Lemon Curd Muffins

The price of lemons is quite dear in our local grocery stores (over $1 each) so I wanted a recipe that would showcase its tart citrus flavor and use both the juice and the zest.  I like lots of lemon flavor.  Boy, oh, boy, does this muffin deliver!  From the lemony fragrance while it baked to the first bite, it is pure lemon.  It has an aroma that keeps you hanging around the kitchen and once baked, going back to the cake plate to have "just one more little taste."

I don't keep lemon curd stocked in the pantry (and truthfully had never tried it until very recently when I made Danish pastries at a friend's house and she had some in her fridge) because the word curd just turned me off.  What an unpleasant sounding word for something delicious.  But a rose by any other name...  I made my lemon curd using a recommended Ina Garten recipe.  It may be on the sweet side for some, but we liked it. 

Lemon Curd Muffins
(Discovered on:  Circle B Kitchen)

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup sugar
1 egg
1/2 cup plain yogurt (I used sour cream)
1/2 cup whole milk
5 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and then allowed to slightly cool
1 cup lemon curd, divided

Preheat the oven to 350*F.  Line a 12 muffin cups with paper liners.**

In a large bowl sift together the flour, baking powder, salt and sugar. (Do not skip this step.)

In a pitcher or bowl with lip, mix the egg, yogurt (sour cream) milk and butter together.  Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients and pour the wet mixture into the center.  Mix lightly and only until the ingredients are combined (about 25 strokes!)

Add 2/3 of the curd in 6 or 7 dollops and quickly "marble" it through the batter; a couple of good stirs should do it.

Fill the muffin cups 3/4 full.  Bake for 30 minutes until golden brown.  Transfer to a wire rack to slightly cool as these are best eaten on the same day, while slightly warm. 

Top with another dollop of curd before serving.  Personally, I cut a small conical divot out of the center of the muffins, saving the divots as a cook's treat, smiles, and filled the divot with the curd. 

Makes about 12 muffins

Ina Garten's Lemon Curd

lemon
3/4 cups sugar
4 tablespoons unsalted butter at room temperature
2 eggs
1/4 cup lemon juice
pinch of salt

Zest the lemon into the sugar and mix well, set aside.
 
In a separate bowl, cream the butter and beat in the sugar and lemon mixture. Add the eggs, one at a time, and then add the lemon juice and salt. Mix until combined. 
 
Pour the mixture into a 2 quart saucepan and cook over low heat until thickened (about 10 minutes), stirring constantly. The lemon curd will thicken at about 170 degrees F, or just below simmer. Remove from the heat and cool or refrigerate.

MY NOTES:  I had enough batter to make 13 muffins.  The recipe called for plain yogurt, but all I had was sour cream so that's what I used, and it worked fine, and in the future that's what I'll probably use as that's what I usually have on hand.

Way back in the Dark Ages when I took Home Ec, Mrs. Haus, my Home Ec teacher was the one who said to stir muffin batter only 25 times.  I have a large stirring spoon that I recently bought, a 25-stir seemed adequate.  The point is, stir until barely combined.  You may have a few bits of flour that are not mixed it but it should be okay.

Lemon Squares

As much as I love lemon flavor, I have never made lemon squares until recently.  Let me assure you, this recipe comes together quickly and easily.  In these cold and dark winter days, it was heartening to have something so bright and citrusy.

I combined two recipes to add lemon zest and more lemon juice, and this still came out too sweet for me.  However, upon taking a small square of it the next day, the lemon flavor had become more pronounced, but was still quite sweet.  Even with the increase in lemon, this still  is not lemony enough for me, but I think I have a sour tooth along with my sweet tooth.

