Why are children obsessed with sprinkles?
I was sharing a piece of cake with Lola a few weeks ago and despite the presence of both cake and frosting, for her no bite was complete without a few of the sprinkles located on top.
I personally don’t understand the allure. Sure they look cute, but they don’t really taste like anything!
I was curious what other little things she might find alluring and decided to give poppy seeds a shot. I whipped up these muffins for breakfast while Lola looked on, munching a banana to keep her blood sugar in check while she waited. It turns out poppy seeds are akin to sprinkles when it comes to my child at least. She was really excited about the tiny seeds and ate not one, but two of these muffins.
I wasn’t sure how Lola would feel about all the lemon happening here, so I made the icing with milk. If you’re really into a zap of lemon in the morning you could use lemon juice in place of the milk for the icing. They still taste very strongly of lemon with just a hint of sweetness the way I made them.
The sour cream gives these muffins a rich crumb that pairs nicely with the crunch of the poppy seeds. They are also delicious without the icing and I think they would be great with a blueberry or raspberry jam.
What kinds of foods are your kids obsessed with?

Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins
Ingredients
- ⅔ cup granulated sugar
- Zest and juice of 1 lemon
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon baking soda
- ¾ cup sour cream
- 2 large eggs
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1 stick (8 tablespoons) butter,, melted and cooled
- 2 tablespoons poppy seeds
- Icing
- 1 cup confectioners' sugar
- 2-3 tablespoons milk
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400ºF. Spray a 12 cup muffin pan with cooking spray or line with paper muffin cups.
- In a large bowl, rub together the sugar and lemon zest with your fingertips until the sugar is moist and fragrant. Whisk in the flour, baking powder, and baking soda. In another bowl whisk together the sour cream, eggs, vanilla, lemon juice and butter. Add the wet ingredients to the dry and, with a rubber spatula, gently stir just until combined. Stir in the poppy seeds. Divide the batter evenly amongst the muffin cups.
- Bake for 18-20 minutes or until the tops are golden and a toothpick inserted in the center of a muffin comes out clean. Transfer the pan to a rack to cool for 5 minutes. Remove the muffins and let them cool completely on the rack before icing them.
- To make the icing, place the confectioners' sugar in a small bowl and add 1 tablespoon of milk. Stir with a spoon until the milk is absorbed, then add additional milk ½ teaspoon at a time until the icing is thin enough to drizzle off the spoon. Drizzle lines of icing over cool muffins.
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