Turmeric and lemon muffins

I love baking on weekends, having said so, I haven’t done so in a while. Yesterday, I spotted a recipe from a renowned blogger and someone I admire for her beautiful food photography, the Displaced housewife . This recipe is adapted from her original recipe for the mouthwatering Meyer lemon and Chamomile muffins 
What drew me to making these delicious looking muffins, were the fact they contained Chamomile. Chamomile being a natural sleep and relaxation aid. On a personal note, in recent years I have been suffering from Insomnia, which makes my polymyalgia worse. I find that moderate exercise and eating healthy seems to help with the symptoms, I don’t care too much for medication and carefully watch what goes into my body.

A dear aunt of mine, gave me some great advice to drink first thing in the morning, a cup of hot water with a teaspoon of Turmeric. The turmeric is a wonderful anti inflammatory with so many healthy benefits. I’ve only just taken her advice this morning, and will report back to you, if there are any dramatic changes.

These muffins are so dense and lemony in flavour, I love how the earthiness of the turmeric shines through also picking up on the floral notes of the chamomile.So with that said, I give you turmeric, lemon with a hint of chamomile muffins.

Ingredients:

For the Muffins

-250g granulated sugar

-2 teaspoons of loose chamomile tea

-170g canola oil

-2 large eggs (room temperature)

-170g buttermilk (room temperature)

– 50ml milk, room temperature

-50ml fresh squeezed lemon juice

-2 tablespoon lemon zest

– 1 tablespoon of ground turmeric

-500g of all-purpose flour

– 2 teaspoon baking powder

– 1 teaspoon baking soda

-1/2 teaspoon sea salt

-Pinch of cinnamon
For the glaze:

-1 ½ cup powdered sugar

-2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

– 1 tablespoon lemon zest

-1 tablespoon milk
Method:
Preheat oven to 180 degrees C. Place a rack in the top third of the oven. Line a muffin tin with muffin liners or spray with nonstick cooking spray or lightly grease with butter or canola oil. Place the sugar and 2 teaspoons of chamomile tea in a blender( I used my NutriBullet with the grinding blades) and grind until the chamomile is reduced to small flecks.

In a large bowl whisk together your granulated sugar, vegetable oil, sour cream, milk, lemon juice and eggs until well blended.In a medium bowl whisk together the all-purpose flour, baking powder, baking soda, sea salt, cinnamon, cardamom and nutmeg. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix until barely blended.

Pour the batter into the muffin tray filling until just barely ¾ full. Squeeze some lemon over the top and sprinkle with sugar + cinnamon. Let the muffins sit for 15 minutes before putting in the oven…this will help them get a nice crown. Bake for 15 minutes in the top third of the oven or until a toothpick comes out clean. You want the tops to be puffed up and slightly golden.Let cool in the muffin tin for 10 minutes, then use a butter knife to help get them out to finish cooling on a rack. In a separate bowl, whisk together powdered sugar, lemon juice and milk. Drizzle the glaze over the muffins. In my photos you will notice I added a dash of turmeric to my muffins, I did this for dramatic colour contrast, of course, you don’t have to do this, to avoid a yellow mouth and hands 🙂

Happy weekend baking!

Dominique x