Almond poppyseed muffins

My absolute favorite muffin in the entire world is an almond poppyseed muffin, but pre-made muffins are soooooooo fattening and expensive, so I found a recipe that makes the most moist, wonderful muffins. It's Ina Garten's Blueberry Coffee Cake Muffins (found in her fabulous cookbook, Barefoot Contessa Family Style). I adapted the recipe to make almond poppyseed muffins. They are super simple and super yummy.

Almond Poppyseed Muffins

12 tablespoons butter (at room temperature)
1 & 1/2 cups sugar
3 eggs
1 & 1/2 tsp almond extract
8 oz. sour cream
1/4 cup milk
2 & 1/2 cups flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp kosher salt
Poppyseeds

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray two muffins tins of 12 muffins each with Pam or other cooking spray.

Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. (This step is crucial - make sure you let the butter and sugar mix thoroughly!!) Add eggs one at a time, until thoroughly mixed, then add almond extract, sour cream, and milk. In a separate bowl, sift the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Slowly add the flour mixture to the wet ingredients, a little at a time until just mixed. Add poppyseeds and stir.

Scoop batter into muffin tins (I use an ice scream scoop to get even muffins). Bake for 25-30 minutes. They are delicious and a favorite in my house. A batch of 24 usually only last 2-3 days in my house.

*The great thing about Ina's recipe is that it can be adapted to pretty much any kind of muffin: blueberry, chocolate chip, cinnamon, lemon poppyseed, etc... Try it out - you'll never buy boxed muffins again!!