These healthy Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins are light and luscious and have more fiber than the usual donut shop options. Made with white whole wheat flour, a third cup sugar, olive oil, and poppy seeds, this muffin makeover is perfect for breakfast or a lunch box or afternoon snack.

The idea for this recipe came to me last weekend during the annual Daffodil Festival on Nantucket where the color yellow popped up everywhere — from the daffodil-decorated vintage cars in the Nantucket Town to Sconset parade to the tailgate picnic. Read this post and you’ll see what I mean!

[Tweet “Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins get healthy w/less sugar, whole wheat flour, and extra virgin olive oil! “]

Lemon poppy seed muffins are typically made with all white flour and lots of sugar. Mine gets health-ified with whole wheat flour, evoo as the fat source, and only 1/3 cup sugar.

Lemon Poppyseed Muffin Makeover

 

Author: Liz

Nutrition Information

• Serves: 12

• Serving size: 1 Muffin
• Calories: 190

• Fat: 9g
• Saturated fat: 1.5g
• Carbohydrates: 22g
• Sugar: 7g
• Sodium: 220mg
• Fiber: 3g
• Protein: 6g

Recipe type: Snack

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If you love lemon, this is the recipe for you. I added the zest of one lemon to the recipe, though you could definitely double that amount. Top with your favorite all-natural jam to add a bit more sweetness.

Ingredients

• 1¾ cups white whole wheat flour
• 2 tablespoons poppy seeds
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 3 large eggs, beaten
• ⅓ cup granulated sugar
• ⅓ cup extra virgin olive oil
• ¾ cup vanilla Greek yogurt (I used whole milk yogurt)
• ½ cup 1% low-fat milk
• Zest of 1 lemon (about 1 tablespoon)
• Juice of 1 lemon (about 4 tablespoons)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Lightly oil or coat 12 muffin cups with nonstick cooking spray and set aside.
2. Whisk together the flour, poppy seeds, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl.
3. In another large bowl, whisk together the eggs and sugar until well combined. Whisk in the yogurt, oil, milk, zest, juice, and vanilla until well blended. Pour the liquid ingredients over the dry ingredients and stir until just moistened.
4. Spoon the batter into the prepared muffin cups. Bake about 18 minutes, or until the muffins are light golden and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
5. Transfer the pan to a wire rack and cool for 5 minutes. Remove the muffins and cool an additional 5 minutes before serving.

Notes

To make 24 mini muffins, bake about 14 minutes. Freeze leftovers in resealable plastic bags.

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Here’s what Nantucket looked like last weekend when 100 vintage cars lined up for the parade. My husband entered his 1974 MGB (lower left) into the parade, and luckily it only died once along the route!

Tim and Simon soak in the sun and the fun. We were pretty envious of all the creative daffodil-themed car decorations, especially this Blues Brothers antique police car …

How funny is this? The owners of this car were even playing the theme music from the movie from that crazy loudspeaker on top.

I want this truck 🙂

If you’re jealous of my headband, post a comment and I’ll tell you how I made it!!!

Yippee! Tim and his friend, Kevin, made it to the Sconset picnic.

We still consider ourselves Daffy newbies since this was our first picnic. But just you wait till next year. We’re dreaming up some fun themes (Disco Daffy perhaps?) and hope to have something as impressive as this ….

Some people go all out …

I made a version of Prosciutto Goat Cheese Rolls with Fig Preserves and Arugula for our picnic along with Wild Rice Summer Salad.

[Tweet “Check out the sights and bites from Daffodil Festival 2015 on #Nantucket #Daffy15”]

I can’t wait for Daffy 2016; don’t be surprised if I end up wearing a hat like this one …

Or a boa like this …

Or shoes like these …

 Until next year …

(Yes, that’s a giant daffodil wreath on the Brant Point Lighthouse.)