I love a good healthy muffin recipe to make multiple times a week. Chocolate sweet potato muffins, banana almond butter muffins, and my best every zucchini muffins are always on rotation in our house. But sometimes, I want a muffin that tastes like it came straight from a bakery. Buttery and sweet and perfect with my morning cup of tea. These lemon lavender muffins use the subtle flavors of lemon and lavender, but you can definitely tell that they are there and they compliment each other perfectly. One of my favorite parts of this muffin? That buttery crumb topping.
Lavender can be a challenging flavor to get into baked goods without it being lost, which is why I use two different methods to get the flavor in. First, there is 1/2 a tablespoon of dried culinary lavender in the muffins themselves. Second, the buttermilk used in the muffins is brought to a simmer with 2 tablespoons of lavender in it, and then steeped for 20 minutes and allowed to cool. Using both of these methods gives the perfect lavender flavor to the muffins! The lemon flavor comes from lemon juice, lemon extract, and lemon zest. These muffins are a little more time-consuming to make with the steeping milk, but I promise you they are worth it.
When it comes to baked goods like these lemon lavender muffins, it is so important that you ensure that all your ingredients are at room temperature. Butter, eggs, and buttermilk are all typically kept in the refrigerator but need to be allowed to come to room temperature for the muffins to have the perfect texture. Another step that helps give the muffins the perfect dome shape is allowing the batter to rest while you make the crumb topping. This allows the flour to hydrate and absorb the liquids in the muffin batter, and for the gluten strands to relax to give you a more delicate crumb. Ideally you let your muffin dough rest for one hour, but if you simply can’t wait that long, you just may not have as domed of a muffin.
This recipe yields either 8 large muffins or 12 regular sized muffins. When you are adding the batter to the muffin tin to make 8 muffins, they will seem very full. But you’ll get perfectly domed muffins like you see above! Making regular sized muffins is also a great option, especially if you need more muffins to go around for a weekend brunch. Don’t skimp on the crumb topping, it may even be the best part!
- ½ cup buttermilk
- 3 tbsp. dried culinary lavender, divided
- 2½ cups all-purpose flour
- 2 tsp. baking powder
- ½ tsp. salt
- 1 cup sugar
- Zest from 1 lemon
- 8 tbsp. butter, at room temperature
- 2 eggs, at room temperature
- 2 tsp. lemon extract
- ½ tbsp. lemon juice
- ½ cup all-purpose flour
- 2 tbsp. brown sugar
- 1 tbsp. granulated sugar
- ½ tsp. baking powder
- Pinch of salt
- 3 tbsp. melted butter
- Pour buttermilk into a small saucepan with 2 tbsp. of the lavender. Bring to a simmer for 5 minutes, then allow to steep for 20 minutes. Strain the lavender from the buttermilk, pushing on the lavender buds with a spoon to extract maximum flavor. Set aside.
- While the lavender is steeping, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl, set aside.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer or a large bowl to be used with a hand mixer, add sugar, the remaining 1 tbsp. lavender, and the lemon zest. Use your hands or the mixer to infuse the lavender and lemon flavors into the sugar.
- Add the butter to the bowl and cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy.
- Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.
- Add lemon extract and lemon juice and beat again.
- Add the dry ingredients and mix until just combined.
- Add the buttermilk and mix until just combined.
- Set the batter aside to rest, ideally for one hour, before baking.
- Make the crumb topping. In a small bowl, mix together flour, brown sugar, granulated sugar, baking powder, and salt. Add the butter and mix to combine. The mixture should have pieces the size of peas.
- When you're ready to bake the muffins, preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. and spray a muffin tin with nonstick cooking spray. This recipe makes 8 large or 12 regular sized muffins.
- Evenly distribute the batter either between 8 or 12 muffin cups and top with crumb topping.
- Bake for 25-35 minutes until a toothpick inserted into the center of the muffin comes out clean.
- Allow to cool in pan for 5-10 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.
- Enjoy!
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