Lemon Poppyseed Muffins

I've heard so many times that lemon poppyseed muffins are a classic. Yet, I've tried them only once in Coffee Heaven with quite disappointing result. I was planning to prepare them for the Citrus Weeked, still, the weeked turned out busy and I never got to it. The recent not too busy and constantly rainy days seemed like a good time to finally try baking these muffins at home.
I'm not too fond of poppyseed - I appreciate it, I like it, but I could live without it. The combination of its earthy sweet taste with tangy refreshing lemon... mmm... :) The muffins are light and perfectly balanced and look so beautiful... Their 'photo session' took me double the usual time because they were just so pretty.

Lemon Poppyseed Muffins
(inspired by the recipe from the Ultimate Muffin Cookbook by Bruce Weinstein Mark Scarbrough)

Wet ingredients:
2 large eggs, at room temperature
250ml (1 cup) buttermilk (you can substitute it with full-fat milk or plain natural yoghurt)
60ml (1/4 cup) vegetable oil
125ml (1/2 cup) freshly squeezed out lemon juice
grated zest of 2 lemons
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Dry ingredients:
220g (1 3/4 cup) all-purpose flour
75g (1/2 cup) yellow cornmeal
100g (1/2 cup) sugar
40g (1/3 cup) poppyseeds
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt

Makes around 12 medium / standard size muffins (5cm in diameter).

1. Mix all wet ingredients together until uniform.
2. Position the rack in the center of the oven and preheat the oven to 200°C (400°F). Prepare the muffin tins: line them with paper muffin cups or cut pieces of baking paper.
3. Dry ingredients: whisk the dry ingredients in a second bowl until well uniform.
4. Stir in the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients until moistened. Don't overmix! Fill the prepared tins. Bake for 20 minutes, until the muffins are golden and have rounded tops. The muffins are ready when the toothpick or cake tester comes out clean. Set the pan onto the rack and let the muffins cool down for 5 -10 minutes before taking them out and serving.