Tag-Archive for ◊ lemon ◊

19 Feb 2010 Lemon Bundt Cake
Author:  |  Category: Cakes & Cupcakes  | Tags: ,  | One Comment

It’s the start of citrus season here in sunny California. Let’s all celebrate with a homey, yummy Lemon Bundt Cake! I picked three lemons off my neighbor’s tree (which I have spent 20 years training to grow over my fence) to make this cake. The cake is barely even yellow but it tastes quite lemony and has a softly dense texture. Look at the short list of ingredients. All good stuff! This is the sort of cake that has your family thinking, “Dang, no one makes cakes like Mom (or Dad)”. I found this recipe in the book, “Under the Tuscan Sun” by Frances Mayes, so I have probably been making this cake since 1998 or 1999…, with no end it sight! This is one of my favorite Bundt cakes.

Lemon Bundt Cake

For Cake
2 cups sugar
1 cup softened butter
3 eggs
3 cups flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
1 cup buttermilk (or milk, or cream, sour soured milk or cream)
3 T freshly squeezed lemon juice (don’t use that stuff from the plastic lemon!)
4 tsp grated lemon zest (I use a microplane)

For Frosting

1/4 cup softened butter
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
3 T. lemon juice

grated zest of one lemon (optional)

Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Prepare a 12-cup Bundt pan for baking. (Pam for Baking is great, so is using the wrappers from the butter cubes and then adding a small sprinkle of flour). Cream butter and sugar, beating until light and creamy, about 5 minutes total. Beat in eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. In another bowl combine flour, baking powder, and salt. Add 1/3 of the flour mixture to the butter mixture, then add 1/2 of the buttermilk, then 1/3 of the flour mixture, then 1/2 of the buttermilk, then 1/3 of the flour, beating after each addition. Add lemon juice and the grated zest to the cake batter, stir just to combine. Pour mixture into a prepared Bundt pan. Bake in preheated 300 degree oven for 50 – 70 minutes (original recipe said 50 minutes, but I always have to bake mine for 60-70 minutes). Remove cake from oven and let cool on a rack for a few minutes. Then invert cake and let cool completely on rack. When cake has cooled combine softened butter, powdered sugar, lemon juice, and optional zest. Casually glop the frosting on top of the cake, spreading to allow glaze to drip attractively down the sides. If desired, garnish cake top with curls of lemon rind.

Invite some friends over.  Have a nice little chat.  This cake is meant for casual sharing. Thanks for stopping by my kitchen today.  I’ll put the kettle on in preparation for our next visit.

05 Feb 2010 Swedish Butter Cookies Three Ways
Author:  |  Category: Cookies & Bars, Sweets  | Tags: , , , , , , , , ,  | 2 Comments

The weekend is upon us and it sounds as if it’s going to be cold and wet almost everywhere. Let’s make cookies!  Here is my favorite recipe for butter cookies. It’s an easy one, and the cookies are melt-in-your-mouth delicious.  I have been baking these cookies exactly as the recipe specifies since the mid-1980s when my friend Kathy gave me the recipe (which she acquired from one of her students).  Just a few days ago, emboldened by all the foodie pages I have been looking at, I decided to play with the recipe a bit.  What fun!  One version, adding lemon peel, was only so-so, but the other two were excellent.  Now I am anxious to create a coffee/latte version. If I get one to work, you can be sure I’ll post it.  Let me know if you come up with any winning variations…, but don’t miss the originals, they are to die for!

Swedish Butter Cookies

1/2 cup butter, at room temperature
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp. corn syrup
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 cup flour

Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Beat butter and sugar and corn syrup together with an electric mixer for about 3 minutes.  Stir in flour and baking soda.  Divide dough into 4 equal parts.  Roll each part into a roll about 6 inches long and 1 inch thick.  Place on a cookie sheet.  Cookies will spread a lot, so space them equidistantly. Bake in preheated 300 degree oven for 20 – 25 minutes.  Cut bars, at an angle, into slices while still hot.  I cut off the rounded ends, then slice each roll into 6 slices to make 2 dozen cookies per batch.  Cool on paper towel.

