Gluten-Free Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins for Two (Plus, More Flavors)

It’s Day 10 of the gluten-free muffin recipes for March Muffin Madness (MMM) and I’m loving all the muffins and all the prizes. Hope you all are as well! Today’s recipe is gluten-free Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins for Two. Yes, if you’re a two-person household or even a single-person household, you really don’t need 8 to 12 muffins. I know … it’s kind of a sad reality. LOL

Because this recipe is a variation of a basic recipe, and there are several other variations I’m sharing, you’ll actually be getting five recipes in one! (You can see four of those variations in the photos in this post.) March Muffin Madness, indeed. The best kind of madness!

Read on to get this versatile muffin recipe, learn about its author (one of our foremost gluten-free cookbook authors), enter the daily giveaway for that author’s newest cookbook, and, of course, make sure you’re up to date on the overall grand prize giveaway. 

See the whole lineup of bloggers, blogs, and muffin recipes here.

Carol Fenster Cooks

It’s not an exaggeration to say that Carol Fenster (Carol Fenster Cooks) is one of my gluten-free heroes. Before blogs became popular and social media was the great connector, Carol was putting out her Savory Palate newsletter.

I eagerly awaited the recipes and the cooking and baking tips she shared. I would print out her newsletters and share them with the support group I led at the time.

After initially buying gluten-free baked goods and using gluten-free baking mixes—all back in 2003, when I went gluten free—and being totally turned off by the results, I took a baking break. Carol’s Chocolate Chip Cookies recipe was featured in one of her newsletters. I immediately made them and was not disappointed.

That recipe, which resulted in me finally truly enjoying a gluten-free baked good, got me baking again. Carol is a prolific and much-loved gluten-free cookbook author and you can see all her cookbooks here.

Carol is a frequent and enthusiastic traveler, not just for gluten-free endeavors but for personal adventures as well. She always shares her experiences in gluten-free dining on her site once she returns home. Be sure to read about her most recent European cruise. Be forewarned though … reading about her cruise and the gluten-free food she was served will heighten your wanderlust for sure!

Incidentally, I was finally able to meet Carol at a gluten-free event several years ago. She is every bit as warm and gracious as she always was in her newsletters and on her site! 

More Gluten-Free Muffin Recipes (and More) from Carol Fenster That You Should Check Out

~ Grain-Free Almond, Flax, and Chia Muffins

~ Grain-Free Banana Maple Muffins

~ Baked Eggs in Ham Baskets

~ Loaded Potato Skins Appetizer

~ Chocolate Peanut Butter Cookies

~ Egg Allergies? Vegan? Aquafaba Is the Answer (Tutorial with Chocolate Mousse Recipe)

Gluten-Free Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins (and More Flavors) for Two Recipe

Carol says: “If you make the basic muffins without any variations, use butter or buttery spread for a delightful buttery flavor. But if you’re making one of the flavorful variations such as these Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins, you can use oil because the fruit and grated citrus zest add lots of flavor. You can even use melted coconut oil (one of my favorites) instead of butter.”

Yield: 4 muffins

Gluten-Free Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins for Two (and More Flavors)

Print

This recipe is a five-types-of-gluten-free-muffins-in-one deal from Carol Fenster. Carol says: “If you make the basic muffins without any variations, use butter or buttery spread for a delightful buttery flavor. But if you’re making one of the flavorful variations such as these Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins (or Blueberry-Lemon Muffins, Cranberry-Orange Muffins, or Raspberry-Almond Muffins), you can use oil because the fruit and grated citrus zest add lots of flavor. You can even use melted coconut oil (one of my favorites) instead of butter.”

