Lemon Thyme Yellow Squash Muffins

During the past month, I have been getting a couple of either zucchinis or yellow squashes from my CSA every single week. The boyfriend doesn't eat squashes or zucchinis. So it falls to me to not waste the food. I mostly used them in salad and fried rice. The last attempt at zucchini muffins from this recipe turned out disastrous. The whole batch was bitter with metallic after taste from un-activated baking soda.

I was scarred and afraid of any kind of zucchini bread ever since. But that was no more. The abundance of summer squashes needs its channel. I decided to try again. This time with a recipe using much less baking soda. Plus I adapted to add lemon juice to make sure that all of the chemical gets activated leaving no after taste.



I also added fresh thyme (which I got from the same CSA at the beginning of the season as potted herb) to make thing more interesting. The result is very satisfying. The muffins came out light, moist and sweet. They are a little bit tart and fragrant with thyme. This one is a keeper. The only thing I might change the next time is that I might make 8 muffins instead of 6 to make the muffins prettier. These came out with flat top overflowing the pan. But then again, I love eating muffin tops. So I might just leave them be.



Ingredients - adapted from Better Homes and Gardens

• 1 1/2 cup white whole wheat flour


• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda


• 1/4 teaspoon baking powder


• 1/2 teaspoon salt


• 3/4 cup sugar


• 1 teaspoon fresh thyme - leaves picked


• 1 cup grated yellow squash - with skin, seeds and all


• zest and juice from 1 lemon


• 1/4 cup light tasting olive oil


• 1 egg

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease 6 cups of a muffin pan.


2. In a large bowl, combine flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, sugar and thyme.


3. In another bowl, whisk the egg with oil. Add grated squash, lemon zest and juice. Pour over the flour mixture. Stir until moist.


4. Spoon into the prepared muffin pan. Fill 3 of the empty cups with water up to half full. Bake for 25 to 28 minutes. Let cool in the pan for 10 minutes before turning onto a cooling rack.

Basil Lime Cupcakes

These cupcakes were meant to be green - for a friend's birthday which falls on St. Patrick's day although he has nothing to do with being Irish whatsoever. Oh well. I tried my best. They didn't look as green as I had hoped for but they had interesting flavor combination. Interesting. I didn't love it. I used a quarter cup of basil but I felt like I still didn't get enough of basil scent. Maybe I need to seep it in vodka or some kind of fat first? Anyhow, these are good lime cupcakes with something weird mixed in. Here's the recipe:



Ingredients

• 1 stick butter at room temperature


• 1 cup sugar


• 2 eggs


• 1/4 cup fresh basil - finely chopped


• Juice 2 limes


• 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour


• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder


• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda


• 1/4 teaspoon salt


• 1/2 cup yogurt or buttermilk

Frosting

• 1/2 package cream cheese - at room temperature


• 1/2 stick butter - at room temperature


• 1 cup confectioner sugar


• Zest from 2 limes

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.


2. With an electric mixer, beat butter and sugar together until fluffy - about 2 to 3 minutes. Add eggs one at a time. Beat well between each addition. Add lime zest and chopped basil.


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


4. Alternately stir in flour mixture and buttermilk to the butter in 3 batches. Stir until just combined.


5. Spoon into lined muffin pan and bake for 18 to 20 minutes. Let cool completely before frosting. Make 18 cupcakes.


6. To make the frosting, beat everything together with a clean mixer and wire attachment until fluffy.

Lemon Blueberry Corn Muffins

I finally moved! It has been a year-long process with all the problems with mortgages and real estate market in NYC. But it finally happened!

The kitchen went from this:


(Yes, that's all the countertop space I had.)

To this!


Haha! There's a whole thing of space on the other side!

In my last attempt to use up food while packing the kitchen, I made these lemon blueberry corn muffins. I basically used up all my lemons, frozen blueberries and corn meal that I had. And the muffins saved my soul for almost the whole week from all the packing-moving-unpacking frustration.



