Lemon Crumb Muffins

Are you a lemon fan??  Well then these are the muffins for you!  There is lemon juice, lemon zest and lemon extract in these.  The glaze that is spread on top after the muffins are baked makes for a nice tart but sweet bite!  The edges are super crunchy and the muffin itself is moist with a fine crumb and lots of deep lemon flavor. This recipe makes a lot of muffins so I suppose you can make a half recipe.  Don't forget the struesel topping or the glaze. They are both important to the taste & texture of these little gems.

So good! Great with a nice hot steamy latte or cold class of milk.  I used half cake flour & half all purpose but I'm sure it would work with all of one or the other.

Lemon Crumb Muffins


3 sticks butter, melted (1 1/2 cups)
1/2 cup vegetable oil
4 cups granulated sugar
2 cups sour cream
6 cups flour (I used 1/2 cake flour & 1/2 all purpose)
8 eggs
1 teaspoon lemon extract
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 T. Lemon Juice
1 teaspoon salt
Zest from 5 fresh lemons


Sift all dry ingredients together into a very large bowl. Grate the rind of 5 lemons, set the lemons aside. Whisk eggs and add sour cream, melted butter, oil, lemon juice, vanilla extract & lemon extract; whisk until smooth. Fold in the lemon zest. Fold all wet ingredients into the dry. Blend well.

Streusel

1 1/2 cups sugar

1 1/2 cups flour

1 stick butter, softenend


Mix sugar and flour together. Add butter. Work into dry ingredients until crumbly. (I did this part in a food processor)


Lemon Glaze


1/2 cup sugar
1/3 cup fresh squeezed lemon juice

Stir together until all of the sugar is dissolved. (I put the mixture in a Pyrex measuring cup and microwaved for 30 seconds. Sugar disolved completely)





Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Spray muffin tins and fill with batter. Top each muffin with 1 tablespoon streusel and bake for 18 to 20 minutes. (My muffins were huge so I had to bake for longer but I kept checking with a toothpick until moist crumbs were evident)

Remove muffins from oven. After 10 minutes or so, pop them out of the muffin tins.  Place on a rack with a piece of parchment or wax paper or even foil underneath to catch the dripping glaze.  Glaze the top of each muffin with a bit of glaze.  (I ended up making another batch of the glaze because I wanted to make sure that each muffin got a big spoonful)