Prep Time 5 minutes

Cook Time 20 minutes

Inactive Time 10 minutes

Total Time 35 minutes

Ingredients

• ½ cup Carol’s Gluten-Free Flour Blend (or another high-quality gluten-free flour blend of choice; see notes)
• ¼ cup granulated sugar, plus extra for sprinkling
• ½ tsp baking powder
• ½ tsp xanthan gum
• 1/8 tsp (dash) salt
• 1/16 tsp (pinch) baking soda
• ¾ cup milk of choice, at room temperature
• 1 tbsp unsalted butter, or buttery spread, melted and cooled, or canola oil
• 1 large egg, at room temperature
• ½ tsp pure vanilla extract
• 1 tsp poppy seeds
• 1 tsp grated lemon zest

Instructions

1. Place a rack in the lower third of the oven. Preheat the oven to 375F. Generously grease 4 cups of a standard 6-cup nonstick muffin pan or line with paper liners.
2. In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together the flour blend, sugar, baking powder, xanthan gum, salt, and baking soda until well blended. With the electric mixer on low speed, beat in the milk, butter, egg, and vanilla just until blended. Gently stir in poppy seeds and lemon zest.
3. Divide the batter evenly among the muffin cups (for perfectly proportioned muffins, use a 1 ½-inch metal spring action ice cream scoop to portion the batter). Sprinkle the tops with a little sugar.
4. Bake until the muffin tops are lightly browned, 20 to 25 minutes. Cool the muffins in the pan on a wire rack for 10 minutes, then remove the muffins from the pan and cool on the rack for another 10 minutes. Serve slightly warm.

Notes

Recipe reprinted with permission from Carol Fenster.

For Basic Muffins, omit the poppy seeds and lemon zest.

For Blueberry Lemon Muffins, replace the poppy seeds and lemon zest with ¼ cup fresh blueberries and 1 tsp grated lemon zest.

For Cranberry-Orange Muffins, replace the poppy seeds and lemon zest with ¼ cup dried cranberries and 1 tsp grated orange zest.

For Raspberry-Almond Muffins, omit the poppy seeds and lemon zest and replace with ¼ cup fresh raspberries; use almond extract instead of vanilla extract; and add ½ tsp of ground cinnamon with the salt.

Shirley here:  If you use a gluten-free flour mix that contains ingredients that are more “absorbent,” like white rice flour, sweet rice flour, and/or cornstarch, you may need to add slightly more milk to make a workable batter.

"Old school" wisdom says to never bake muffin cups empty because doing so can cause your muffin tin to warp so I add a little water to each empty cup (about 1/2 inch).

Did you make this recipe?

Please leave a comment on the blog or share a photo on Pinterest

Today’s Giveaway

~ Cookbooks:

Update: All the giveaways are now closed. Congratulations to the winners and thanks to all who participated!

Gluten-Free Cooking for Two (4 winners; co-sponsored by Carol Fenster and gfe)

You can read my review here and snag Carol’s gluten-free Crepes recipe (so good! If you can’t decide between crepes filled with savory or sweet ingredients, make some of each!). As Carol shares, this cookbook is “designed for small households, each perfectly-proportioned recipe serves two people. You will eliminate unwanted leftovers and reduce waste when you cook right-size meals with the 125 recipes in this book. Enjoy!! Celebrate with me!!! Gluten-Free Cooking for Two has won two awards: named one of ten “Best Gluten-Free Cooking Books in 2017” by Healthline.com and won a Silver Medal in the 2017 Living Now Book Awards in the “Natural, Nutrition, Organic, Vegetarian” category.” Congrats to Carol!

p.s. If you check out Carol’s cookbook on Amazon, be sure to scroll down the page to get her Bing Cherry Clafoutis Recipe for Two.

and

Danielle Walker’s Against All Grain: Meals Made Simple:  Gluten-Free, Dairy-Free, and Paleo Recipes to Make Any Time (1 winner; sponsored by Danielle Walker and Ten Speed Press)

Because some of you are cooking for larger families, I thought I’d share another one of  Danielle Walker’s bestselling cookbooks that will work for families with more than two people. Danielle’s second cookbook not only includes 100 recipes, it also offers 8 weeks of meal plans using those recipes, which include shopping lists. Let’s face it; sometimes we love it when others do the work for us! I also like that leftovers from previous meals are always taken into consideration for the meal plans.

Grand Prize Giveaway

See all 10 prizes here. Shown are the top six prizes (per monetary value—they’re all tops in my opinion). Again, this giveaway is open to everyone, everywhere!

Originally published March 31, 2018; updated July 27, 2023.

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