Sticky Blueberry and Lemon Rolls with Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting

I L-O-V-E me a good cinnamon bun, but this recipe caught my eye as I was searching for another great way to use my lemons. It has the texture of the best kind of cinnamon bun....large and super fluffy without too much weighing it down, but has the refreshing tanginess of fresh lemons.  I made a few modifications to this recipe from The Kitchn.

Ingredients for the Dough
1 envelope (= 2 1/4 teaspoons) yeast

3/4 cup milk, warmed to about 100°F
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, very soft
1/4 cup white sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
4 1/2 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
2 lemons, zested
2 eggs
1 handful of blueberries

Ingredients for the Lemon Filling
1 cup sugar, minus two tablespoons
1/4 teaspoon freshly-ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon powdered ginger
Zest of 2 lemons
Juice of 1 lemon
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, very soft

Ingredients for the Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting

4 ounces cream cheese, softened
3/4 of the juice of 1 lemon
1 cup powdered sugar
Zest of 1 lemon for garnish 

Directions
1)  In the bowl of a stand mixer sprinkle the yeast over the warmed milk and let it sit for a couple minutes.

2)  With the mixer paddle, stir in the softened butter, sugar, vanilla, and one cup of the flour.

3)  Stir in the salt, nutmeg, and lemon zest. Stir in the eggs and enough of the remaining flour to make a soft yet sticky dough.

4)  Switch to the dough hook and knead for about 5 minutes or knead by hand for 5-7 minutes or until the dough is elastic and pliable.

5)  Spray the top of the dough with vegetable oil, and turn the dough over so it is coated in oil. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and a towel and let the dough rise until nearly doubled - about an hour.

6)  To make the filling - In a small bowl, mix the sugar with the nutmeg and ginger, then work in the lemon zest with the tips of your fingers until the sugar resembles wet, soft sand. Stir in the juice of 1 lemon. 

7)  Lightly grease a 13x9 inch baking dish with baking spray or butter. (I use a small convection oven, so I split the rolls into one 8x8 inch dish and one 5x8 inch dish.) On a floured surface pat the dough out into a large yet still thick rectangle of about 10x15 inches. Spread evenly with the softened butter, then pour and spread the lemon-sugar mixture over top. Sprinkle the blueberries on top of the filling.  Roll the dough up tightly, starting from the top long end. Cut the long dough roll into 12 even rolls, and place them, cut side up, in the prepared baking dish.

 8)  Cover the rolls with a towel and let them rise for an hour or until puffy and nearly doubled.

9)  Heat the oven to 350°F. Place the risen rolls in the oven and bake for 35 minutes or until a thermometer inserted into a center roll reads 190°F.

10)  While the rolls are baking, prepare the glaze. Whip the cream cheese with a handmixer until light and fluffy. Add the lemon juice and blend until well combined. Add the powdered sugar and blend until smooth and creamy.

11)  When the rolls are done, smear them with the cream cheese glaze, and sprinkle the zest of 1 additional lemon over top to garnish. Serve while warm.

The rolls were very tasty, especially right after coming out of the oven.  I think next time, I might make regular cream cheese glaze/frosting without the lemon juice and lemon zest garnish.  If you are a lemon fiend though, I'd encourage you to stick to the recipe above.

Refreshing Lemonade

Last week I caught a cold...it's a bad one, so I decided to make some lemonade to get my needed vitamin C. 

Ingredients

3/4 cup sugar
1 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
4-5 cups of water

Directions

1)  Combine the sugar and one cup of water in a saucepan to make simple syrup.  Heat on low heat until the sugar is dissolved.  Allow to cool.
2)  Combine the simple syrup and the lemon juice and stir.  Add 3-4 cups of water to dilute the lemonade to taste.

How easy is that?  I like my lemonade on the tart side, but if you prefer it sweeter, add up to one more 1/4 cups of sugar.

