Lemon-glazed Raspberry Lemon Muffins

It’s official. I’ve found myself on the road to being a Crazy Doll Lady.

Which is a slightly more creepy, way less stinky, second cousin to a Crazy Cat Lady.

What exactly makes a Crazy Doll Lady anyway? I mean, I think it’s pretty safe to assume that a Crazy Cat Lady meets at least one of the following criteria:

Owns a cat (hopefully, amiright?) and posts incessant photos of said cat on various forms of social media, while allowing it to lord over their life completely.

Cats are good at that. Lording. They excel at the lording.

OR

Owns three or more cats and no other pets. Also allowing the lording.

Or maybe not. It’s the ‘crazy’ part that is hard to define.

It’s okay. We’re all crazy here.

Anyway, though, there’s still a sort of general consensus on what a Crazy Cat Lady is, but when does it become crazy to have dolls.

Is it an age thing? Like, at six years old, you aren’t crazy if you have four or five dolls…you aren’t even crazy if you have 20 or 30. You’re just six. Totally normal.

But at 30 years old, does it make you crazy to have even one doll? Six? Or is it when you get into the double digits?

WHO KNOWS THESE THINGS?!

Because what started out innocently enough with an adorable Merida doll…

…has not so slowly morphed into me suddenly googling doll hair care (and actually caring for said hair), painting custom stands for a doll to perch upon, and standing in the toy aisle at target…the lone adult woman…trying to decide between this doll or that one, FOR MYSELF. I like to think the other customers assume I’m buying a gift for my adorable niece or something, but I’m pretty sure they sense the truth. They give me a wide berth.

Exhibit A:

All my research paid off. I may be heading for Crazytown, but look at that hair!

Exhibit B:

Pretty much the cutest doll ever. She needed a place to sit on my desk. So I made her one. Not crazy…SMART.

I don’t have an Exhibit C, because I’d rather not have photographic evidence of myself agonizing over a doll selection.

In my defense, I only own six dolls. In my further defense, FOUR of them were gifts from the Hubster and the kiddo. It’s like they want me to be weird (not that I need their help).

However, I now own six dolls. All acquired since this past Christmas. Before that, I haven’t owned a doll (outside of an old Cabbage Patch from my childhood) since I was…12? Maybe 13 years old.

Listen, it’s not like I sit around playing dolly with them, okay? Give me some credit…

Let’s just change the subject… I made some muffins. Cause I’m a grown up.

Lemons and raspberries. They’re like peas and carrots. Except yummy.

I found all these gorgeous red raspberries for a fab price. It was a sign.

So I made muffins.

Lots of muffins were made.

Muffins covered in a sweet-tart lemon glaze, then rolled in zesty lemon sugar. Because I could.

These muffins are sweet and fragrant with all that lemon pizzazz, soft and tart with bright raspberries, and utterly irresistible with all that zesty sugar coating the tops.

They’re pretty much the happiest muffins in all the land, and they’re definitely gonna make your people happy.

Oh, and hey, they’re just right for a tea party. For real people, not dolls. Seriously.

Enjoy!

Raspberry Lemon Muffins
Makes 12 standard or about 32 mini

Ingredients

FOR THE MUFFINS
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 egg
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon finely grated lemon zest
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalte butter, melted
1 1/4 cups sour cream
1 1/2 cups raspberries

FOR THE GLAZE
3/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon finely grated lemon zest
1/4 cup lemon juice

To make the muffins: Preheat the oven 350 degrees. Grease a muffin pan; set aside.

Combine the flour, baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl. Add 1 tablespoon of the flour mixture to the raspberries, and toss to coat; set aside.

In a large bowl, whisk the egg and the sugar together until the mixture is thick and thoroughly combined. Stir in the lemon zest until evenly distributed. Slowly whisk the butter into the mixture until combined. Add half the sour cream, whisking until just combined, repeat with the remaining sour cream.

Add the flour to the sour cream mixture and fold with a spatula until the batter comes together. Add the raspberries and very gently fold the mixture until the berries are evenly distributed (do not overmix).

Evenly divide the batter in between the cups of the muffin pan (about 3 tablespoons of batter per cup, for standard muffins, or about 1 1/2 tablespoons for minis). Bake standard muffins for 20-23 minutes (minis for 15 minutes), or until very light golden brown in color, and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Transfer the muffins to a wire cooling rack and allow to cool for 5 minutes before glazing.

To make the glaze: While the muffins are baking, combine 1/2 cup of the sugar and lemon zest in a bowl until the zest is evenly distributed; set aside.

In a small saucepan set over medium heat, combine the remaining sugar (1/4 cup) and the lemon juice, bring to a simmer. Stir occasionally to dissolve the sugar and continue simmering until the mixture becomes syrupy.

Generously, brush the tops of the muffins with the lemon glaze. Once all of the muffins are glazed, dip the top of each muffin into the lemon sugar, being sure to get them covered well. Serve warm.

Recipe by Darla

Tagged as: Breads, Breakfast, lemon, Muffins, Raspberry, Raspberry Lemon Muffins, Recipes