Mini Lemon Tea Cakes

Lemon poppyseed poundcake has always been one of my favorite treats. I had fun using the traditional recipe, which I usually make in a loaf pan, to make mini bundt cakes. These cakes are moist and have a delicious lemon flavor. The cream cheese drizzle on top makes the cakes extra tasty! I made these for our Mother's Day brunch, and everyone loved them!

MINI LEMON TEA CAKES

1 cup (2 sticks) butter

2 1/2 cups + 2 tbsp. all-purpose flour

1 tbsp. baking powder

1 1/2 tsp. salt

2 tbsp. poppy seeds

1 1/2 cups sugar

2 tbsp. lemon zest (about 2 lemons)

1/2 cup sour cream

5 large eggs

1/4 cup vegetable oil

2 tbsp. freshly squeezed lemon juice

CREAM CHEESE GLAZE

4 ounces cream cheese (can be low fat)

1/2 cup powdered sugar

1 tbsp. freshly squeezed lemon juice
Strawberries to garnish, if desired

Preheat oven to 350 degree.

Spray mini bunt pan with baking spray.

Combine flour, baking powder, salt, and poppy seeds.

In separate bowl, cream together sugar, butter, lemon zest, and sour cream. Once combined, add lemon juice and oil. Then add eggs, one at a time, until mixed well.

Gradually add flour to wet ingredients until just mixed.

Bake for 15 minutes.

To make glaze, beat cream cheese, lemon juice, and powdered sugar until smooth. Drizzle over cooled cakes.

Yields 24 glazed mini tea cakes

Nutrition Info: 223 calories, 24g carbs, 12g fat, 4g protein

ENJOY!

Lemon Bars

Remember those delicious Raspberry Crumb Bars from the Magnolia Bakery Recipe? Well, I am here to deliver another delicious bar recipe from the famous NYC sweet shop. My new cookbook has become a closely guarded possession. My family knows better than to leave me in the cookbook section of Barnes & Nobles unattended...that's the reason my top book shelf is stuffed with baking books. I am usually hesitant to buy a cookbook that doesn't have a photo for every recipe. What can I say, I choose what I bake by looking at the pictures. However, my Magnolia cookbook is an exception. No photos, but I now understand why - every single recipe is perfect and delicious!

These lemon bars bring back fond childhood memories of having pretend tea parties. One of my favorite desserts to make for my childhood tea parties was lemon bars. Surprisingly, I don't come from a long line of family bakers, so the lemon bars from my childhood were probably from a box mix! This lovely photo gives you an example of what my tea parties looked like - costumes, plastic tea sets, and apparently on this day, Ritz snack crackers. Now, that's what I call fine dining!

Eventually I graduated from the plastic tea set, and my mom trusted me to use her grandmother's china tea set. With saucers, tea cups, sugar bowls, and a teapot, the afternoon entertainment was endless. Although I never met my great grandmother, I find her life story inspiring. If you are interested, I encourage you to read more about her immigration from Ireland in my Irish Soda Bread post.

LEMON BARS
printable recipe
CRUST
2 cups butter (melted)
4 cups flour
1 cup powdered sugar
1/2 tsp. salt
2 tsp. grated lemon zest

TOPPING
2 cups sugar
6 large eggs
1 cup lemon juice
6 tsp. grated lemon zest

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Combine all crust ingredients until mixture resembles course crumbs.

Press into greased 12x18 in. pan.

Bake for 18-20 minutes, then allow to cool for 15-20 minutes.

Combine topping ingredients and mix well.

Pour over slightly cooled crust.

Return to oven and bake for 18-20 minutes.

Allow to cool before cutting into squares. (optional: sprinkle with powdered sugar)

Yields 54 2-inch bars.

Enjoy!

Lemon Honey Cupcakes

Who can resist a moist lemon cupcake? The honey in these cupcakes gives them a unique sweetness that pairs nicely with the refreshingly tangy lemon flavor. The frosting is creamy and delicious. Children and adults alike are sure to enjoy these cupcakes!

LEMON HONEY CUPCAKES
printable recipe
2 3/4 cups flour
3/4 tsp. baking powder
3/4 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 cup reduced fat sour cream
1/4 cup milk
1 1/2 tbsp. lemon zest
4 tbsp. lemon juice
3/4 cup butter, softened
3/4 cup honey
1/4 cup sugar
3 eggs


Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Beat butter, honey, and sugar until light and fluffy.

Beat in eggs.

In a separate bowl, combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.

Add half of flour mixture to wet ingredients.

Add sour cream and mix well.

Add remaining flour and mix until combined.

Fill 24 lined cupcake tins 2/3 full.

Bake for 18-20 minutes, or until inserted toothpick comes out clean.

Remove from pan and allow to cool completely.

FROSTING
1 cup butter, softened
1/4 cup honey
1 1/2 tbsp. lemon zest
4 cup powdered sugar
8 tsp. lemon juice

Beat butter, honey, and lemon zest until fluffy.

