Lemon Curd Muffins

The price of lemons is quite dear in our local grocery stores (over $1 each) so I wanted a recipe that would showcase its tart citrus flavor and use both the juice and the zest.  I like lots of lemon flavor.  Boy, oh, boy, does this muffin deliver!  From the lemony fragrance while it baked to the first bite, it is pure lemon.  It has an aroma that keeps you hanging around the kitchen and once baked, going back to the cake plate to have "just one more little taste."

I don't keep lemon curd stocked in the pantry (and truthfully had never tried it until very recently when I made Danish pastries at a friend's house and she had some in her fridge) because the word curd just turned me off.  What an unpleasant sounding word for something delicious.  But a rose by any other name...  I made my lemon curd using a recommended Ina Garten recipe.  It may be on the sweet side for some, but we liked it. 

Lemon Curd Muffins
(Discovered on:  Circle B Kitchen)

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup sugar
1 egg
1/2 cup plain yogurt (I used sour cream)
1/2 cup whole milk
5 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and then allowed to slightly cool
1 cup lemon curd, divided

Preheat the oven to 350*F.  Line a 12 muffin cups with paper liners.**

In a large bowl sift together the flour, baking powder, salt and sugar. (Do not skip this step.)

In a pitcher or bowl with lip, mix the egg, yogurt (sour cream) milk and butter together.  Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients and pour the wet mixture into the center.  Mix lightly and only until the ingredients are combined (about 25 strokes!)

Add 2/3 of the curd in 6 or 7 dollops and quickly "marble" it through the batter; a couple of good stirs should do it.

Fill the muffin cups 3/4 full.  Bake for 30 minutes until golden brown.  Transfer to a wire rack to slightly cool as these are best eaten on the same day, while slightly warm. 

Top with another dollop of curd before serving.  Personally, I cut a small conical divot out of the center of the muffins, saving the divots as a cook's treat, smiles, and filled the divot with the curd. 

Makes about 12 muffins

Ina Garten's Lemon Curd

lemon
3/4 cups sugar
4 tablespoons unsalted butter at room temperature
2 eggs
1/4 cup lemon juice
pinch of salt

Zest the lemon into the sugar and mix well, set aside.
 
In a separate bowl, cream the butter and beat in the sugar and lemon mixture. Add the eggs, one at a time, and then add the lemon juice and salt. Mix until combined. 
 
Pour the mixture into a 2 quart saucepan and cook over low heat until thickened (about 10 minutes), stirring constantly. The lemon curd will thicken at about 170 degrees F, or just below simmer. Remove from the heat and cool or refrigerate.

MY NOTES:  I had enough batter to make 13 muffins.  The recipe called for plain yogurt, but all I had was sour cream so that's what I used, and it worked fine, and in the future that's what I'll probably use as that's what I usually have on hand.

Way back in the Dark Ages when I took Home Ec, Mrs. Haus, my Home Ec teacher was the one who said to stir muffin batter only 25 times.  I have a large stirring spoon that I recently bought, a 25-stir seemed adequate.  The point is, stir until barely combined.  You may have a few bits of flour that are not mixed it but it should be okay.

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