Lemon-Ginger Muffins

I tore this page out of Bon Appetit, and I don't remember which issue. Usually, Bon Appetit's and Gourmet's recipes are on epicurious.com, but they don't always include the ones from the R.S.V.P. column where readers write in about restaurants they've been to and the magazine gets the recipe. This recipe came from the Baldpate Inn, in Estes Park, Colorado.

I bought ginger and lemons a while back, and they've been in the fridge. I kept forgetting to make the muffins. Today, I did a quick look to make sure I still had everything I needed and then started measuring. I was short on flour. I still had a tiny bit of whole wheat left from when I made pancakes, so I threw that in. Still short. Damn. I considered bread flour, knowing that I was risking some seriously tough muffins at this point. I decided to go for it, but be extra-super careful to barely mix the batter once I added the wet ingredients.

They turned out great! They have the most excellent "lids". I know you can buy pans that just make muffin lids and I think that's hysterical.

• Lemon-Ginger Muffins (Bon Appetit, Baldpate Inn)

Lemon-Ginger Muffins
1 lemon
2/3 cup 1/2-inch cubes peeled fresh ginger
1 cup sugar, divided

2 2/3 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup buttermilk
2 large eggs
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, melted

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line 16 muffin cups with paper liners. Using vegetable peeler, remove peel (yellow part only, no white) from lemon. Coarsely chop peel. Place peel, ginger and 1/4 cup sugar in processor. Process until moist paste forms.

Whisk remaining 3/4 cup sugar, flour, baking soda, and salt in large bowl. Whisk buttermilk, eggs, oil, melted butter and ginger mixture in medium bowl to blend well. Stir into flour mixture to just blend.

Divide batter among prepared muffin cups. Bake until toothpick inserted into center comes out clean, about 25 minutes.