Ingredients (Adapted from EatingWell.com Lemon Cranberry Muffins)

• 1 cup whole wheat flour


• 1/2 cup all purpose flour


• 1/2 cup corn meal


• 2 teaspoons baking powder


• 1 teaspoon baking soda


• 1/2 teaspoon salt


• 1/3 cup light tasting olive oil


• 1/3 cup sugar


• 1 egg


• 3/4 cup soy milk


• Juice and zest of 2 lemons


• 1 1/2 cups frozen blueberries

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease a muffin pan.


2. In a large bowl, stir together whole wheat flour, all purpose flour, corn meal, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.


3. In a separate bowl, whisk oil, sugar, egg, soy milk, lemon juice and zest together.


4. Pour the wet ingredients over the flour mixture. Stir gently using a spatula until there is almost no dry streak left. Fold in the blueberries.


5. Spoon into the prepared muffin pans and bake for 22 minutes. Let cool in the pan for a few minutes before turning into a cooling rack. Make 12 delicious tangy, cruncy and juicy muffins.

Lemon Blueberry Crumb Bars

Here are my excuses for not posting at all during the past two weeks:

1. Instead of writing up a post, I have been spending a lot of time on chemistry.com looking for dates. So far, there hasn't been any success. This might just be a total waste of time. But I signed up for 3 months (they had a Memorial day sale) so I will have to keep trying.


2. I haven't been baking much. I have a friend from Mexico staying with me. I usually stay up late and bake at night. As a good host, I try not to make noises and make the apartment hotter than it is while my guest is asleep on my couch.

I baked these bars for a Norah Jones concert in Prospect Park which I didn't go because it rained heavily the whole entire day. So I ended up eating them for breakfast all week. What? No cookies for breakfast? But these have lots of fruit! And they are great with coffee!



Original recipe from AllRecipes.com. the only thing I changed was omitting nutmeg, add lemon juice and a few tablespoons of flour to the berries.

Orange Yogurt Cupcakes with White Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting

These cupcakes got whipped up really fast with what I already have in the apartment plus 2 navel oranges. I love the smell of citrus baked goods in the oven. The came out pretty good although not very exciting. White chocolate cream cheese frosting saved the day again. It's becoming my favorite frosting. It goes on smooth. It tastes creamy with a little tang from cream cheese and buttery subtle chocolate flavor.



Ingredients

• 2 3/4 cups flour


• 1 teaspoon salt


• 1 teaspoon baking powder


• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda


• 2 sticks of butter at room temperature


• 2 cups sugar


• 4 eggs


• Zest from 2 large oranges


• 1/2 cup fresh squeezed orange juice


• 1/2 cup yogurt

Directions

1. Adjust oven racks to upper third and lower third. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line two muffin pans with cupcake liners.


2. Mix flour, salt, baking soda and baking powder together.


3. With an electric mixer, beat butter with sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time. Beat well between each addition. Scrape the bowl occasionally. Add the zest.


4. In three batches, stir (use lowest mixer setting) in flour mixture alternately with the juice and yogurt. When there's no streak left. Stop the mixer. Drop by a heaping tablespoon into the prepared pan.


5. Bake for 22 to 25 minutes. Let cool for a minute in the pan, then transfer to cooling racks. Let cool completely before frosting.

White Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting

• 1 stick of butter and room temperature


• 1 package of cream cheese


• 1/2 cup confectioner sugar


• 1 cup chopped good quality white chocolate - melted (I used microwave oven) and let cool for a few minutes

With an electric mixer and its wire attachment, beat butter with sugar until light and fluffy. Add cream cheese. Beat until well mixed. Add melted chocolate. Continue beating until you get fluffy and smooth frosting.

Salted Lemon Lime Shortbread Cookies

I don't know why I didn't post this recipe before. (Update: It's because these cookies are basically the same as these.) A lot of people came to this site for these mini lemon tarts which used lemon-lime shortbread cookie dough for crust. I was asked a couple of times for the recipe and each time I would just write back with full recipe from my head (I made them so many times I have the recipe memorized both by volume and by weight.)



