Strawberry Lemon Muffins

Between Mean Irene and Jake the Quake, last week was a little more exciting than most. The scheduled hike on Saturday was a wash, but it left me with a snazzy ol' rental car to spin around town. When I finally went to return it on Sunday, the weather was so beautiful, I couldn't resist soaking it up and foregoing the metro in favor of walking home. With a view like this:

You would have done the same thing! So across the Potomac River, I trotted, where I happened to see this pretty little memorial: 

Then I thought the shadow was cool. It doesn't take much to entertain, does it? (Next time I take this type of picture, I will make sure to choose non-grandma shoes and hair that flows like silk.) 

 Then, to the Washington Monument! Pretty, no?

 A little mosaic on one of the embassies on embassy row:

Honestly, I don't know who this guy is, but he seemed thoughtful, and I liked the colors behind his head.

Next time I see this building, I want to be that girl sitting on the side of sphinx, book in hand.

Turns out this little gem of a park is just a half a mile from my apartment - who knew?!

Every adventure has to end with cooking, right? I mean, urban hiking works up an appetite! These little buggers taste GOOD. We all know that I love the zing of tart lemon and the sweetness of strawberries, and these muffins bring out the best of both of those things. Sadly, they weren't the best looking muffins that have ever graced my kitchen. Oh well. Incentive to try them again!

Strawberry Lemon Muffins

Adapted from Baking Bites

2 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
6 tbsp butter, room temperature
1 cup sugar
1 tbsp lemon zest
2 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice (I used 6 small lemons)
1 1/2 cups finely chopped fresh strawberries

Preheat oven to 375F. Line a 12 cup muffin pan with paper liners.
In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in lemon zest, then blend in the eggs one at a time.
Stir in about 1/3 of the flour mixture to the butter mixture. Mix well, then add in vanilla extract and half of the lemon juice. Add another third of the flour, followed by the remaining juice and the remaining flour mix. Stir until just combined and no streaks of dry ingredients remain. Mix in finely chopped strawberries quickly, just to distribute them evenly into the batter.
Spoon batter out into prepared muffin cups. The muffin cups should be very full.
Bake for 15-20 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean, or with only a few moist crumbs attached. (FYI - mine took over 20 and were still fairly mushy!)

Turn muffins out onto a wire rack to cool completely.

Blueberry Muffins

There's a yiddish word, to kvell, that's used to express extreme elation. The best way to visualize it is as rainbows and butterflies bursting from your chest out of sheer joy. That said, I am kvelling at this very moment...because I am heading to New York tomorrow! One of the best of the best friends a girl could ask for, Ms. Gillian, is venturing up from beautiful Durham, NC to surprise her brother bear for his birthday.

Yeeeeeeahicantwaittoseeyoutomorrow,gillie!

I am skipping on up the coast to share in the birthday shenanigans, as well as to see a few faces that I miss oh-so-much. I needed a host gift for the owner (er, renter) of my roof for the next few nights, and blueberry muffins were the treat of request. I could hardly say no, right?

I sure hope these survive the trip up tomorrow - a girl cannot be responsible for her actions after a few hours on the road without supervision...!


Blueberry Muffins
Adapted from Smitten Kitchen
Makes 9 to 10 standard muffins

5 tablespoons unsalted butter , softened
1/2 cup sugar
1 large egg
3/4 cup light greek yogurt
1/2 teaspoon grated lemon zest

Juice from half a lemon
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup blueberries, fresh or frozen (if frozen, don’t bother defrosting)

Preheat oven to 375°F. Line a muffin tin with 10 paper liners or spray each cup with a nonstick spray. Beat butter and sugar with an electric mixer until light and fluffy. Add egg and beat well, then yogurt, zest, and lemon juice. Put flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt into a sifter and sift half of dry ingredients over batter. Mix until combined. Sift remaining dry ingredients into batter and mix just until the flour disappears. Gently fold in your blueberries. The dough will be quite thick. You’re looking for them to be about 3/4 full, nothing more, so you might only need 9 instead of 10 cups. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes (I took mine out at 24 minutes), until tops are golden and a tester inserted into the center of muffins comes out clean (you know, except for blueberry goo). Let cool on rack.

Ruffled Lemon Cake

I think I need a partner. A kitchen partner. You know, one of those creative types. Because, man oh man, I am not skilled in the “make it look pretty” department.

Let me introduce you to my newest victim: the ruffled lemon cake.

I have been itching to make this cake for weeks, wanting to save it for a special occasion. Mainly because I hear eating a whole cake by yourself makes people look at you funny. Anywho. If dear Angela’s baby shower wasn’t the perfect occasion to make a frilly, pastel-colored treat, I don’t know what would be.

Each individual component (cake, filling, icing) came out great, and they tasted oh-so yummy in my tummy. To the point where, after a day of biking many miles to and from the wineries in Woodinville, I opted to eat frosting for dinner instead of a real meal. It’s calcium, right?

At this point, I was feeling good. Like this cake might actually be impressive. And then, I started to decorate.
The ruffle tip was not working well for me, the frosting was too warm and didn’t hold shape, and the filling kept oozing out the sides. I finally gave up on ruffling the sides, learned to cool the frosting, and tried to salvage our little friend.

The result was a lopsided, heap of a dessert that surprised you with a delicious tang and its smart little wit. Recipe is a keeper, but I’ll be accepting applications for a decorator! 

Just for laughs, here is what the cake was supposed to look like verses what it actually looked like. Can you tell which is which?

