A great, easy use for lemon curd in baking is swapping it into cakes and muffins in place of yogurt. Because store-bought lemon curd tends not to have any butter in it, you can use it to make dairy-free baked goods. The very first time I made these, I accidentally added 2 tablespoons instead of 2/3 cup of sugar. They were still very good––just more neutral and in need of some curd to slather on top––so that should speak to the crowd-pleasing nature of these muffins.
Adapted from The Kitchn’s Lemon-Blueberry Yogurt Cake with Lemon Cream
Directions
- Preheat oven to 400°F with rack in the middle. Grease a muffin pan.
- Whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a medium bowl and set aside.
- Place the granulated sugar and lemon zest in the bowl of a stand mixer or in a large mixing bowl. Using your fingers, rub the zest into the sugar until it is the texture of damp sand and smells like lemon candy. Add the butter and beat in a stand mixer or with an electric mixer on medium-high speed until pale and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Beat in the vanilla and the egg. Add the lemon curd and beat well.
- At low speed, beat in half the flour mixture until just combined. Then beat in the milk and remaining flour mixture.
- Spread batter evenly in the pan. Scatter berries over top and sprinkle evenly with turbinado sugar.
- Bake until cake is golden-brown and a tester inserted in the center comes out clean, about 15-20 minutes.
Oset Babür-Winter
is a writer and editor based in New York City. She was previously the Senior Drinks Editor at Food & Wine, and has also contributed to publications like Bon Appétit, Condè Nast Traveler, and New York Magazine.