There was a bit of nose wrinkling at our place when I first floated the idea of lemon and pine nut muffins, but when they were ready; warm, sticky with lemon glaze, and topped with lightly toasted pine nuts, there was no shortage of testers, and plenty of positive feedback. I love the sweet nuttiness of pine nuts and they marry with lemon very well. I scattered a few tiny thyme leaves over the top of my muffins and lavendar petals would also be stunning for both their fragance and soft colour.
Makes 12 muffins
2 1/4 cups self-raising flour
3/4 cup raw caster sugar
125g butter, melted
1 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 eggs
finely grated zest of 2 lemons
Glaze:
Juice of 2 lemons
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup lightly toasted pine nuts
Preheat oven to 180 C. In a large bowl combine the flour, lemon zest, and sugar. In a small bowl mix together the melted butter, milk and vanilla and then, using a fork, add the eggs and mix until well combined. Add the milk mixture to the dry ingredients and mix quickly with a fork until just combined. Do not over mix. The end result should look a little lumpy – it’s the secret to a tender muffin. Spoon the mixture into a 12 hole muffin tin lined with paper cases. Bake in the oven for around 20 – 25 minutes, until the muffins are well risen and lightly golden. While they are baking mix together the sugar and lemon juice. As soon as the muffins come out of the oven spoon the lemon and sugar mixture over the top of each one and then sprinkle each muffin with a few pine nuts. They are delicious warm or cold, and will keep for a couple of days in an airtight container.
Simple food 
These look delicious! I can imagine the lemon and pine nuts going well together.
Thanks so much. They do go well together and it’s got me thinking of other ways to use pine nuts with sweet dishes – they were subtle but added a light cruncha nd even a creaminess to the taste of the muffins. Mouth now salivating..think I’ll go make some!
This combination of flavours sounds great. I bet you could make these into fantastic savoury muffins with just a few tweaks too!
Great idea. I used to make cheesy muffins to eat with soup in the winter-time. I feel and experiment coming on!