Ruffled Lemon Cake
Recipe from Kitchen Magpie

Cake
Ingredients:
1/2 cup of butter
1 1/2 cups of white sugar
3 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
2 cups of cake flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 cup of milk
4 tbsp lemon zest
1/4 cup of lemon juice

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. 
2. Grease and flour two 9 inch round cake pans. 
3. Beat together your butter and sugar…then add in your eggs and vanilla. 
4. Whisk together your dry ingredients… 
5. Grate your lemon zest. 
6. Then beat the lemon zest into the butter/sugar mixture. 
7. Squeeze the lemon out until you get 1/4 of a cup. 
8. Fill the remainder of the measuring cup to an entire cup. 
9. Combine the butter/sugar mix with the milk/lemon thoroughly, mixing it on medium speed to get it as airy as possible. 
10. Slowly mix in your flour, by hand, very gently. You don’t want to over-mix the batter. Lift it and fold it over gently, trying not to lose the air you whipped into it the last step. 
11. When it’s just combined, pour into the two prepared cake pans, evenly dividing the batter. 
12. Bake at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes, until the middle springs back when touched or a knife inserted comes out clean. 
13. While the cakes are cooling ,whip up some Lemon Cake Filling. 
14. When the filling and cakes are cooled, layer together. 
15. Whip up some Lemon Buttercream Icing. Grab a Wilton icing tip #103 and fill an icing bag full of the icing. Now, you want to start icing the cake holding the small part of the tip towards the top angled up. Keep on creating ruffles around the cake, throwing the buttercream into the freezer for quick cooling bursts if you sense it’s not holding it’s shape due to the warmth of your hands.

Lemon Cake Filling
Ingredients:
2 tbsp grated lemon zest
2/3 cup of freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 1/2 tbsp cornstarch
1/2 cup of butter
3/4 cup of white sugar
5 egg yolks

Directions:

1. Whisk the cornstarch into the lemon juice completely while it’s cold (thus no lumps) and add in the grated lemon zest as well. 
2. Put the butter and sugar in now as well and heat on a medium burner.Bring to a boil, stirring constantly and let boil for a minute. Remove from the heat. 
3. Take the egg yolks and whisk them until they are light yellow. 
4. You now need to temper the eggs, which means you take some of the hot liquid from the pot and whisk it into the egg yolks completely. 
5. Then you can whisk the yolks into the pot of hot liquid safely, without lumps forming. 
6. Cool for an hour or so until it’s set and thick, ready to be used between cake layers.

Lemon Buttercream Icing
Ingredients
1 cup of salted butter
4 cups of icing sugar
2 tablespoons lemon zest
3 tablespoons lemon juice
2 teaspoons milk

Directions:

1. Whip your butter with the paddle attachment if you have one, or just a general beater with your mixer. 
2. Add in your icing sugar, one cup at a time, beating continously. Now 2 tablespoons lemon zest worked wonderfully for me. Zested peel should not be done on a regular grater, by the way, you need a smaller size, a zester grater, in fact. The size is perfect without being overwhelming chunks in your cooking. 
3. The 3 tablespoons of lemon juice was just perfect for my tastes, zingy and zippy with a sweet background of pure sugar and butter. I then added the 2 teaspoons of cream to thin it out.

Zesty and Tangy

Moving full steam ahead with baking, the next item on the agenda was a “healthy” dessert to bring to a get-together with the girls in my program. Well, I decided to forego healthy and follow my heart to a tart, satisfying, treat: lemon bars.

Here’s the thing. This is not your average lemon bar. Nooo.  These lemon bars have some sass. Some pizazz. You’ve got personality? So do they.

This is largely due to the use of the WHOLE lemon in this recipe. Yes, you read correctly. Break out your food processor, because you’re using the whole enchilada. But just between you and me, it works. I mean, it really works.

These lemon bars are not for the faint-hearted. The tang in these guys will make your eyes bulge. And then you’ll go back for seconds. Maybe even thirds.

Photo from David Leibovitz

Lemon Bars
David Leibovitz

Crust
1 cup all-purpose flour
¼ cup sugar
¼ teaspoon salt
8 tablespoons melted unsalted butter
½ teaspoon vanilla extract

Lemon Topping
1 lemon, organic
1 cup sugar
3 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
3 large eggs, room temperature
4 teaspoons corn starch
¼ teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons melted unsalted butter
Optional: powdered sugar, for serving

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 350F.

2. Line an 8-inch square pan with parchment paper.

3. In a medium bowl, mix the flour, sugar, salt, melted butter, and vanilla, stirring just until smooth.

4. Smooth the batter into the bottom of the pan, using your hands or a small offset spatula to get it as level as possible.

5. Bake the crust for 25 minutes, or until it’s deep-golden brown.

6. While the crust is cooking, cut the lemon in half, remove the seeds, and cut the lemon into chunks.

7. Put the chunks of lemon in a food processor or blender along with the sugar and lemon juice, and let it run until the lemon is completely broken up. Add the eggs, corn starch, 1/4 teaspoon of salt, and 3 tablespoons melted butter, and blend until almost smooth. (A few tiny bits of lemon pieces are normal and encouraged.)

8. When the crust comes out of the oven, reduce the heat of the oven to 300ºF. Pour the lemon filling over the hot crust and bake for 25 minutes or just until the filling stops jiggling and is barely set.

9. Remove from the oven and let cool completely. Once cool, carefully lift out the bars grasping the foil. Cut the bars into squares or rectangles. Sift powdered sugar over the top just before serving, if desired.