Gradually add powdered sugar and lemon juice until desired consistency is achieved.

Frost cooled cupcakes.

Garnish with three yellow dot candies.

Yields 24 frosted cupcakes.

Recipe from Woman'sDay

Enjoy!

Lemon Frozen Yogurt

April showers bring May flowers. I am sure glad April is almost over because I am tired of the rainy grey spring days in Ohio! Despite gloomy weather outside, this lemon frozen yogurt will surely brighten your day with with a fresh lemon taste that hints at the sunny days of summer. This recipe requires straining the liquid out of regular yogurt for 6 hours or overnight, so plan your timing before starting to make the frozen yogurt.

FROZEN YOGURT

printable recipe

1 quart plain low-fat yogurt

1 1/2 cups whole milk

2 tbsp. cornstarch
4 tbsp. cream cheese, softened

1/2 cup heavy cream

2/3 cup sugar + 3 tbsp.

1/4 cup light corn syrup

zest from 1 lemon

1/2 cup fresh squeezed lemon juice

Day 1: Place a fine mesh strainer over a medium kitchen bowl and line completely with 2 layers of coffee filters. Pour the yogurt into the strainer, cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate for 6 hours or overnight. 

Day 2: In a medium sauce pan, combine zest from one lemon, fresh squeezed lemon juice, and 3 tbsp. sugar. Bring ingredients to a boil over medium-high heat, stirring constantly, then remove from heat and let cool.

Mix 2 tbsp. milk and cornstarch in small bowl. Set aside.

Combine the remaining milk, heavy cream, 2/3 cup sugar, corn syrup, and lemon zest in saucepan. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, stirring constantly, allow to boil for four minutes.

Remove from heat and stir in cornstarch mixture.

Return to heat and stir with heat proof spatula for 1 minute.

In a large bowl, whisk cream cheese. 

Gradually pour the hot mixture into cream cheese.

Measure 1 1/4 cup of the strained yogurt and add to cream cheese mixture.

Add lemon juice/sugar mixture to cream cheese and yogurt.

Chill the completed mixture over an ice bath or in the refrigerator for about 30 minutes or until cold.

Pour into ice cream maker and freeze according to instructions.

Allow to freeze for at least 4 hours before serving.

Recipe adapted from Jeni's Splendid Ice Creams at Home

Enjoy!

Lemon Crumb Bars

Creamier and crumblier than your average lemon bar, these will surely be a crowd favoirte!

2 cups brown sugar

1 cup butter

2 cups oats

2 2/3 cups flour

2 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. salt

28 oz. sweetened condensed milk

1 cup squeezed lemon juice

zest of 2 lemons

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. 

Combine: Butter, Brown Sugar, Oats, Flour, Baking Powder, Salt.

Stir together: Sweetened Condensed Milk, Lemon Juice, Lemon Zest.

Press 2/3 of crumb mixture into greased 9x13 pan. 

Pour lemon mixture into pan and spread with rubber spatula.

Sprinkle with remaining 1/3 crumb mixture.

Bake: 35 minutes

Recipe from the Procrastobaker

Almond Tarragon Sandwich Cookies

As I am starting to develop my blog, I am looking for desserts that are a little more complicated than your average chocolate chip cookie. Right now I have enjoyed finding an ingredient in my house and then coming up with a recipe to use it in. Sounds easy enough. Well, what if that ingredient is fresh tarragon? That's right, tarragon, like the herb. I was first inspired to use our fresh grown herbs in my Lemon Basil Blueberry Cupcakes. However, as you can guess, using basil in baked goods is far more common than tarragon. In fact, when I went online to look for a dessert recipe with tarragon, I only found one. It was a Slovenian Pastry, so while I am adventurous, I thought I had better try something different. It looked like I would be coming up with my own recipe. Normally this isn't too hard, but I forgot to mention one little thing. I don't even know what tarragon tastes like. So for starters, I went and picked some and smelled it. For some reason, it immediately reminded me of the smell of almond extract. I decided to use it in an almond sandwich cookie and I also added some lemon juice. If anything, I figured the lemon would help detract from the tarragon if the taste was terrible. However, luckily for me, these turned out fabulous! As if this wasn't enough of a challenge, we also had no eggs in the house, so my search began by looking for an egg-less almond cookie. After some major adaptations, here's what I came up with!

COOKIE
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 cup almonds
3/4 cup flour
1/3 cup powdered sugar
1 tbsp. finely chopped fresh tarragon
1/2 cup butter softened
2 tsp. lemon juice
1 tsp. almond extract

FILLING
5 tbsp. butter softened
2 1/2 cups powdered sugar
4 tsp. lemon juice
4 tsp. water

Preheat the oven to 360 degrees.