Lemon Squares

Crust:
1 cup butter (no substitutes), room temperature, plus additional to butter the baking pan
2 cups flour
1/2 cup confectioners' sugar
pinch of salt (omit if using salted butter)

Filling:
4 eggs
2 cups sugar
1/4 cup flour
1/4 cup lemon juice (about one large lemon)
zest of one lemon
1 teaspoon baking powder

Additional confectioners' sugar for decoration

For the crust:  Combine all crust ingredients, using pastry crust, two knives, or food processor, or your impeccdably clean hands,  and press into a  buttered 9" x 13" inch pan.  Bake at 350*F for 15 minutes and set aside for a few minutes while you're making the filling.  Leave oven on.

For the filling:  Combine eggs and sugar and beat well.  Add flour, lemon juice, zest, and baking powder.  Pour over the warm crust and bake at 350*F for 20 minutes.

Cool.  Sift or sprinkle a little additional confectioners'sugar on top of squares for decoration.  Serve.

Lemon Pudding Cake

I was talking to my youngest brother, Grant, on the phone the other night and he surprised the dickens out of me by saying he follows my blog. Just when I think he is the most exhausting and exasperating tease on the planet, he switches it all around and leaves me dumbfounded with his interest and awareness of FFAHS.

He told me that the recipes that caught his eye were the couple I had posted that our beloved grandmother made for us when we were kids. That started a whole stream of food memories and we spent a good long time reminiscing. One that we both fondly remember and one of the very first desserts I ever learned how to make was one that she taught me, called cottage pudding, a simple, single layer (dry!) vanilla cake with a lemon hard sauce poured over (to give it some moisture and flavor, I'm sure). I made her recipe a short while back; loved the lemon sauce but the cake was definitely Sahara Desert material LOL.

So, for Grant and for my grandmother, I wanted a lemony cake that had the quality of being cake and at the same time having a sauce. I found this on Allrecipes.com. This is a self-saucing pudding cake that bursts with lemon flavor and then sweetness, both flavors separately and deliciously identifiable upon the tongue. It was a good find and one that I would make again.

Grant, dear, you surprise me and you make me smile. Out of any of us, you are the keeper and the archivist of the family memories. For you, I shall, (one of these days), post Grammy's cottage pudding because you want your children's grandchildren to know what their great- (however many times removed) great grandmother made and to have a connection with their past. What better way than to share food?

Lemon Pudding Cake

4 large eggs, separated
1/3 cup lemon juice
1 teaspoon lemon zest
1 tablespoon butter
1 1/2 cups white sugar
1/2 cup sifted all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups milk

Preheat oven to 350F. Have read an 8 x 8 baking pan or casserole and a separate baking dish large enough to hold it because you're going to use a water bath. Have ready hot water for the water bath.

In a medium bowl, combine and beat together egg yolks, lemon juice, lemon rind, and butter or margarine until thick and lemon colored.

Onto a piece of waxed paper or another bowl, combine sugar, flour, and salt. Add dry ingredients alternately with milk to the yolk mixture, beating well after each addition.

Making sure that there is no trace of fat in the egg whites, beat egg whites until stiff peaks are formed when you raise the beater. Blend egg whites into batter on low speed of electric mixer. Pour baking dish.

Place a pan of hot water in the oven, with only enough water to come halfway up the side of the baking dish. Set the baking dish into the pan being careful to avoid being splashed and burned by the hot water. (Or you could put the pan and the baking dish in the oven and carefully add the hot water around the edge of the baking dish, being careful not to spill it into the pudding or to burn yourself on the oven door!)

Bake at 350 degrees F for 45 minutes.

My notes: I used a lemon zester to peel the lemon and used the entire peel of one lemon, so I probably had a little more than a teaspoon of lemon, which is fine with me. I love lemon. I added it to my sugar and whizzed it about in my Magic Bullet to make a lemon flavored caster sugar. Caster sugar is a little finer than regular table sugar but not as fine as confectioners' sugar; it gives a little better texture to baked goods. It's an extra step, totally not necessary.

Lemon Sugar Cookies

Want a thin sugar cookie with a big lemon flavor? Then this is your cookie. Since discovering these, I cannot stop eating them. Mercy, the lemon just explodes in my mouth and I keep going back for more.