These cookies are just a tiny bit sweet with a little tang from lemon/lime juice and refreshing citrus scent from both lemon and lime zest. It's also have a kick from extra salt sprinkled on top to balance out all the flavors. They are possibly the most perfect cookies ever. Salt part came as a happy accident. I forgot to add salt in the dough one time so just sprinkled it on top of the cut cookies. It turned out way better than the original. Somehow, the salt brought out more of the citrus and buttery goodness in them.



Ingredients

• 2 1/2 cups all purpose flour


• 1/2 cup sugar


• 1/8 teaspoon salt


• 2 sticks chilled butter


• Zest from 1 lemon and 2 limes


• Juice from the lemon and limes (not more than 1 tablespoon)


• Extra sea salt for sprinkle and extra flour for rolling out the cookies

Directions

1. With a food processor, pulse flour, sugar and salt together.


2. Cut butter into cubes and add to the mixture. Add zest and juice. Pulse until butter is cut into the dough and the mixture is crumbly.


3. Gather into 2 balls. Flatten and wrap in plastic wrap. Refrigerate for 30 minutes or more until the dough is hard enough to roll out and cut without sticking. I usually do this the night before.


4. If rolling and cutting out cookies seems like too much work, just roll the dough into logs about 1 inch in diameter. Wrap and refrigerate.


5. Adjust oven racks to the upper third and lower third. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees and line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.


6. Roll out the dough to about 1/4 to 1/3 inch thick and cut out with cookie cutter. Or if using the log method, use a sharp knife to cut the dough out into 1/4 inch thick. Arrange in prepared cookie sheets. These cookies don't expand much so just give them maybe 1/2 inch space between each other.


7. Sprinkle with extra sea salt.


8. Bake for 25 minutes or until the edges start to brown. Rotate and switch sheet position half way through.


9. Let cool in the baking sheets for a minute then transfer to cooling racks. Let cool completely before storing or serving. The cookies develop more flavor and better texture when they are cold. They stay for about 1 to 2 weeks in cookie jars (not air-tight) but I assure you they definitely won't last that long.

Note: If you want light color and good looking cookies with smooth surface and perfect cut-out shape, bake longer in lower temperature (say 300 degrees for 30 minutes.) But if you don't care about how they look, you just want to eat them, bake them at 350 for 15 to 18 minutes. 325 degrees is the middle ground. You get reasonably good looking cookies in reasonably short baking time. I personally like crisp and dry cookies fast and prefer the higher temperature.

Grapefruit Souffle

Ha ha! Success! Well, sort of. Look at how beautifully my souffle rose....



But then about half a minute later, it sank.



I finally went out and bought two 6-oz ramekins made especially for souffle. I almost followed Martha Stewart's Grapefruit Souffle with Ginger except that I didn't have ginger and I didn't want 6 portions of souffle (which must be eaten immediately.) So I tried to third the recipe and ended up with 1 grapefruit, 3 tablespoons sugar, 1 teaspoon corn starch, 1 teaspoon flour, 1 egg yolk and 2 egg whites with some salt and cream of tartar.

What could it be? Was it because I didn't beat egg whites long enough? I whipped it to soft peak. Maybe I need a stiffer peak. Or was it because I didn't have enough egg white to hold all the filling?



Anyway, I will try again with Mark Bittman's chocolate souffle next weekend.

At least, this time I got a much better result than last week. At this rate, I'll be souffle god whose souffle has a staying power for more than one minute by Christmas!

Coconut Meyer Lemon Muffins

My last two attempts at gluten-free baking didn't come out so successfully. So I did some research (aka googling) and found out that I shouldn't use more than a couple of tablespoons of chickpea flour or other bean flour at a time because it has very distinct flavor. I also found out that in most gluten-free flour mix, people use about a third starch. It's usually a combination of corn starch, potato starch and/or tapioca starch.

Hmmm... I'm not super excited about all these highly processed starches. They can't be good for you. Right?

But I pressed on.

Another important ingredients to gluten-free baking is Xanthan Gum. It's used to replace gluten in wheat which gives that chewy feel in baked goods.

So I bought Xanthan Gum. It cost me a small fortune. But I'm already in too deep. I have to go all the way.



