Day 2 of cheap raspberries

On Tuesday I made Raspberry-Topped Lemon Muffins from Smitten Kitchen. They were lovely. I ate four of them for breakfast yesterday and two for dessert the night before. After breakfast I gave to my friends so I could start plotting my next raspberry caper.

Missouri must have really big lemons because I was able to get four tsp grated lemon zest from 1 lemon without any of the pith. I thought three raspberries would atop each muffin would suffice, but after they were finished baking I could see the wisdom in four. They were amazing!

Raspberry-Topped Lemon Muffins

Yield: 14 large or 56 miniature muffins

1 1/8 cups sugar, divided
4 teaspoons finely grated lemon peel (from two large lemons)
2 cups all purpose flour
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 large egg
1 cup buttermilk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 1/2 1/2-pint containers (about) fresh raspberries

Preheat oven to 375°F. Line 14 standard muffin cups (or 56 minis) with paper liners. Mash 1/8 cup sugar and lemon peel in small bowl until sugar is slightly moist. Whisk flour, baking powder, and salt in medium bowl to blend. Using electric mixer, beat remaining 1 cup sugar and butter in large bowl until smooth. Beat in egg. Beat in buttermilk, then vanilla and lemon sugar. Beat in flour mixture.

Divide batter among muffin cups (the 2/3-3/4 level worked well for minis). Top each large muffin with 4 raspberries (or mini muffins with one each). Bake muffins until lightly browned on top and tester inserted into center comes out clean, about 35 minutes (baking time was on the shy side of 20 minutes for mini muffins).