It was my extreme good fortune to discover these delectable cookies on Gulf Coast Gram's blog. My good fortune was further expanded when I asked Anj if I could blog her recipe, and she graciously said yes! Now isn't that just like a good cook to also have a good and generous heart?

I pretty much followed the directions Anj had provided, with a couple of minor changes. Her directions didn't say whether or not to grease the cookie sheet, but I generally use parchment paper so it wasn't an issue. If I didn't, I'd be inclined to lightly grease the sheet. You won't want to leave one crumb of these cookies behind.

Secondly, even though I have a food processor, I couldn't justify hauling it out to use it for the lemon flavored sugar; the amount is just too small. So, I macerated the lemon rind into the sugar (I used the back of a spoon and really squished the grated peel into the sugar, further breaking down the grated peel to release its lemony goodness). I set the sugar mixture aside while the dough was in the fridge, giving it time to absorb flavor and fragrance.

Lastly, because there's going to be a lot of lemon sugar left over (I haven't used up all the dough yet but I can tell I have more than enough), I think I'm going to roll the little dough balls in the sugar and then cross hatch the dough on the cookie sheet. More lemony sugar! YUM!

Anj, this is definitely a new family favorite. Thank you so much for sharing!

Sour Cream & Lemon Pound Cake

The wind chill is below zero; not even the cats will venture outdoors for more than three nanoseconds. I don't blame them one whit. When the thermometer starts dipping to single digits, a little citrus reminds me that somewhere the yellow sun is shining and it's warm.

Yellow, citrus. Lemons! See how my mind segues. (I know you are awed.)

I love just about lemon anything. For me, this pound cake has just the perfect amount of lemon flavor: the lemon makes its presence well-known but isn't overbearing; it's not competing for attention. I would describe this cake as "heavy" with a fine, tight crumb. If you're looking for light and fluffy, this isn't it. My photo doesn't show it, but the top cracks, like banana bread.

Some lemon pound cakes have a lemon glaze, but in my opinion, this cake doesn't need it. The fresh lemon aroma and lemony-lovely flavor stand on its own. So I give myself a nice thick slice, a few raspberries, a cup of hot tea ....I stare wistfully out my kitchen window....

...Do I hear robins?

Sour Cream & Lemon Pound Cake

3 cups cake flour

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
3 cups sugar
6 eggs, room temperature
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
1 tablespoon freshly grated lemon rind
1 cup sour cream

Preheat oven to 325F.

Grease a 16-cup tube pan, making sure to grease the center tube very well; dust with cake flour (shaking and rolling the flour inside the pan); tap out the excess flour. Or you could use one of those baking sprays that contain flour; they work well, too.

Using a zester, microplane, or small-holed grater, grate the lemon peel, reserve. (If you have a little more than the 1 tablespoon called for, don't fret, just toss it in.) Next squeeze (or ream) the lemon into a small custard or measuring cup and set aside. You want these ingredients waiting for you until you need them. (One good sized lemon will provide about 1/4 cup juice. You can obtain the optimal amount of juice by microwaving the lemon for several seconds, or you can firmly roll the lemon between the palm of your hand and the counter top, before juicing.)

Sift flour, baking powder, and salt into medium bowl, or onto a sheet of waxed paper. Set aside.

Using an electric mixer, beat the butter in large bowl at medium speed until fluffy. Gradually add sugar and beat 5 minutes, until light and creamy in color, another 3 or 4 minutes. Add eggs, one at a time, beating just until combined after each addition. Beat in lemon juice and peel.

Using rubber spatula, mix in dry ingredients. Add the sour cream, and continuing to use your spatula, mix until well blended, but do not beat.

Transfer batter to prepared pan.

Bake cake until tester inserted near center comes out clean, about 1 hour 30 minutes. Let cake cool in pan on rack 15 minutes.

Using a thin-bladed knife, cut around the cake in pan to help loosen it from the sides (although if you did a good job with greasing the pan in the beginning you may not need to do this). Turn out cake. Carefully turn cake right side up on rack and cool completely.