Although they are still dense, these muffins are not so bad. They don't fall apart. They taste good - slightly sweet - with a bit of crunch from coconut flakes - perfect for quick breakfast or afternoon snack.

Ingredients

• 2/3 cup rice flour


• 2/3 cup masa flour


• 2/3 cup potato starch


• 1 teaspoon baking soda


• 1 teaspoon Xanthan gum


• 1/2 teaspoon salt


• 1 cup unsweetened coconut flakes


• 1/3 cup extra light tasting olive oil


• 1/2 cup Agave nectar


• Juice from a Meyer lemon and zest from 2 of them


• 1 cup soy milk

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease a muffin pan.


2. Combine rice flour, masa flour, potato starch, baking soda, salt and coconut flakes in a clean bowl.


3. In a separate bowl, whisk eggs, oil, Agave nectar, lemon juice, zest and milk together.


4. Stir the wet ingredients into dry until just combined. Drop by tablespoons into the prepared pan. Bake for about 20 minutes.

Kiwi Pie with Lemon-Lime Shortbread Cookie Crust

I think this will also pass as a kiwi tart because the crust is sweet. I rolled out leftover lemon-lime shortbread cookie dough and used it for the crust. But it's baked in a pie dish. I decided that if it looks like a pie it should be called a pie.

A friend of mine threw a fabulous fruit and berries party where they were so plentiful that by the end of the party he had pounds of leftover strawberries, raspberries, bananas and kiwis. He got jam from the berries, and a banana cream pie from the bananas. I made Alton Brown's banana ice cream which is probably the best banana ice cream I ever ate.



So what to do with 3 pounds of kiwis? We used about 6 kiwis for this pie/tart and the rest for Gourmet's kiwi sorbet.

Here's the recipe for the pie. You can also double the crust and bake the rest of the dough as shortbread cookies.

Ingredients

• 1 1/4 cup all-purpose flour


• 1/4 cup sugar


• 1/4 teaspoon salt


• 1 stick cold butter


• Zest from half a lemon and 1 lime and about 2 teaspoon of either lemon or lime juice.



• 6 kiwis - peeled and sliced


• 1 package cream cheese


• 2 tablespoons sugar


• 2 tablespoons milk

Directions

1. With a food processor, pulse flour, sugar and salt together. Cut butter into chunks and add to the flour mixture. Add zest and juice. Process until the dough is crumbly but not dough-y. Gather the dough with a plastic wrap. Ball and flatten into a disc. Refrigerate for a few hours or freeze for 30 minutes until the dough is hard enough to roll out.


2. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Roll out the cookie dough and line a pie dish or a tart pan. Poke a lot of holes with fork. Cover with foil and weigh down with pie weights or dry beans. Bake for 30 minutes or until golden brown. Let cool completely.


3. Whip cream cheese, 2 tablespoons of sugar and milk with an electric mixer and wire attachment until fluffy - about 3 minutes.


4. Arrange half the kiwi over the crust. Spread cream cheese over the first layer of kiwi. Then arrange the rest on top. Serve chill.

Mango and Lime Cupcakes

Before giving up baking with mangoes, I tried one more time. Maybe mangoes are not meant to be baked. Or at least the mangoes I have been using. These cupcakes tasted good. And I think mango didn't make them taste any better or distinct. So, for the record, this shall be my last mango baking experiment.

I chopped up a large very ripe, sweet and delicious mango. Reserved 1/4 cup for frosting and used the rest (about 1 cup) for the cupcakes from this recipe.



I whipped a package of cream cheese with a stick of butter and a cup of confectioner sugar, plus the 1/4 cup of fresh mango for the frosting. It was really good. You see 1/4 cup of fresh mango in the frosting got much more mileage than the 1 cup I put in the cupcake batter....



That's it. From now on, I should only eat uncooked mangoes.

Lime Cupcakes with Toasted Coconut Cream Cheese Frosting

I have a lot of unsweetened dry coconut flakes in my cupboard. I have no idea 2 pounds of coconut would last this long. They are primarily for my granola. But I want to start using them for something else. The problem is that I don't like coconut cake... How is that possible? Right? I eat everything and like everything. Maybe I just haven't had a good coconut cake. So for these cupcakes, I decided to go a safe route - lime cupcakes (which I know would be super awesome) with coconut frosting.



