Low-fat Lemon Poppyseed Cupcake Muffins

I'm not sure precisely why I had a sudden craving for lemon poppyseed muffins today. Given the amount of candy I ate last night at the movies, there was no good reason to be craving anything sweet.  But suddenly it hit me, and I really, really wanted some.

Now, knowing my propensity to eat my way through more than my fair share of a regular batch of muffins, particularly mid-semester, I decided to use my handy ratio for cupcakes to make a neat little pack of 4.  And they turned out to be lovely!  I reduced the fat in these by even more than I originally had, substituting in some applesauce, and they ended up being moist and slightly denser than cupcakes. These are based on the original ratio for cupcakes, but turned out having the slightly more dense and healthy-feeling texture of muffins (and no icing!).  My compromise?  I'm calling them cupcake muffins. (Honestly, throwing the word "muffins" in there just makes me feel slightly better about eating four of them.)  Give these a try - you won't be disappointed!

Low-fat Lemon Poppyseed Cupcake Muffins
Makes 4 muffins


15 grams Earth Balance Buttery Spread
35 grams applesauce
50 grams white sugar
1 egg
1 tsp. vanilla
2 tsp. lemon juice
1 tsp. fresh lemon rind (rind from ~1.5 small lemons)
20 grams potato starch
10 grams tapioca starch
30 grams sorghum flour
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
1 tbsp. poppy seeds

Preheat the oven to 350 F.

Melt the butter and mix with the applesauce, egg, vanilla, sugar, lemon juice, and lemon rind.  In a separate bowl, combine the potato starch, tapioca starch, sorghum flour, baking powder, salt, and poppy seeds.  Stir into the wet ingredients and mix well.

Pour into the muffin tin liners and bake for 13 - 16 minutes, or just until they are slightly browned at the edges and spring back when you touch the tops lightly.  Remove from oven and cool on a wire rack.