For those of you who are keeping count...I gave 8 lemons to a friend who was visiting from New York and used 12 lemons here to get the required cup of lemon juice...this brings me to 7 left out of the 40 I picked two weeks ago.  I picked another large bag full yesterday though and there are tons left on the tree....so we've got more lemon recipes to come.  =)

Lemon Buttermilk Pie

For some reason, it's difficult for me to find the pint sized buttermilk.  The grocery stores around here stock either the half pint, which is too little for most recipes, or a whole quart, which is always too much.  After making buttermilk pancakes on Saturday, I was left with more than enough buttermilk to try something else new...and the opportunity to use lemon #12.

A couple months ago, a friend of mine suggested that I check out a restaurant called Green Chile Kitchen in NoPA.  I thought the dinner part of the meal was just ok, but I had their lemon buttermilk pie, which they serve with a huge scoop of strawberry ice cream.  Delicious!  It tasted so fresh and summery.  I had never heard of lemon buttermilk pie before, but have since been told that it is popular in the southern part of the country. It is super easy to make, but so rewarding.

Ingredients
1/2 stick (1/4 cup) unsalted butter, melted and cooled
1 cup sugar, less 1 tablespoon
1 1/2 cups buttermilk
4 large eggs yolks
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
grated lemon zest from 1 lemon
3/4 of the juice from the lemon you grated
1/4 teaspoon salt

Ice Cream, if you are so inclined.

Directions
1)  Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
2)  Blind bake the frozen crust for 10 minutes at 350 degrees F.
3)  In a bowl whisk together the butter, the sugar, the buttermilk, the egg yolks, the flour, the vanilla, the zest, the juice, and the salt and pour the filling into the shell.  It's ok if the shell is hot.
3)  Bake the pie in the lower third of the oven for 20 minutes at 350 degrees F, then reduce the temperature to 325 degrees F, and bake the pie for 20 to 25 minutes more, or until the filling is set and golden. (I used a small toaster/convection oven.  I baked the pie at 350 degrees F for 23 minutes and then reduced the temperature to 325 degrees F for another 24 minutes.)  Let the pie cool on a rack and serve it at room temperature or chilled.

Don't forget the strawberry ice cream!  Haagen Dazs does it for me.  =)


I often cheat when it comes to pie crust.  Sometimes I use Trader Joe's frozen pie crusts and this time I used a Mrs. Smiths.  One of these days I'll master crust from scratch, but for some reason it always drops to the bottom of my priority list.  Perhaps I secretly fear it.

The pie was so tasty, that I made another for our neighbors to welcome their newborn daughter.  

Lemon Basil Shortbread Cookies

Yesterday, I used my second out of 40 lemons to make a batch of lemon basil shortbread cookies to share with a birthday boy and some friends.

Ingredients
1 cup white sugar
3 sticks unsalted butter, near room temperature
3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (plus slightly more, if needed – see below)
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 1/2 teaspoons lemon zest, finely chopped
2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
2 tablespoons freshly and finely chopped sweet basil leaves

Directions
1)  Let the butter soften to room temperature, then cut them into chunks and add them, along with the sugar, to the bowl of  a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment.  Beat the butter and sugar on medium speed until well mixed.

2) Add the vanilla, lemon juice, lemon zest, and basil, and beat on low until well mixed.

3)  Sift the flour and salt together, then start gradually adding it to the contents of the mixer bowl while the mixer running on low.  (I spooned the flour in slowly to prevent the mixer from spitting flour everywhere.)

Note:  Start with the 3 1/2 cups of flour,  but if that is not enough to pull the dough cleanly off the sides of the  bowl (you should not have any loose bits) sticking to the bowl – then  add just a sprinkle at a time until it does.

4)  Pull all the dough out of the mixer bowl and mold into a thick disc.  Cover and refrigerate for at least 2 hours or overnight.  I like to roll out the dough in between to sheets of parchment paper so that it's already on the thin side before going into the refrigerator.  This makes it a lot easier to roll out the dough after it's firmed up.

