Step 1

In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and poppy seeds.

Step 2

In another bowl, mix together the melted butter, oil, eggs, sour cream, vanilla extract, almond extract, and lemon zest, lemon juice, and milk.

Step 3

Pour the wet mixture into the dry and use a rubber spatula to combine.

Step 4

Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and rest at room temperature for 1 hour.

Step 5

In the meantime, make the lemon simple syrup.

Step 6

Add the lemon juice and sugar to a saucepan and place over medium heat.

Step 7

Bring to a boil, then simmer for 10 minutes to let the sugar completely dissolve.

Step 8

While that simmers, peel the zest from 1 lemon. I recommend using a paring knife to carefully peel away the zest and try not to cut into the pith too much. Place the zest in a heat safe bowl.

Step 9

Remove the lemon syrup from the heat and pour into the bowl of zest. Let it cool at room temperature while the muffin batter continues to rest.

Step 10

Close to the 1 hour mark, preheat the oven to 425F and line a cupcake tin with one of these two options: 1 – line with 11 paper liners. 2 – line with 6 paper liners, placing in every other cup so they are evenly spaced. This method means the muffins are baked in 2 batches (if you only have 1 cupcake tin), but it will also lead to taller muffin tops. It’s up to you, but I prefer method 2!

Step 11

Using a large 2 oz scoop (or about 1/4 cup), fill each liner all the way to the top and then some. Be careful not to disrupt the batter too much when scooping. That hour of rest helped fluff up the batter for a taller rise in the oven, so we don’t want it to deflate!

Step 12

Bake for 8 minutes. Then change the oven heat setting to 350F and bake for another 8-10 minutes.

Step 13

*If baking in two batches, make sure to set the heat back up to 425F once the first batch is done baking.

Step 14

When the muffins are fresh from the oven, brush with a generous amount of the lemon simple syrup.

Step 15

Allow the muffins to cool in the pan for about 5 minutes, then transfer to a cooling rack to cool for another 15-20 minutes. Sprinkle with more poppy seeds if desired and dig in while they’re still warm!