What I want most from a lemon muffin, or cake, is plenty of bitey zesty lemon-ness, and these muffins are just perfect. They have a delightful zing from all the lemon zest, and then the addition of lemon syrup poured over the warm muffins gives them the perfect extra lemony twist. The recipe is mostly this one from the Kitchn.

ingredients:
2 1/2 cups plain flour
1/2 cup caster sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 lemons
1 1/4 cups milk
1/2 cup vegetable oil, such as rice bran
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla essence
1/2 cup caster sugar (for the syrup)

method:
Zest the three lemons, then juice enough of them to get 1/2 cup of juice. Set the lemon juice aside.

Pre-heat your oven to 190C (or 170C fan-forced). Grease your muffin tin (as syrup get drizzled over the muffins at the end, it is better to bake them directly into a greased tin than use liners, as the liners will get soaked with syrup).

In a decent sized bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt and lemon zest. In a separate bowl, whisk together the egg, milk, oil and vanilla essence. Make a well in the flour bowl, pour in the wet mixture, and gently fold together until just combined.

Spoon the mixture into the muffin tin, and bake for 20 minutes, or until a skewer comes out clean.

While the muffins are baking, put the lemon juice and additional 1/2 cup of sugar into a small saucepan and boil briskly for 5 minutes, then take off the heat.

When the muffins come out of the oven, leave them in the tin and poke them all over with a skewer or fork. With a spoon, slowly drizzle the lemon syrup over the muffins – you’ll need to go quite slowly in order for the syrup to absorb, however if it pools a little in the muffin tin, it will soak into the sides perfectly well. Let the muffins cool in the tin, then remove and enjoy their delightful zestyness.