A moist and tender crumbed muffin, filled with a zingy lemon curd, topped with a toasted meringue outside. If lemon meringue pie and muffins had a baby this is what you’d get!
Notes
I use a blowtorch for the meringue topping but you can pop them in the oven for 3-5 minutes to toast the outside.
The key to the perfect muffin texture is in the stirring! When combining the wet and dry ingredients you only want to just bring together. Avoid over stirring.
Be careful not to get the lemon curd to hot as you’ll end up with scrambled egg! Don’t worry if some egg comes together though as we sift this to get it nice and smooth.
If you need any help, or have any questions, you can message me on my Instagram @bonniedoesfood.
Please refer to my Instagram highlights to watch me make this.
Ingredients:
Lemon Curd:
3 lemons, zested and juiced
150g caster sugar
75g butter
2 whole eggs
1 egg yolk
3 tsp cornflour + 3 tsp water
Muffins:
175g plain flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 tbsp poppy seeds
150g caster sugar
1 egg
120g yoghurt
115ml vegetable oil
70ml milk
1 tsp vanilla
Zest of one lemon
Meringue Topping:
3 egg whites
200g sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp cornflour
Directions:
FOR THE LEMON CURD:
Grab a medium saucepan and add some boiling water, you don’t want too much as the mixing bowl shouldn’t be touching the boiling water, just hovering above. Keep the boiling water gently simmering over a medium heat.
In a large mixing bowl that will fit over the medium saucepan, combine the lemon zest, juice, caster sugar and butter.
Place the mixing bowl over the boiling water, making sure they’re not touching and stir the mixture until the butter melts.
Add the eggs and the egg yolks and whisk until combined. Switch to a wooden spoon or rubber spatula and stir the curd constantly for about 10-15 minutes, until it thickens.
Add the cornflour slurry and keep stirring for another 5 or so minutes until thick.
Sift the curd through a fine mesh sieve into a bowl.
Leave to set in the fridge for at least an hour before you start the muffins.
FOR THE MUFFINS:
Preheat the oven to 190c standard / 170c fan.
Prepare a muffin tin with 9 muffin cases.
In a medium mixing bowl, add the flour, baking powder, salt, caster sugar, lemon zest and poppy seeds.
In a large jug, whisk together the egg, yoghurt, vegetable oil, milk and vanilla extract.
Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and stir gently with a wooden spoon until there’s no lumps of flour and the mixture is just combined.
Take about a tablespoon of batter and drop into the muffin cases. Add a spoonful of lemon curd and top with more batter until all the muffin cases are filled. Smooth over with a spoon to make sure the curd is sealed in.
Bake for 30 minutes until golden and a skewer comes out clean when poked in the middle.
Transfer to a wire rack and cool completely.
When completely cool, use a teaspoon to scoop out little holes in the muffins.
Fill the holes with another spoon of lemon curd.
FOR THE MERINGUE TOPPING:
In a medium mixing bowl, using a whisk or electric whisk (I recommend an electric whisk), whip the egg whites to a soft peak.
One tablespoon at a time, add the sugar and whisk in-between additions. We do this gradually to make sure the meringue doesn’t collapse.
Whisk in the cornflour and vanilla. The meringue should be at a very stiff peak stage.
Transfer to a piping bag and pipe the meringue onto the muffins, you can also spoon the meringue on top.
Use a blowtorch to toast the outsides of the icing, be careful to not set the paper cases on fire!
Alternatively, you can pop the muffins on a baking tray and bake at 200c fan / 220c standard and bake for 3-5 minutes until the outside is toasted.
Enjoy!