They turned out beautiful. Coconut didn't add much flavor to the cream cheese frosting (which didn't help my doubt with coconut in cakes.) But it might be because my coconut was a little old and cream cheese overpowered it. It did add a little crunch and texture.



Ingredients - Make 18 cupcakes

• 2 cups all purpose flour


• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda


• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder


• 1/4 teaspoon salt


• 1 stick butter - room temperature


• 1/2 cup sugar


• 2 large eggs


• Zest and juice from 1 lime


• 1/2 cup plain yogurt



• 1 package 8oz cream cheese


• 1 stick butter - room temperature


• 1 cup confectioner sugar


• 1 cup dry coconut flakes - toasted (I put mine on a stove top in a non stick pan until slightly brown.)

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line muffins pans with liners.


2. Combine flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt in a clean bowl.


3. Beat butter and sugar with an electric mixer until light and fluffy - about 2 to 3 minutes. Add eggs one at a time. Beat thoroughly in between.


4. Mix lime zest and juice into yogurt. Alternately stir in flour mixture and yogurt into the batter into 3 batches. Stir until well combined.


5. Drop into the prepared pan by tablespoon. Be careful not to fill more than half. The cake will rise a lot. Bake for 18 minutes. Rotate the pan half way through the baking time (if your oven is like mine - hotter in the back.)


6. Let cool in the pan for a minute then transfer to a cooling rack to cool completely.


7. To prepare the frosting, whisk cream cheese, butter and confectioner sugar with an electric mixer in a clean bowl until fluffy - about 3 to 4 minutes.


8. Frost the cupcakes. Dip the frosted ones in a bowl of toasted coconut to decorate.

Mini Lemon Tarts

I made too much dough for these lemon-lime shortbread cookies. Now that the holiday season is over, I don't get that many orders on the site anymore. So I decided to dress it up a little for our New Year's Eve party.



I cut out the cookies with my biggest flower cookie cutter - about 4 inches in diameter and lined them in muffin pans. They went into 350 degrees oven for about 5 minutes. I forgot to fork the dough before baking so they puffed up a little....



For the filling, I dropped a teaspoon of lemon curd which Hannah prepared while I rolled out the cookies. The cookies went back into the oven for about 7 more minutes.



These cookies/tarts came out so pretty I couldn't stop taking their pictures. They are also deliciously creamy/flaky/sweet/tart. Somebody said they are like the spring exploding in your mouth (in a good way.)

Update: Salted lemon-lime shortbread cookie recipe here.

Lemon Meringue Pie

My first meringue pie... Inspired by a mini-meringue pie my friend, Livia, bought last weekend. I had a bite of it and could not forget how it was so perfectly creamy, sweet and tangy. I was determined to bake one in my kitchen so that we can have multiple bites each.



I decided to follow this recipe from Epicurious.com with a few changes. I reduced the sugar by 1/4 cup, used 1/2 cup store-bought lemon juice plus the juice from 2 fresh lemons and all their zest. I didn't have cream of tartar and used 1/4 teaspoon of white vinegar instead in the meringue.



The pie was let cool for about an hour then refrigerated overnight. In the morning, the meringue pulled away from the crust and the pie became weepy. According to notes on the recipe, I might have to use more corn starch or cook the filling a little longer and let the pie cool at room temperature longer. But it didn't really matter. The pie was delicious - light and creamy, not too sweet, with a perfect balance of salt, tang and sugar.

Margarita Shortbread Cookies

What happens when you forget to salt your cookie dough? I sprinkled salt on top of my cookies and got delicious salty cookies. The first time this happened I was baking Lemon-Lime cookies with Hannah. The cookies turned out so good that I had to repeat. This time I only used limes and call them margarita cookies.



When they first came out of the oven, I thought they were way too salty and not sweet enough. Then I remembered that Hannah rolled the cookies with confectioner sugar while I rolled mine with flour... So I dusted my cookies with loads of confectioner sugar to make them sweeter. And I got a perfect sweet salty sour and buttery deliciousness.



