 ingredients, and about 15 minutes of time you can my my best mini muffins your own!

How to Make Mini Muffins

To make my best mini muffins, we start with the liquid ingredients. One egg, oil, sour cream, and vanilla extract come together with just a whisk and a little elbow grease. Stir in the sugar until well integrated and then add in the dry ingredients. Here, flour provides structure while the leavening and cornstarch add the soft pillowy fluff that makes muffins so good. Mix in your favorite toppings (think chocolate chips! sprinkles! lemon zest and poppyseeds!) and then dollop the batter into a prepared pan. (Sidenote: if you’re not already using a small cookie scoop like this one for your mini muffins, consider this a call to action. )

Best Mini Muffin Recipe by Wood and Spoon blog. This master mini muffin recipe is easily adaptable to make into your favorite flavors: sprinkle, funfetti, chocolate chip, or lemon poppyseed! Give this base muffin recipe a try to add in your favorite mix-ins to make your favorite muffins ever. Find the recipe and how-to on thewoodandspoon.com

This recipe for (what is most definitely) the very best mini muffins is always a hit, even with my picky eaters, and if you don’t already have a favorite of your own, I hope you’ll give it a try. With today being Valentine’s Day, I think this is the perfect opportunity to bake for someone you love! Happy Monday and Happy Baking, y’all!

If you think these are the best mini muffins, you should check out:

Mini Cinnamon Rolls
Mini Funfetti Cakes
Blueberry Cream Cheese Muffins
Banana Nutella Muffins
Double Chocolate Muffins

Best Mini Muffin Recipe by Wood and Spoon blog. This master mini muffin recipe is easily adaptable to make into your favorite flavors: sprinkle, funfetti, chocolate chip, or lemon poppyseed! Give this base muffin recipe a try to add in your favorite mix-ins to make your favorite muffins ever. Find the recipe and how-to on thewoodandspoon.com
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My Best Mini Muffins

These mini muffins are moist and fluffy and can easily be adapted to include your favorite mix-ins!

  • Author: Kate Wood
  • Prep Time: 5
  • Cook Time: 15
  • Total Time: 20 minutes
  • Yield: 24
  • Category: Breakfast

Ingredients

  • 1 large egg
  • 1/4 cup vegetable oil (or substitute 1/2 of the oil for melted butter for DIVINE chocolate chip muffins)
  • 1/2 cup sour cream
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1/2 cup sugar (or use 1/4 cup brown sugar and 1/4 cup granulated sugar- you decide!)
  • 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
  • 2 tablespoons cornstarch
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • Mix-ins of choice (see instructions)

Instructions

  1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees and lightly grease a mini muffin pan with cooking spray. Set aside.
  2. In a large bowl, stir together the egg, oil, sour cream, vanilla, and sugar until smooth. Add the flour, cornstarch, baking powder, baking soda, and salt, stirring just until combined. Add in any mix-ins (see note below). Use a small cookie scoop to portion out dollops of batter, filling each compartment of the tin 3/4 of the way full. Bake in the preheated oven for 10 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Enjoy!
  3. For funfetti muffins: Add 3 tablespoons of rainbow sprinkles. Option to switch the vanilla extract out for clear vanilla extract instead! For chocolate chip mini muffins: Add 1/3 cup mini chocolate chips to the batter. Option to substitute melted butter for the oil or sub out the 1/2 cup sugar for 1/4 cup sugar and 1/4 cup brown sugar. For lemon poppyseed muffins: Add 1 teaspoon of lemon zest, 1 tablespoon lemon juice, and 2 teaspoons poppyseeds.

Notes

  • Note: You can use any neutral oil in place of the vegetable oil!

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Lemon Almond Poppyseed Bundt Cake

Lemon Almond Poppyseed Bundt Cake Recipe Recipe by the wood and spoon blog by kate wood. This is a simple, fluffy, golden and white almond cake speckled with poppyseed and lemon zest and juice. The cake is spongy and perfect for breakfast or dessert. The whole thing is topped with a simple sugar glaze icing and slivered almonds. Find this springtime bundt cake recipe on thewoodandspoon.com.

We have officially survived one whole week at home with two children under two. I’m thrilled to announce that last Saturday, after a very long feeling 10 days, we were able to bring baby George home from the NICU. Pulling into the driveway with our little guy in the backseat felt surreal, and I was relieved to have my baby home, healthy, and unplugged from all the machines and wires he was connected to during his stay in the hospital.

