Lemon Tea Cookies

You may be tired of seeing all of the lemon recipes or recipes that call for lemon juice or lemon zest, but I have fallen in love, and if you follow my blog, then you'll just have to suffer through my lemon addiction. This little gem of a recipe for Lemon Tea Cookies that I found on Pinterest is just the latest installment in my lemon infatuation. These are not a super sweet cookie, and the lemon flavor is very subtle. They were quite tasty, in fact. I did make about double the icing, because that's just how I roll.

3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter
1 tsp lemon zest
1 Tbsp lemon juice
1 1/4 cup flour
1/2 cup cornstarch
1/3 cup confectioners’ sugar

Cream butter, lemon zest and juice until fluffy.

 

In separate bowl, sift dry ingredients and mix into butter on low speed.

Divide dough in half. Shape each half into an 8×1 inch log and roll in plastic wrap. Refrigerate for 2 hours.

Cut into 1/4-inch rounds. 

 

Bake at 350 F for 12 minutes.

Cool and frost.

1 1/2 cup confectioners’ sugar, sifted
1/2 cup unsalted cold butter, cut into 1/2 inch cubes
2 tsp lemon zest
1 1/2 tsp lemon juice

1/2 tsp almond extract

On low speed, mix the cold butter with electric mixer (use paddle attachment for a stand mixer) until smooth. Slowly add confectioners’ sugar until blended. Beat in the lemon zest and juice.

Cranberry Pound Cake

This recipe is a left over from my cranberry craze this winter. I discovered how amazing cranberries are fresh in baked goods, and let me tell you, they are amazing. A little tart, but with the right amount of sugar they are just a bit sweet. It's just an amazing combination. This recipe was based loosely on a recipe I found on Pinterest for Mixed Berry Poundcake with Cinnamon Streusel. I added a glaze to it, and I got a lot of good feedback from this one from my coworkers. The texture is amazing, the sweet glaze with the tart cranberries... you've got to give this a try!

2½ cups all-purpose flour
2½ tsps baking powder
½ tsp salt
2 cups brown sugar
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter or margarine, cubed
3 eggs, room temperature
1 tsp almond extract
½ cup sour cream
¼ cup whole milk (or buttermilk)
4 cups cranberries

12 ounces white chocolate chips

For the Cinnamon Streusel:
1 cup all-purpose flour
½ cup brown sugar
1 tsp ground cinnamon
½ tsp salt
½ cup (1 stick) cold unsalted butter or margarine, cubed

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Wash, drain, and dry cranberries. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt, and set aside. Use about 2 Tbsps of the flour mixture to toss cranberries - this helps them from settling in the cake.

Make the streusel by whisking together the flour, sugar, cinnamon, and salt. You can use your hands or a pastry cutter to cut the butter into the sugar until the mixture forms pea-sized crumbs. Cover and refrigerate until ready to use. 

 

In a large mixing bowl, beat together sugar and butter until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes, scraping down the bowl as needed.

 

Add in eggs, one at a time, followed by extract, sour cream, and milk, scraping down the bowl as needed.

Gradually add in the flour mixture until just moistened. Fold 3/4 of the cranberries and white chocolate into the batter.

Place half of the batter into a well buttered/greased 10-inch bundt or spring-form pan.

Sprinkle with streusel and remaining berries.

Spread the rest of the batter on top of the berries. The batter will be thick.

 

Bake for 1 hour or so, until a toothpick comes out clean and the top is set and golden. Allow the cake to cool completely, and then remove from pan. Mix together about a cup of powdered sugar, several tsps of lemon juice and almond extract until mixture is the thickness you prefer. I tend toward a thicker glaze.

 

Slice and serve! This will keep well in an airtight container at room temperature (or in the fridge) for up to 5 days.

Lemon-Zucchini-Almond Bread

I think I may be in love. And it's not something I ever expected to love... lemon zest! I've never been a lemon fan. I don't like lemonade. I've never used lemon on anything. Ok, I do like the little sweet lemon drop hard candies, but that is it. This recipe is AMAZING. And to top off its amazing yumminess, you also get a little vegetable and some nut protein in each luscious bite! Woohoo! Now that's a win in my book. lol I found this recipe on Pinterest, and a previous bread I made, Lemon Almond Bread, was so good, that I decided to give this one a shot. It's called Glazed Lemon Zucchini Bread. The bread is really flavorful; the zucchini adds some depth to it; the almonds add a bit of texture; and the glaze is out of this world. I adapted the recipe just a little bit, but I can't give you a comparison because I never tried the original. Read them both if you so desire, and take your pick! You'll probably notice that the pictures don't look like the same thing, and it's actually not. I made a loaf of this last weekend to try it. Today, I doubled the recipe so that I could make more so that I could take it work tomorrow. It made a little more than I anticipated, so I ended up with a 9X13, a mini-loaf pan full, and a small loaf as well. Following is the single loaf recipe.

2 cups cake flour
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp baking powder
2 eggs
1/2 cup canola oil
1 1/3 cups sugar
2 Tbsp lemon juice
1/2 cup buttermilk ***
2 Tbsp lemon zest
1 cup grated zucchini

1/2 cup almonds, plus a Tbsp or so for garnishing

Glaze ingredients:
1 cup powdered sugar
2.5-3 Tbsp lemon juice

1-2 tsp lemon zest

First prep your fresh ingredients - grate the zucchini and zest and juice the lemons. The original poster left the peel on her zucchini. I think it would have been nice for the color, but I have a picky eater, and it's much easier to hide the zucchini with the green removed.

Mix flour, salt and baking powder in a medium bowl and set aside. In a large bowl, beat eggs. Then add oil and sugar until well blended. 

Add lemon juice, buttermilk, and lemon zest to this mixture and blend all together.

*** Note, if you don't have buttermilk, you can make a substitute by using 1 Tbsp lemon juice and adding enough milk to reach the one cup line. Then use however much you need.

Fold in zucchini until it is mixed well. 

Add dry mixture to the wet mixture and blend all together until well combined.

Add almonds and mix well. Pour batter into greased 9x5 loaf pan.

Bake at 350 for 40-45 minutes. 

The original says to glaze the bread while it's still warm. I didn't want the heat of the bread to melt the glaze, so I let mine cool first. To make the glaze, mix the powdered sugar, lemon juice and zest until combined.

Carefully spoon glaze over bread. Garnish with a bit of zest and a few almonds. Your mouth should be watering at this point to try it, so go ahead and give it a taste!