Ingredients

• 2 sticks butter - room temperature


• 1/2 cup sugar


• Zest from 2 limes plus juice from 1 lime


• 2 1/2 cup all purpose flour


• 1/4 teaspoon salt plus more for sprinkle


• 1/4 cup confectioner sugar for dusting

Directions

1. With an electric mixer, beat butter with 1/2 cup of sugar until light and fuffy - about 3 minutes.


2. Add lime zest and juice. Beat until well combined.


3. Reduce the mixer speed and stir in 2 and 1/2 cups of flour. Form the dough in to ball and refrigerate for 2 hours or freeze for 30 minutes.


4. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line 2 cookie sheets with parchment paper.


5. Roll out the dough on lightly floured surface to about 1/2 to 1/4 inch thick. Cut out with cookie cutter. Lightly sprinkle sea salt on the cut out cookies. Bake on prepared cookie sheets for 15 minutes.


6. Transfer the cookies onto cooling racks and dust them with confectioner sugar while they are still warm. Let cool completely. Make 50 yo 70 cookies.

Orange Cranberry Scones

I just found out about a new realm of baking - scones and biscuits! Why haven't I ever thought of baking them earlier? There are endless possibility with these. I can go either savory or sweet. And they are super easy to make - no electric mixer - not a lot of cleaning required. I must go crazy making these with all kinds of substitutes!

Just as I was thinking which fruit to put in my first scones, my dear neighbor gave me a bag of cranberries. So I made orange cranberry scones from this base recipe from AllRecipes.com.



I added 1/4 cup of sugar into dry ingredients, and zest from an orange and 1/2 cup of dried cranberries to the batter.



The apartment smelled amazing while these were in the oven. I love the baked orange smell in the air. The scones came out light, delicate and not too sweet although not as flaky and buttery as I thought they should be. But what do I know? I shall try other recipes and compare.

Orange Blossom Cupcakes with White Chocolate Frosting

I have been wondering if I can bake with orange blossom water and if the fragrance will remain after the oven. All the recipes I tried in the past just brush the water over baked cake or incorporate it in the frosting.

This one will be for the sake of experiment.



I decided to pair the cupcakes with white chocolate frosting as opposed to just butter cream to make them even more interesting. I started with my favorite cupcake recipe. Reduced the number of eggs to 3 because I didn't want the batter to be so egg-y. Substituted 1/4 cup of buttermilk with orange blossom water. And added orange zest of two small oranges.



The cupcakes didn't dome well coming out of the oven. But they were fragrant and had delicious crumbs.



For the frosting I chopped up about 2 cups of white chocolate. Melted it in a microwave and beat it with a package of creamcheese and less than half a cup of confectioner sugar. I'm usually extra careful about the amount of sugar whenever I use white chocolate. I feel it always come already super sweet.



The result? The cupcakes smelled really really good. But the frosting was to die for. I need experiment with white chocolate + creamcheese frosting more often!

Lemon Cupcakes with Strawberry Creamcheese Frosting

I have been wanting to make this frosting again since these sandwich cookies. I remember not wanting to throw the leftover frosting away since there taste so good. This time, I used it for a cupcake frosting. I didn't want to pair it with just vanilla cupcakes. Baking strawberry cupcakes seemed like too much trouble. Plus my last attempt at strawberry muffins didn't pan out so well. So I decided on lemon cupcakes.



People always love my lemon cupcakes. Strawberry + lemon combo worked out deliciously. Since I didn't want the frosting too sweet, I used less than a cup of confectioner sugar and skipped butter all together. The frosting came out a little too runny. It was difficult to frost pretty but I thought it taste really good. I think this is the first time I have 3 of my own cupcakes in one day!



Ingredients - make 30 cupcakes

• 2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour


• 1 teaspoon baking powder


• 1 teaspoon baking soda


• 1/2 teaspoon salt


• 2 sticks butter - room temperature


• 2 cups sugar


• 4 eggs


• Zest and juice from 1 lemon


• 1 cup buttermilk


• 10 fresh strawberries


• 2 packages creamcheese


• About 1 cup confectioner sugar

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line muffin pans with liners.

