Want a bite of citrus sunshine? Then bite into these mini muffins that have both lemon yogurt and lemon pulp cooked into them.
The lemon pulp is easy to remove Cut a lemon in half. Working on one half at a time, take a serrated knife and cut a circle all the way around the lemon, being careful not to cut into the bitter white pith. Then cut off the end of the lemon so that the sections will release. Don’t worry about the white membrane that surrounds the segments. You can quickly separate the membrane and the juicy segments, by placing the fruit into an electric chopper. Chop for a few seconds. The membranes will separate from the pulp and you can easily pull them out of the chopper and discard.
Some of the pulp will be in the form of lemon juice from chopping. This is okay because both the pulp and juice are measured together to go into the recipe.
Once the muffins are cooked, and while still warm, brush them with melted butter. Then roll them in a mixture of granulated sugar with the zest of both lemons and limes.
Brushing the melted butter all over the muffins helps the sugar to stick to them and the outer “zesty” sugar coating is one of the things that makes these mini muffins so good.
Both my daughter and I have made these muffins in different citrus flavors and each flavor won blue ribbons in cooking competitions. I don’t think anyone can resist this buttery, citrus combination!
| Prep Time | 20 minutes |
| Cook Time | 20 minutes |
| Servings |
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- 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 cup lemon-flavored yogurt
- 4 tablespoons fresh lemon pulp, minced
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- Zest of 1 lemon, divided (half for muffins and half for sugar coating)
- 3/4 cup granulated sugar
- 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, softened
- 2 large eggs
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar (for rolling muffins)
- Zest of 1 lime (for rolling muffins)
- 5-6 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted (for brushing on baked muffins)
Ingredients
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- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 24-cup mini-muffin tin with cooking spray.
- In a medium-sized bowl, whisk the flour, baking powder, salt, and baking soda together.
- In a large measuring cup with a spout, add the yogurt, lemon pulp, vanilla, and half of the lemon zest. Stir until well mixed.
- In a mixing bowl, beat 1/2 cup of butter and sugar together until creamed. Add the eggs and beat until incorporated into the butter mixture.
- To the butter mixture, alternate adding the liquid ingredients and the flour mixture a little at a time ending with the flour. Beat until blended. Do not overmix.
- Fill the muffin tins 3/4 full. Tap the pan on the counter to relieve any air pockets. Bake for 20 minutes or until lightly browned. Briefly cool in the pan.
- In a small bowl, add 1/2 cup of sugar, the remaining lemon zest, lime zest, and the melted butter and stir. Brush butter all over the muffins, one at a time. Then roll each muffin in the sugar mixture to thoroughly coat.
Depending on the depth of the muffin tins, this recipe may yield more than 24 muffins.ย It will also produce approximately 12 regular-size muffins.