Coconut Butter Cookies (my favorite version)
Mix dough as above, adding in 1/2 tsp coconut extract with corn syrup.  Cover each roll with 1/2 to 1/3 cup sweetened shredded coconut.  Press coconut on roll, slightly flattening the rolls in the process.

Nutty Butter Cookies
Substitute 1/3 cup brown sugar for the 1/2 cup of white sugar.  Stir in 1/2 cup finely chopped almonds with flour.  Partially flatten the rolls before baking (with nuts, the dough doesn’t spread as much). Bake at 325 degrees for 20 – 25 minutes.

Lemon Butter Cookies
If you want to try it, I just added the grated rind of 1 large lemon… But the results weren’t nearly as tasty as the original version.  You simply have to make the originals!

What do you think?  Are you going to try this?
Whatever you decide, thanks for stopping by,

31 Jan 2010 Lemon-Poppy Seed Bread
Author:  |  Category: Breads, Breakfast & Brunch, Cakes & Cupcakes, Sweets  | Tags: ,  | Leave a Comment

“Bread” isn’t quite the right word for this. Yes, the batter is baked in loaf pans, but it has a finer texture than a quick bread, it’s really more of a cake, a cake that doesn’t need frosting. I like the strong lemon flavor of this bread and the slight crunch and the appealing look of the poppy seeds. I served cubes of this bread to dip in the chocolate fondue, but was also very pleased to have it on hand to serve to a friend who stopped by for a cup of tea and some girl-talk. The rest of the bread was devoured for breakfast. The loaves stayed moist for as long as it took us to eat (about 4 days). If you have a lemon tree, or a neighbor with a lemon tree, you’ll be pleased to know this bread is made with three large lemons. I usually bake 4 mini loaves (because I have a wonderful 4 loaf pan), but the original recipe specified baking in 2 9 x 5 loaf pans (one for you and one for the neighbor with the lemon tree). If desired extra loaves can be wrapped in foil and frozen for up to a month.

Lemon Poppy Seed Bread

3 large lemons (you’ll need the zest and the juice)
3/4 cup butter, room temperature
2 1/2 cups sugar (divided use)
4 eggs at room temperature
3 cups flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1 cup milk (or buttermilk or sour milk)
1/4 cup sour cream (can substitute yogurt)
3 T. poppy seeds

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Prepare two 9 x 5 x 3 inch loaf pans, or 4 mini loaf pans by buttering and flouring or by spraying with Pam for Baking. Finely grate the zest from the lemons. You’ll need 3 T. Squeeze the lemons for their juice. You’ll need 1/2 cup plus 1T. Set the lemon juice aside. With an electric mixer cream the butter with 2 cups of the sugar and all the lemon zest until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Meanwhile, mix flour, salt and baking powder together in another bowl, and the milk and the sour cream or yogurt in a third bowl. Add the eggs into the butter-sugar mixture, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Reduce mixer speed to low. Beat in one-third of flour mixture, then one-half of milk mixture, then one-third of flour, then one-half of milk mixture, then one-third of flour mixture, beating until just combined after each addition. Gently stir in poppy seeds and one tablespoon of the freshly squeezed lemon juice. Evenly divide batter between prepared loaf pans. Bake in preheated 375 degree oven for about 60 minutes (45 minutes for mini-loaves). While loaves are baking, combine reserved 1/2 cup lemon juice with remaining 1/2 cup sugar, stirring until combined. Remove pan from oven and immediately brush top with lemon mixture. Let loaves cool in rack in pans for 15 minutes, then removed from pans. Pierce loaves all over one side with long skewer, brush with lemon mixture. Repeat on all sides, and top and bottom, until all lemon mixture has been used. Cool loaves completely. Wrap in waxed paper and store in airtight container at room temperature.

Thanks for being a fan,
Polly

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