Once home, our first order of business was to introduce George to his big sister, Aimee. I’ll be sure to share photos of that exchange later because it was really just so sweet. Aimee has been a dream with George, and while she sometimes has the tendency to love him a little too hard (read: squish/ smother/ trample him in every way possible), her affection for him is an answer to prayer and I couldn’t be more grateful.
Lemon Almond Poppyseed Bundt Cake Recipe
Can I tell you one of my favorite parts about bringing a baby home… and please don’t judge me?
I really like the food. Yes, the food.
I’m not sure if bringing a meal is a thing people do everywhere or if it’s just another one of the awesome ways that Southerners dominate in the field of hospitality, but where we live, if you have a baby people will bring you meals. It’s an excellent deal for us, if you ask me.
Let me be clear: I would not survive without the carbs and generosity from our friends here in Selma. What’s that saying about, “Man cannot live on bread alone?” Well, we probably wouldn’t even have bread in the house by now if it weren’t for all the croissants and Sister Shubert rolls that people have been dropping by our house. It’s magical.
Since this is our second go-around with the having a baby thing, I’m starting to develop a mental list of recipes I’d like to keep in my arsenal to potentially share with friends when they have babies. The recipe for this lemon almond poppyseed bundt cake is definitely one that I am mentally bookmarking. Bundt cakes, in my opinion, are terrific because they easily pass as a dessert, but also make a convincing argument in the breakfast department too. This lemon almond poppyseed bundt is no exception. It’s sweet, light, and fluffy like you would expect of any respectable cake, but its fragrant lemon and almond aromas and the little speckles of poppyseeds somehow remind me of a breakfast loaf that you might enjoy with a strong cup of coffee early in the morning. And because we all know that new parents operate on adrenaline and caffeine, this cake is a shoo-in gift for new parents.
Lemon Almond Poppyseed Bundt Cake Recipe
A while back, my friend Lauren asked me to work on a lemon poppyseed cake recipe and after several tries and errors, this cake was the ultimate product. I have baked this batter in round cake pans and I’m pleased to announce that it works just as splendidly. While I haven’t tried this recipe in a 9″x13″ pan, I feel confident that it would bake up well and would be terrific  with the almondy glaze poured right over top of the warm cake.
If you don’t know any new parents that you can share this lemon almond poppyseed bundt cake with, let me recommend weekend brunch, housewarming parties, bridal luncheons, church picnics, and whatever other events your social calendar has to boast as the perfect opportunity to test out this recipe. Bundt cakes are versatile and almost always appropriate to bring as a special treat for sharing.
Lemon Almond Poppyseed Bundt Cake Recipe
So give this lemon almond poppyseed bundt cake a try and bless someone this week with the gift of food. Everyone loves a thoughtful friend, and friends who bring food are always invited back. And to all of our friends and family who have dropped by to share a meal: YOU ARE ANGELS. My thighs won’t thank you later, but our family is grateful for your love and generosity.

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Lemon Almond Poppyseed Bundt Cake

A light, sweet, and fluffy bundt cake scented with almonds, lemon, and little speckles of poppyseeds. This is the perfect cake to share or gift your friends and family!

  • Author: Kate Wood
  • Prep Time: 30
  • Cook Time: 60
  • Total Time: 1 hour 30 minutes

Ingredients

For the cake

  • 21/4 cups cake flour
  • 13/4 cups sugar
  • 4 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 11/2 sticks unsalted butter, room temperature, but not warm
  • 1 cup buttermilk, room temperature
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 2 teaspoons lemon extract
  • Juice of one lemon
  • 3 egg whites, room temperature
  • 2 whole eggs, room temperature
  • 1 tablespoon lemon zest (from about 1 lemon)
  • 2 tablespoons poppyseeds

For the glaze

  • Juice and zest of two lemons
  • 2 cups powdered sugar
  • 2 tablespoons of melted butter
  • 1/2 teaspoon almond extract
  • 3 tablespoons of milk milk

Instructions

To prepare cake

  1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Spray a bundt pan with baking spray or grease lightly.
  2. Combine dry ingredients in the bowl of a stand mixer and mix on low speed for one minute until thoroughly mixed. While stirring on low speed, add small cubes of butter, one at a time, until all 1-1/2 sticks have been added. Continue to mix on low speed for another 1-2 minutes until butter is uniformly dispersed in the dry ingredients.
  3. Meanwhile, combine the buttermilk, extracts, and lemon juice in a measuring cup and pour this into the stand mixer bowl, reserving 1/3 cup of the mixture. Beat on medium speed for two minutes until smooth and uniform. Scrape the sides of the bowl and add the remaining milk mixture while mixing on low speed. Slowly pour in the egg whites and eggs, increasing the speed back to medium. Beat for another two minutes, scraping the bowl as needed to ensure that all of the batter is uniform. Add the lemon zest and poppyseeds and mix on low until combined, about thirty seconds.
  4. Pour the batter into the prepared pan. Bake in the preheated oven for about 30-35 minutes or until the center of the cake is set and a toothpick comes out clean. Allow to cool in the pan on a cooling rack.

To prepare the glaze

  1. Combine all of the ingredients in a small bowl with a whisk. If the consistency is too thin, allow to set out briefly or add additional powdered sugar. Add additional milk if the glaze is too thick. Drizzle over the top of the cooled cake.

Did you make this recipe?

Share a photo and tag us — we can't wait to see what you've made!