1. Whisk flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt together.


2. With an electric mixer, beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy - about 3 minutes. Add eggs one at a time. Beat well after each addition. Add lemon juice and zest.


3. Alternately stir 1/3 of flour mixture and buttermilk into the wet ingredients. Stir until well combined.


4. Fill the prepared muffin pan with the batter up to 3/4 full. Bake for 18 minutes. Let the cupcakes cool completely on a cooling rack.


5. Clean the strawberries and pureed them in a food processor.


6. With a clean electric mixer, beat creamcheese until soft. Add confectioner sugar. Slowly add pureed strawberries. Beat until the frosting is fluffy and well blended - about 2 to 3 minutes.


7. Drop about a teaspoon of the frosting on the cupcakes. Refrigerate until ready to serve.

Lime Thyme Shortbread Cookies

Guess what animal this is ----



It's an elephant! For my new project (Fat) Elephant Kitchen! Things are still mostly in my head and my baking partner's imagination. But at least we got elephant cookie cutters.

The shortbread cookie recipe was from Elise.com/recipes. I just skipped the almond extract and lemon. Added lime zest and juice from 2 limes and about a tablespoon of chopped thyme into the batter.



Since I don't have patience to roll out the batter really thin. I baked my cookies for about 15 to 18 minutes. The cookies came out delicious, subtle and refreshing. They browned a little too easily so I underbaked a few of them....


:D

Mini Yogurt Orange Blossom Cupcakes

"It's like spring exploding in your mouth..." - Heng Cheng

I love baking with citrus. It leaves my apartment fragrant for hours. I don't remember how I came across this recipe from Australian GourmetTraveller.com. The measurement was in metrics. It would be the first time I had to convert a recipe into American measurement. Nevertheless, I was so delighted I couldn't wait to try it. I got a bottle of orange blossom water for last year's orange blossom cake. I haven't touched it since. It's expiring at the end of this year. I need to find ways to use it more. Maybe I'll just put it in a spray bottle and use it as perfume.... It smells that good.

I decided that I would make these cupcakes smaller than usual. I'm bringing them to a dinner party where a few people would bring baked goods for dessert. This way, we could try all the yummy cakes and cookies.


Tiny orange cake from my tiny kitchen

These mini cakes were delicious and light coming out of the oven. They settled and got a bit denser overnight. It might be because I didn't sift flour according to the original recipe.


Mini cupcake before frosting.

Ingredients - Make 30 mini cupcakes

• 2 cups all purpose flour


• 2 teaspoon baking powder


• 1/2 teaspoon salt


• 1 1/2 cups vanilla yogurt


• 1/4 cup buttermilk


• Grated orange rind from one orange


• 1 1/2 sticks butter (12 tablespoons) at room temperature


• 1 cup sugar


• 4 eggs


• For Frosting


• 1/2 stick butter (4 tablespoons) at room temperature


• 1 cup confectioner sugar


• 1 stick cream cheese


• 1 tablespoon orange blossom water

Frosted cupcakes

1. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Line muffin pans with liners.


2. Combine flour, baking powder and salt in a large bowl. In a small bowl, whisk yogurt, buttermilk and orange rind together.


3. With an electric mixer, beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time and beat well after each addition.


4. Alternately stir (at the lowest setting) in flour mixture and yogurt into the batter in 3 batches. Stir until just combined and there's no visible white flour.


5. Drop the batter by rounded tablespoon into the prepared muffin pans. Fill only up to 1/3 to make mini cupcakes. Bake for 25 minutes. Let cool on a cooling rack.


6. To make the frosting, beat butter and confectioner sugar together with electric mixer until light and fluffy. Add cream cheese and orange blossom water. Beat the frosting until fluffy.


7. Drop a rounded teaspoon of the frosting on top of cooled cupcake. With the back of a spoon, spread the frosting to fill up to the top of liner. Decorate with orange rind.

Ready for dinner party

I love this recipe and how the cakes tasted and smelled. I might have to find some kind of excuse to make this again.