Sourdough Almond Poppyseed Muffins

For many years, anytime my mom and I were prepping for a beach trip, we would make sure we got the Almond Poppyseed Muffins from Kroger. If you split them in half, toast them and then smother with butter or cream cheese, they were just perfect with your coffee on the porch at 3rd Avenue South in Surfside, SC.

I haven’t been able to find these in a long time. For some reason everyone seems to have decided that poppyseeds can only be combined with lemon. And while that might be fine, it’s not what I want with my coffee.

I finally found some good quality almond extract (Nielsen-Massey) and decided to try making these myself. The recipe below is a basic sourdough muffin recipe, that can be modified with any add-ins you like! I’ve made this recipe with chocolate chips and dried cherries, with just cinnamon and nutmeg, and with dried blueberries. Mix it up with your own favorites!

You can make this either with feed starter or with discard. Either way seems to yield the same result.

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2/3 cup granulated sugar
• 1 tbsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 large egg (room temp)
• 1/3 cup milk
• 1/2 cup melted butter
• 1/2 cup sourdough discard

Almond Poppyseed

• 1/4 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 tsp almond extract
• 2 – 3 tbsp poppyseeds

Cinnamon – Nutmeg

• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp freshly ground nutmeg

Chocolate – Berry

• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 cup chocolate chips
• 1 cup dried berries

Directions

Preheat oven to 425. Line your muffin tin with liners or spray with nonstick spray. (This will make 10-12 small muffins or 6 large.)

In a large bowl mix your dry ingredients: flour, salt, sugar, baking powder and cinnamon/nutmeg or poppyseeds.

In a separate medium bowl, whisk together the wet ingredients: egg, milk, starter, vanilla and/or almond extract.

Combine the wet and dry ingredients until just combined. If using dried fruit or chocolate chips, mix them in now.

Divide batter evenly between your muffin cups – each one should be about 3/4 of the way full.

For the poppyseed muffins, I then added a sprinkle of poppyseeds and a pinch of Demerara or Turbinado sugar to the top before baking.

Bake for 10 minutes, then reduce the heat to 350 and bake for another 5 – 7 minutes until a toothpick inserted near center comes out clean. Note: if you are using the large muffin cups, initial bake will be closer to 12 minutes and then 8 – 10 for the reduced heat bake.

These will come out of the oven moist and soft with just the right amount of crumble.

The smell of good bread baking, like the sound of lightly flowing water, is indescribable in its evocation of innocence and delight.

M.F.K. Fischer