Lemon Crumb Muffins

All righty then.  If you love lemon and you have some time and you want to spend it on making some of the best lemon muffins Sweetie Pie and I have ever eaten, then this is for you.  These are puckery, sweet, lemony globes of deliciousness. They are not cakelike, definitely of the muffin variety, with a heavier, but not dry, crumb. This is the kind of recipe that could anchor your reputation as a top-drawer cook, believe me.

And another good thing?  The batter makes two and a half dozen but can last up to a week in the refrigerator!  How great is that.  Pretty darned great. Enough for a breakfast treat at home and enough to share at work.  I'm not so sure I want to share, though...

Anyway, enough small talk.  Here's the recipe.  It's a three-parter: batter, streusel, and glaze so I suggest you read through it first.  And it's not a mistake--there really is no baking powder in this.  I'm supposing it's a chemical reaction between the baking soda and lemon juice that gives the batter its rise.

LEMON CRUMB MUFFINS
(from the Granary at Pine Tree Barn)

Batter 
6 cup all purpose flour
4 cups sugar
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon salt

2 cups (4 sticks) butter (melted)
2 cups (1 pint) sour cream
8 large eggs

2 tablespoons lemon juice
5 fresh lemons (washed, dried, and then the rind grated without the pith, set aside)

In a very large bowl, sift all the dry ingredients together.  In a smaller bowl, combine the eggs, sour cream, butter, lemon juice and eggs.  Whisk until smooth.  Fold in the lemon rind.  Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients and blend well.

Streusel
1 1/4 cups sugar
1 1/4 cups flour
1/3 cup butter, softened


Sift flour and sugar together.  Add softened butter and work into dry ingredients until well combined.

Lemon Glaze
1/2 cup sugar
1/3 cup lemon juice

Stir together until sugar is dissolved.

Spray muffin tins and fill with lemon muffin batter.  Top with streusel.  Bake at 350*Fahrenheit for 18 to 20 minutes or until tests done with a toothpick.  Allow to cool.  Poke muffins with a toothpick.  Spoon glaze over muffins.  Remove from muffin tin.  Store in airtight container.

Makes 24-30 muffins.

COOK'S NOTES:  I am a pokey cook, so this took me some time to put together so plan on spending some preparing this.  I grated the lemon rind first and just kept it aside in one of a small custard cup.

The only thing that I did do differently was I heated the sugar and lemon juice in the pan I melted the butter in to make a lemon simple syrup because I can't stand sugary grit.  I heated it over medium just enough to dissolve the sugar and then set it aside to cool.