Banana Bread Mini Loaves

The animation department at August's work requested banana bread. I had just the recipe. A friend kindly shared it with me even though it's a secret recipe. So don't even ask me for the recipe. "Keep it secret, keep it safe." At first glance, this banana bread is the ugliest of all banana breads. It's really dark, doesn't come out of the pan gracefully, it doesn't rank high when it comes to nutrition and it sinks in the middle. But when you taste it, no other banana bread will do. Delicately crunchy on the top and superbly moist on the bottom. It is rich, sweet, buttery and practically melts in your mouth.

Meyer Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins

I've been making a lot of lemon desserts and there's a lot of hype about Meyer lemons these days. They are quite hard to find. So when I stumbled across them in a grocery store I decided to try them out. Meyer lemons are sweeter than regular lemons and also less acidic. I also found out that they are harder to zest because their skins are not as firm. They also started to go bad 2 days after I brought them home from the store. I managed to salvage what I could and also used some regular lemon zest and juice for these muffins. I'll be sticking to traditional lemons from now on.

Meyer Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins

Adapted from Baking From My Home To Yours by Dorie Greenspan

Makes 16 muffins

2/3 cup sugar

zest from 2 Meyer lemons (I used one Meyer lemon and one regular)

juice from 2 Meyer lemons

2 cups all purpose flour

2 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1/4 tsp. salt

3/4 cup plain Greek yogurt

2 large eggs

1 tsp. vanilla extract

8 Tbsp. (113 g) unsalted butter, melted and cooled

2 Tbsp. poppy seeds

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.  Line 16 muffin tins with paper liners.

2. Process lemon zest and sugar together. Place in a large mixing bowl and  whisk flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt together.

3. In a medium mixing bowl whisk Greek yogurt, eggs, vanilla, lemon juice and melted butter together. Pour wet ingredients over dry ingredients and whisk until combined. Stir in the poppy seeds.

4. Scoop batter into paper liners filling about 2/3 full. Bake 18-20 minutes until toothpick comes out clean. Remove from pans and cool on wire rack.

Lemon Custard Squares

My favorite flavor of ice cream as a kid was lemon custard. I made these bars as a tribute to those good old days. After researching buttermilk pie, lemon bars, chess pie and magic custard cake recipes for several hours, I decided to make these. Bright lemon, creamy custard and fresh strawberry hearts combine to make this week's treat.

Lemon Custard Squares

Makes 16 Squares

Inspired by Baking Bites

1/3 cup sugar

1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour

1/4 tsp. salt

1/4 tsp. lemon extract

Filling:

3/4 cup + 2 Tbsp. sugar

3 Tbsp. all purpose flour

1/4 tsp. salt

4 large eggs

1 tsp. vanilla extract

1/4 tsp. lemon extract

2 Tbsp. unsalted butter, melted and cooled

2 cups buttermilk

lemon zest from 2 large lemons

strawberries, cut into small heart shapes

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

2. Lightly grease a 9x13 baking pan.

3. In a stand mixer bowl with paddle cream butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. On low speed, beat flour and salt until mixture is crumbly. Press into baking pan.

4. Bake for 15-17 minutes until golden brown. Meanwhile, prepare filling.

5. In stand mixer bowl with whisk attachment, combine sugar, flour, salt, eggs, vanilla, lemon extract, melted butter, buttermilk and lemon zest until smooth.

6. Pour into hot crust and bake for 25-30 minutes until filling is set. Cool on wire rack. Chill in refrigerator. Slice into squares. Top with strawberries or other fresh fruit.

Lemon Thyme Shortbread Cookies

It was fun adding the flavor of thyme to these cookies. I don't often mix herbs into my desserts. Some people wondered what the unusual flavor was. Others weren't even familiar with the word "thyme". Thyme is used for cooking as well as medicinal purposes. It has also been used in the past for embalming, warding off nightmares and as a source of courage.

Lemon Thyme Shortbread

2 dozen

Inspired by The Comfort of Cooking

2 cups all purpose flour

1/2 cup almond meal

1  1/2 Tbsp. fresh thyme leaves

zest of 1 lemon

1/2 tsp. salt

1 cup (226 g) unsalted butter, room temperature

1/4 cup sugar

1/4 cup confectioner's sugar

1 tsp. vanilla extract

1/4 tsp. lemon extract

1 tsp. freshly squeezed lemon juice


1. Process 2 Tbsp. of flour, almond meal and thyme leaves. Pulse until finely ground.

2. In a medium bowl, sift the rest of the flour and salt.  Stir in the almond mixture.

3. In a stand mixer bowl with paddle attachment beat butter until light and fluffy. Beat in sugar and confectioner's sugar. Gradually add flour on low speed just until combined. Add in vanilla, lemon extract and lemon juice. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and chill at least 1 hour.

4. Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Line baking sheets with parchment paper.

5. Roll the chilled dough out between two sheets of parchment paper to 1/4 " thick. Cut out shapes with 2" cutters. Place 1/2" apart on baking sheet. If dough starts to get sticky, place parchment paper with rolled dough in freezer for a few minutes. Bake 1 sheet at a time for 20 minutes until the sides start turning slightly brown. Remove cookies to cool on wire rack immediately.

Strawberry Lemon Muffins

Bright yellow lemons and ruby red strawberries make me think of spring. The cherry blossoms are in bloom, new leaves are forming on the trees and the air is a bit warmer these days. I love these muffins because they are fluffy and really moist. The recipe said to fill the paper liners to the top. The batter didn't drip down into the oven but the muffins got really huge.

Strawberry Lemon Muffins

Inspired by Baking Bites

Makes 12 muffins (or 16 if you don't want them so huge)

2 cups all purpose flour

1 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. baking soda

1/4 tsp. salt

6 Tbsp. unsalted butter, room temp.

3/4 cup sugar

zest of 1 lemon

2 large eggs

1 tsp. vanilla extract

1/4 tsp. lemon extract

1/4  cup freshly squeezed lemon juice

1/4 cup milk (or 1/4 cup additional lemon juice)

1 1/2 cups finely chopped fresh strawberries

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Place paper liners in muffin pan.

2. Whisk flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt together in a medium bowl.

3. In a stand mixer fitted with paddle attachment, cream the butter until light and fluffy. Beat in the sugar. Beat in the lemon juice. Beat in eggs one at a time, scraping the bottom and sides of the bowl after each addition.

4. Add 1/3 of the flour mixture and stir in on low speed. Add the vanilla extract and lemon juice. Add another 1/3 of flour and mix in milk or additional lemon juice. Add the last 1/3 of flour and mix just until combines. Fold in chopped strawberries.

5. Fill muffin liners with batter 3/4 full or to the top depending how large you want your muffins.

6. Bake 15-20 minutes until toothpick comes out clean. Cool on wire rack.

Easter Sugar Cookies

 

 

The kids wanted to make sugar cookies for Easter this year. First we prepared by practicing with the cookie cutters and play dough. Then we mixed up a batch of cookie dough. We chilled it overnight in the fridge and then cut out and decorated the cookies for Easter. 

They did very well at cutting out the shapes. Even though we dipped the cutters in flour, they still got stuck as the dough got warmer.  When the dough does get stuck in them, they learned to shake it so it flies out or lift up a corner with a toothpick and gently pull it out. The boys learned what happens when you place the cookies too close on the cookie sheet- they stick together as they expand in the oven. I learned to let them decorate the cookies how they want to and not how I wanted them too. See their "layering technique". And they told me orange was an Easter color. I have the sugar cookie recipe typed out in an earlier post.