Lemon + Blueberry Cupcakes

A couple weeks ago we had a church activity for the ladies titled, "Cupcake Wars" -- which was basically everybody bring cupcakes, we all eat them, we all go home with different cupcake titles, because we all won.  I won the "Cupcake to write home about" award.  It was a super fun, sugary night.

I decided to stick with my "thing" and go with a new lemon cupcake recipe.  I saw many, many fabulous looking ones.  I had a little trouble deciding which one to do, but I decided to try the Lemon and Blueberry cupcakes by Annie's Eats... because I also really love blueberries.

The recipe was pretty basic, (which is part why I made these).  I did, however, buy cake flour, which was a first for me.

They turned out really tastey, a perfect blend of lemon and blueberry.  You can't see in my photos, but there are blueberries at the bottom of those cupcakes.

Aaand, my frosting could use some more work...they don't quite look like Annie's, but I'm sure they tasted just as good.

Go here for the full recipe.

Super Fabulous Lemon Bars

Let it be known, I'm a sucker for anything lemon.  Just a huge fan of all things lemon

The other day I had a fresh Meyer lemon that needed to be picked from my own lemon tree.  I knew just what I wanted to whip it up into-- some Super Fabulous Lemon Bars.

So I quickly hopped onto Food Gawker and looked up some good lemon bar recipes.  I wanted to also use up a lot of eggs and use lots of fresh lemons.  I stumbled upon this recipe which fit the bill perfectly.  

They were seriously the best lemon bars I'd ever had-- like the kind you pay $5 each for at fancy shops.  They were set up so nicely and they were thick and sweet, and yumm....I need to go make some more....

As I went back to see the recipe so I could link it up here, I realized it was adapted from a Barefoot Contessa recipe.  Ah, no wonder they were SO fabulous.  

These come highly recommended by me and are my new go-to Lemon Bar recipe.

See my other Lemon posts here.

Lemon Drop Cookies

Lemon aid

Diary of a lemon tree

Lemon painting

Perfect Lemonade

I know, I know I've been a little lemon-centric lately.  What can I say?  I dig 'em.

The other day I thought it'd be fun to squeeze some lemons to make Fresh Lemonade.

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I knew the basic idea behind lemonade.  Lemons + Sugar + water = lemonade...but I wanted to make sure I had the right measurements.

So I checked my favorite cookbook (read: checked google) and found this simple yummy recipe from Simple Recipes. Go there for the printable recipe.

Here's what I did. Cut up 6 Lemons.

Dissolved 1 cup of sugar and 1 cup of water together over the stove.  Once it was all dissolved I poured it into my pitcher. (This is done so you don't have a bunch of sugar laying at the bottom of the pitcher.)

Squeezed 6 lemons to make 1 cup of lemon juice.

Poured my lemon juice into the pitcher and mixed with 4 1/2 cups of cold water.  That's it!

Growing up it seemed a very common Saturday night dinner was Tacos.  I have happy memories of eating them with fresh ingredients and lemonade.  To this day I can hardly have tacos without complimenting it with sweet lemonade.

Amazing Lemon Drop Cookies

Remember my favorite Lemon Tree?

Well, I finally picked my last two lemons and I just knew what I wanted to make with them.

Curious about the difference between meyer lemons and store bought lemons?

Well, they look a little different.  My meyer lemons are very round.  They are also very soft and smooth.  But as far as taste goes, they taste just like a normal lemon.

So, once I "harvested" my bounty of two lemons I was trying to decide the best way to eat up these lemons.

Immediately I thought of the Best Cookie Shop in the World (I'm probably not exaggerating).

I went online and I googled, "Recipe for Ruby Snap Lemon Cookies".

Unfortunately Ruby Snap has not released any of their recipies.  

What??  I know, I was as surprised as I'm sure you are right now.

So I went on to plan B.-- which was googling, "Lemon Drop Cookie Recipes".

I searched through a couple recipes before deciding this one from Make It Do looked the best.

Here's her Recipe:

LEMON DROP COOKIES

• 3 cups flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 – 1/3 cup sugar
• Zest of one lemon – reserve juice for glaze
• 1 cup butter, softened
• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 – 1/2 teaspoons lemon extract
• 4 ounces lemon drop candies, crushed

For the glaze:

• 1 – 1/2 cups powdered sugar
• 3 Tablespoons lemon juice

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  In a medium bowl, mix flour, soda, and salt until well blended, set aside.   In a separate bowl add sugar and lemon zest.  Using your fingers, rub together until well blended and fragrant.  Add softened butter and cream together.  Blend in eggs, vanilla, and lemon extract.  Mix in crushed lemon drop candies.  Add flour mixture in batches until mixed in.  Do not overmix.

Using a cookie scoop or a spoon drop 1 inch balls onto a greased cookie sheet.  Flatten balls slightly with your hand.  Bake at 350 degrees for 10 – 12 minutes until slightly browned.

Cool and spoon glaze on top.  Allow glaze to set up before serving.

Makes 4 dozen cookies.

The one thing I thought that was kind of weird was when it tells you to add sugar and lemon zest together and then rubbing it with your fingers to blend.

I thought it was sort of strange.  But then I did it and it smelled So yummy.  Then I licked my fingers when I was done.  Yum-- lemon sugar.

Another step tells you to mash up the lemon drops.  I got out my lemon drops, put them in a ziplock bag, then did one hammer with my mallet.  Immediately my husband was at my side, eagar to mash up some lemon drops.  He thought that was quite fun.

I decided to leave my lemon drops a little chunky, because I was thinking bigger chucks would be fun.  Next time I make this (probably this afternoon) I'll probably smash them up smaller.

Also, I will mention these cookies grow a lot during their baking time in the oven.  Be warned.

After they're cooled, you add a lemon glaze.  So good!  My husband said they were even good enough to replace chocolate chip cookies.  And we're pretty serious about chocolate in this home.  So that's very high marks indeed. 

Oh, and in case you're wondering, my lemon tree is growing two new baby lemons.

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Diary of a Lemon

Nine months ago my husband bought me the most Amazing gift.  

A Meyer Lemon Tree.

Here's a look its growth.

 I was thrilled that within two weeks of owning this lemon tree Blossoms were soon growing all over my tree.

For an entire month we had over a hundred blossoms that smelled amazing. I wrote to my sisters promising them glasses full of lemon aid.

 Luckily I had read not to deadhead my blossoms.

In place of the blossoms, slowly but surely little teeny lemons began to grow.

I had my doubts, but sure enough, those little green things were growing into lemons-- three to be exact, not exactly the hundreds as I had dreamed. 

I think growing up in a basement apartment has stunted my tree a bit.  We just can't get enough sunlight down here.

So, when summer time came we moved this growing lemon tree outside to bask in the sunlight.  It really thrived outside and had lots of new growth on top.

I waited until the very last day (right before it froze) before I had to move our tree back inside. 

Finally our lemons were ready to eat.  

I was so excited to whip them up into a lemon meringue pie for Thanksgiving.

It was Delicious and Amazing to be eating a lemon I grew.

Now that it's back inside we've purchased some "indoor grow lights"-- thought I'm not convinced they work.

May I just tell you I LOVE my lemon tree?

Best gift ever.

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