Lemon Meringue Muffins - Guest Post From On Sugar Mountain

I can't begin to tell you how excited I am today!  Today is a day of firsts and I have my very first guest blogger on Baker Becky today!!!!  :)  Jess, from On Sugar Mountain, will be sharing one of her fabulous recipes for muffins (I have such muffin envy when I read her blog, she makes the BEST muffins ever).

I met Jess and started following her blog a little over a year ago. She was one of the first blogs I followed after I started my blog and we have become great blogger friends (with me drooling over all of her delicous recipes)!  She is super creative and adds all of these fun ingredients to a plain baked good to make something spectacular and delicious! I know you will love her and her blog as much as I do!
HERE'S JESS:

Hello friends!

My name is Jess and I am the blogger behind On Sugar Mountain. Baking is my stress-reliever, and for as long as I have been blogging, I remember having Becky as a supporter, fan, and most importantly, a friend in the blogging world. Through all my ups and downs, she has been rooting for me, and trust me...

There were a lot of downs to accompany the ups. I may only be 22 but I'm quite the pro at spiraling when it comes to the age old question:

WHAT AM I DOING WITH MY LIFE?

Ahem. We won't go there in this post heehee. Becky encounters these mini-spirals often on my blog and continues to be the best of friends and keeps me going. Plus, how can anyone stay bummed when looking (and dreaming about) those cupcakes of hers? Did you these heavenly strawberry surprise cupcakes?? She was even sweet enough to guest post those beauties for me last week during the last spring break of my life (WHAT?!) and so I am so so SO excited to be posting here with what I consider my specialty: muffins.

But not just any muffins.

I've said it before and I'll say it here: cupcakes can hate. They've got nothin' on my muffins.

Teehee. We won't get into how long it took me to come up with that little slogan. Let's just pretend it came to me right this second in a burst of creativity and passionate love for muffiny goodness.

Also: to be clear I do love cupcakes. I love Becky's cupcakes especially. But muffins are just so simple, and have the potential to be decadent, delicious, and downright ahmazing.

Case and Point: Lemon Meringue Muffins

A little homemade lemon curd goes a lonnnnnnng way in taking these muffins from good to oh-my-god-where-have-muffins-been-all-my-life?!

Please don't fear the homemade lemon curd. I promise you, this recipe is absolutely out-of-this-world and super simple. I still have an extra jar in my fridge for...umm...

eating with a spoon?

Yes. Let's go with that. This stuff is Spring in delicious edible form.

Oh and are you looking for an exciting Easter dessert that will be sure to shock and awe?

These Lemon Meringue Muffins aim to please: a light and fluffy vanilla muffin, with a hint of fresh lemon zest, cored out and stuffed with homemade lemon curd, then topped with a creamy drizzle. The fluffiness stems from egg whites beaten to stiff peaks, then folded into the muffin batter right before sending them on their merry way into the oven.

So there you have it friends: muffins are no longer ugly cupcakes. Instead, I think they may be giving cupcakes a run for their money. Does Muffin Wars sound awesome to you too? Or just me?

Don't answer that heehee. Just eat these muffins!

Happy Baking!

~Jess

Lemon Meringue Muffins

Ingredients:

•   2 cups flour
•   1/2 cup sugar
•   1 tbsp lemon zest
•   1 tbsp baking powder
•  1 tsp salt
•   1/4 cup vegetable oil
•   1 cup milk
•   2 egg whites
•    Homemade Lemon Curd (here's the recipe I used)

1.      Preheat oven to 350 degrees and grease one 12-cup muffin pan with butter/cooking spray.

2.      In a large bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, lemon zest, baking powder, and salt. In a separate small bowl, whisk together vegetable oil and milk.

3.      In a medium bowl, beat egg whites to stiff peaks, about 5-7 minutes.

4.      Pour milk mixture over dry ingredient mixture and stir with a wooden spoon until just combined. If a few streak of flour show, that's okay.

5.      Gently fold egg whites into muffin mixture until just combined. Do not overmix.

6.      Fill muffin cups 2/3 way full with the muffin batter. Bake at 350 for 15-17 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of a muffin comes out clean. Let cool completely.

7.      Make small cavity in muffin by cutting a circle out of the center of the muffin. Make the hole big enough to fill with lemon curd. Spoon lemon curd into each of the cavities.

8.      Drizzle with cream glaze, then refrigerate until ready to serve.

For the Drizzle:

•   1 to 2 tbsp heavy cream
•   1 cup powdered sugar

1.      Whisk together cream and powdered sugar until thick glaze forms. Add more heavy cream if mixture is too thick, or more powdered sugar if mixture is too thin.

Pour into ziploc bag and snip off small corner to drizzle over muffins.