Raspberry Filled Poppy Seed Muffins

For the muffins:
Preheat oven to 325F.

In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar. Add all of the remaining muffin ingredients except the poppy seeds and jam. Mix well. Finally, mix in the poppy seeds.

Pull out a 12 count muffin tin. Spray the top of the baking pan with non-stick baking spray (in case of overflow). Add muffin liners and spray the liners with non-stick spray.

Place one scant ice cream scoopful of batter into a large paper lined muffin cup. Put one tablespoon of raspberry jam on middle of each muffin. Of course, raspberry jam in the middle is optional but I highly recommend it because it is seriously delicious. Finish by placing another couple of tablespoons of batter over the jam. See below for the topping options (streusel or slivered almonds). For either of these, you should put the topping on top of the muffins prior to baking.

Bake in the preheated oven for about 25-30 minutes or until done in the middle and golden brown.

If desired, cool muffins most of the way and then using a simple powdered sugar icing.

To make icing, just stir together the powdered sugar and the water. Place the icing in a decorating bag with a small tip. Draw designs on muffin tops to spiff them up a bit.

For the optional toppings:

Another optional topping can be slivered almonds. If you do this, place them on top of the muffins before baking. And if you’d really like to get fancy, there is always the beloved streusel topping… swoon.

For the streusel:

Put all of the streusel ingredients into the bowl of your food processor. Pulse the food processor until streusel forms into crumbly pieces. If it forms into a ball, you have pulsed it too long. Sprinkle over muffin tops before baking.