Finely chop the almonds into a flour like mixture using a hand chopper. Add the flour, salt, powdered sugar, and tarragon. Stir well before adding the butter, lemon juice, and almond extract. I mixed with my electric hand mixer until just combined and then used my hands to form it into a ball. Next I made 18 small, slightly flattened balls out of the dough and baked for 16 minutes.

Combine all of the filling ingredients and mix with an electric mixer. Wait for cookies to completely cool before making a sandwich cookie with the filling in the middle.

This makes 9 small sandwich cookies. I was a little skeptical to make too big of a batch (and I only had 1/4 cup almonds). However, it could easily be doubled or tripled.

Lemon Basil Blueberry Cupcakes

I made these cupcakes for the first time tonight and they were definitely a crowd pleaser! This recipe allowed me to experiment with many new techniques and ideas. To start, I have never baked with basil before. I love to put it on top of my homemade pizzas, but I have never put it in a cupcake. We are growing fresh basil this summer and after seeing basil used on the TV show Cupcake Wars, I decided to give baking with basil a try! I am proud to say it was a huge success. The basil was not overpowering and it paired nicely with the fresh lemon flavor and sweet blueberries. This is definitely going to be a new summertime favorite of mine (and my friends)! The basil blueberry filling was easy and delicious. I learned how to make candied lemon garnish. The cupcakes looked beautiful - Enjoy!

LEMON CUPCAKES
6 tbsp butter
2/3 cup sugar
2 large eggs
2 lemons (zest and juice)
1 1/3 cups flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup yogurt (You can experiment with whatever flavors you have in your refrigerator, I used toasted coconut vanilla light yogurt!)

This is the filling before it is cooked.

BLUEBERRY BASIL FILLING
2/3 cup blueberries
2 tbsp water
1 tsp lemon juice
3 tbsp sugar
12 basil leaves (finely chopped)

LEMON BASIL BUTTERCREAM FROSTING
4 cups powdered sugar
3 tbsp water
1.5 lemons juiced
1/2 cup butter (1 stick)
1 tbsp finely chopped basil

This is the cupcakes with half the batter and the filling.

BLUEBERRY REDUCTION DRIZZLE
2/3 cup blueberry
4 tbsp sugar
2 tbsp water
1/2 lemon juiced

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

This is what the finished filling should look like.

Combine the butter and sugar for the cupcakes and beat until fluffy. Add the 2 eggs. Add the zest and juice from 2 lemons. Add the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Add the yogurt.

Put all of the ingredients for the filling in a small saucepan over medium-high heat and frequently stir. The filling is done once it darkens in color, the blueberries have started to decompose, and the mixture starts to thicken. Put the filling in a bowl and refrigerate for 10-15 minutes or just until it is cool and thickens slightly.

Use a melon baller and put one scoop of batter in each cupcake liner. This will be about 1/4 full. Add a spoonful of filling on the top of each cupcake. Use the remaining batter to put on top of the filling. Bake the cupcakes for 20 minutes.

Make sure the butter for the frosting is room temperature. Combine all of the frosting ingredients, gradually adding the powdered sugar and the finely chopped basil last.

Make the blueberry reduction sauce using the same technique that was used to make the filling.

When the cupcakes are cool, cover with frosting, drizzle the blueberry reduction, and place a fresh blueberry and candied lemon pieces on top as garnish.


Makes 12 cupcakes.


The lemon cake and blueberry basil filling was adapted from A GOOD APPETITE blog.

Lemon Cupcakes with Lemon Butter Cream Frosting

These cupcakes are packed with fresh lemon flavor. The cake resembles a moist poundcake, and the icing is tangy and sweet! They are fun to make with fresh kiwis as garnish.


LEMON CUPCAKES
1 1/2 cups butter
3 cups flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. baking soda
2 cups sugar
5 large eggs
2 tsp. vanilla extract
4 tbsp. fresh squeezed lemon juice
Zest of 2 Lemons
1 cup of milk or buttermilk

Beat: sugar and butter together until fluffy. 

Add: eggs, vanilla, lemon juice, and lemon zest. 

Combine: flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Gradually add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients. After combined, add the milk and mix well.

Pour into lined muffin pans until 2/3 full. The cupcakes are very dense and will not rise much during baking. Bake at 325 degrees for 20 minutes or until inserted toothpick comes out clean and edge of cupcakes start to separate from pan.


LEMON BUTTERCREAM FROSTING
1 1/4 cups butter
2 tsp. lemon zest
6 tbsp. fresh squeezed lemon juice
6 cups powdered sugar
2 tsp. vanilla extract

Cream butter in mixer with paddle attachment. Gradually add 2 cups of powdered sugar. Add lemon zest and vanilla extract. Alternate adding rest of powdered sugar and lemon juice. Mix until smooth and creamy.

Makes 36 cupcakes and enough frosting to plentifully frost.

After cupcakes are cool, frost with butter cream frosting. Decorate with white non-perils, a white fondant pearl, and a fresh kiwi slice.