Lemon sour cream muffins with lemon icing

The first time I baked a sheet cake with lemon zest, I was so disturbed by the aroma that I promised myself not to bake with anything lemon-y ever again. I even wondered why so many bakers out there seemed to be in love with that scent.

But I seemed to be easily influenced. I saw many recipes, in which people wrote that lemon cakes/ loaves/ bundts were lovely. Even my elder kid said that he loved the scent of fresh lemon zest. Then magazines said that the citrus scent could help reduce stress. So I decided I'd give lemons a second chance. And believe it or not, now I'm one of those who would buy some lemons every time I see them in the supermarkets, because, honestly, I love the scent of lemon zest :).

What I'm trying to say here is, i believe in second chances.

This recipe for lemon sour cream muffins sounds really simple but it got many good reviews. Apparently everyone who has tried it loves it. I decided to add some lemon icing and it felt so right. So if you do give this recipe a try, I recommend you make some lemon icing too, as the muffins have just a small amount of sugar. The lemon icing is tangy and sweet, it goes perfectly with the muffins.

Recipe (source: Nummy kitchen)
Ingredients:
• 2 cups AP flour (260g)
• 1/2 cup sugar (100g)
• 1 TBSP baking powder
• Zest of one lemon
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup sour cream (113g)
• 1/2 cup skim milk (120ml)
• 1 egg
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract (optional)
• 113g butter, melted and cooled

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350oF. Prepare muffin tin.

In a large bowl, sift together flour, baking powder and salt. Combine with lemon zest and sugar. Whisk together until well combined.

In another bowl, whisk together sour cream, egg, milk and butter.

Gently stir wet mixture into dry mixture until just combined. You'll have a thick batter.

Spoon into muffin tin. This will make 12 standard muffins or 6 jumbos. Bake for 25-30'. These muffins don't get very dark but will have a few brown flecks.

Remove from the oven. Gently remove from the tin and let cool on the rack.

In the mean time, make the icing: squeeze half of a lemon to get the juice, add icing sugar and stir until sugar is dissolved. Add more sugar gradually until you get a smooth white paste. You'll need quite a lot of sugar. Spread a thin layer of paste on the muffins. let it cool and harden.
Enjoy.