Savor these fluffy lemon muffins sweetened with honey. They're a delightful blend of soft, chewy texture, combined with tangy yet sweet lemon icing. A refreshing treat indeed!
FYI: It's best to prepare the lemon syrup topping a day in advance.
Ingredients
For the muffin dough:
- Whole egg: 130g
- Unsalted butter: 100g
- Caster sugar: 60g
- Honey: 40g
- Light flour: 200g
- Baking powder: 6.5g
- Grated lemon peel: from 1 lemon
- Lemon juice: 1 tablespoon
- Dekuyper Citron Geneva (a lemon-flavored liqueur): 2 tablespoons
For the lemon syrup:
- Lemon: 1/2 (seeds removed and frozen)
- Water: 40g
- Granulated sugar: 40g
- Dekuyper Citron Geneva: 1 teaspoon
For the lemon icing:
- Lemon juice: 10g
- Powdered sugar: 60g
For the topping:
- Pistachios: a suitable amount, chopped
Preparation
Cut the lemon in half, remove the seeds, and freeze, for the lemon syrup topping.
Melt the butter in a hot water bath.
Combine the light flour and baking powder and sift.
Combine the grated lemon peel, lemon juice, and Dekuyper Citron Geneva.
Preheat the oven to 200℃.
Lemon Syrup Preparation (a day in advance)
Slice the frozen lemon into 1-2 mm thick pieces using a slicer. (Caution: Don't cut your fingers!)
- If you don't have a slicer, you can thinly slice the lemon using a knife. However, make sure to slice it as thin as possible to avoid the bitterness of the skin.
Add sugar and water to a small pot and heat until sugar dissolves. Remove from heat and add the lemon liqueur.
Pour the hot syrup over the sliced lemon and let it soak overnight.
Muffin Batter Preparation
- Beat the eggs in a bowl, add honey and sugar, then whisk until well mixed.
- Add the melted butter and mix until well blended with the egg mixture.
- Pour in the sifted flour mixture and stir, scooping from the bottom, until only a small amount of powder remains.
- Switch to a rubber spatula and add the lemon mixture in thirds, mixing gently after each addition. Avoid overmixing.
- Spoon the batter into a muffin tin lined with muffin cases.
- Pat dry the lemon slices (soaked in syrup) with kitchen paper, place them on the batter, and bake in a preheated (reduced to 180℃ from 200℃) oven for 25 minutes. Check for doneness by inserting a badonenesser in a muffin. If it comes out clean, it's done.
- Once baked, remove the muffins from the tin immediately and let them cool on a cooling rack.
- While the muffins are cooling, prepare the lemon icing by mixing powdered sugar with lemon juice.
- When the muffins have cooled, spread them with lemon icing and sprinkle with the chopped pistachios.