Wake and Bake
Earl Grey Lemon Muffins

[Photograph: Carrie Vasios]

These muffins are infused with a mix of Earl Grey tea and lemon.

Note: To get the best results, use quality Earl Grey tea with a pronounced bergamot flavor. I find that loose leaf tea yields better results than bagged. The other trick is to make sure that your milk stays hot enough to really let the tea steep.

About the author: Carrie Vasios is the editor of Serious Eats: Sweets. She likes to peruse her large collection of cookbooks while eating jam from the jar. You can follow her on Twitter @carrievasios

About This Recipe

Yield: makes 12 muffins
Active time: 10 minutes
Total time: 1 hour 10 minutes
Special equipment: 12 cup muffin tin, mixing bowl, whisk

Ingredients

  • 3 tablespoons fresh, loose leaf Earl Grey Tea or 3 tea bags (see note)
  • 1 cup whole milk
  • 2 cups all purpose flour
  • 1/2 cup sugar
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1 tablespoon baking powder
  • 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
  • 2 teaspoons freshly grated lemon zest, from about 1 medium lemon
  • 1 egg, lightly beaten
  • 4 tables unsalted butter, melted

Procedures

  1. Adjust oven rack to middle position and preheat oven to 375°F. Grease muffin cups with butter. Heat milk in a saucepan over medium low heat until hot but not bubbling. Add tea or tea bags, cover, and let steep for 20 minutes. Check halfway through to see if milk is still warm, if it's gotten cold, gently warm again over low heat.

  2. In a large bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, salt, baking powder, nutmeg, and lemon zest.

  3. If using loose leaf tea, strain milk; if using tea bags, discard. Add butter, milk, and egg to dry ingredients, mixing with the whisk just until combined.

  4. Fill each muffin cup 3/4 full with batter then bake for 20 minutes or until golden on top and a cake tester inserted into the middle of a muffin comes out clean. Let cool 5 minutes then transfer to a wire rack to finish cooling. Serve with thick cut marmalade for extra citrus flavor.