5)   Remove the dough from the fridge and roll it out so that it is about  1/2″ thick.  (If you left the dough in the fridge overnight, you may  have to give it half an hour or so before it’s able to be rolled out).  If you like thinner shortbreads, roll out the dough to somewhere between 1/4" and 1/2" and adjust the baking time accordingly.

6)  Use your favorite cookie cutter and cut the dough into cookies.

7)  Incorporate all the excess dough back into a ball, then a disc, then  roll out and repeat the cookie cutting.  If the dough starts to become  greasy, put it back in the fridge for about half an hour.

8)  Place the cookies directly onto a baking sheet, no greasing required.  In an oven that has been preheated to 350 degrees, bake the cookies for about 20 minutes, until the edges start to brown nicely.

I baked my cookies in a small convection oven on the regular bake setting.  I baked the thicker 1/2" inch cookies for about 18 minutes and the thinner cookies for about 15 minutes for slightly browned edges.


9)   Wait for about a minute, then carefully remove the cookies onto a  cooling rack.

This recipe was adapted from one that I found on TheShoebox Kitchen.wordpress.com.

The lemon and basil flavors are subtle but noticeable.  I think next time, I'll add a tad bit more lemon juice and lemon zest.

40 Lemons

It was time to raid the lemon tree again...I had done a few small harvestings before, but this time, in order to avoid letting the lemons go to waste by growing too large, I picked about 40 lemons.  In total, I think I've probably only taken about 1/3 of this year's fruit!

This is our lemon tree after I picked the lemons.  It's hard to see, but there are a lot more hiding in the back and amongst the leaves.

Last month, I brought about two dozen lemons into work to share with friends and colleagues.  This month, I am going to try to use as many as possible in various types of recipes.  I also plan to freeze lemon juice into cubes.  A friend of mine told me they will keep in the freezer for about a year.

We did not spray pesticide or use fertilizer on our tree, but still use a biodegradable fruit and vegetable wash to clean them.

All clean!

As a result, you'll be seeing a lot of lemon related recipes and uses here.  =)

This morning, I made lemon ricotta pancakes with fresh blueberries.  I didn't have good lighting so I do not have any photos to share, but the recipe is below. 
Ingredients
3/4 cup all purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon salt 
2 tablespoons sugar
1 cup ricotta cheese
2 eggs
2/3 cup milk
1 lemon, zested and juiced
2 handfuls of fresh blueberries 
Butter, for griddle

Directions
1)  Preheat a nonstick griddle.

2)  Combine flour, baking powder, nutmeg, salt, and sugar in a small bowl. Whisk together the cheese, eggs, milk, blueberries, lemon juice and zest in a large bowl. Whisk the flour mixture into the wet ingredients until just combined.

3)  Brush the hot griddle with butter.

4)  For each pancake, pour approximately 1/4 cup measure of the batter on the griddle and cook on both sides until light golden brown. 

(Adapted from Bobby Flay of the Food Network)

I served my pancakes with homemade lemon curd that I prepared with my last batch of lemons.  They also taste great with real maple syrup.  Enjoy!

Ginger Carrot Cupcakes

I have long been a fan of Chockylit's delicious creations which are beautifully photographed and posted on Cupcake Bakeshop.  This past weekend, my sister-in-law asked if I had a good cupcake recipe, so we made my go-to recipe for Ginger Carrot Cupcake paired with Vanilla Cream Cheese Frosting.  The recipe is pretty easy, especially if you have a food processor.  The recipe below is based on Chockylit's recipe but I use a little less sugar and a little extra vanilla.

Makes 30 cupcakes

1 cup pecans
1 pound carrots
3 large eggs
1/2 cup 1% fat buttermilk
1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 3/4 cups sugar
1 cup vegetable oil
1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh ginger
1/4 cup candied ginger (purchased at Trader Joe's)
3 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

1. toast pecans in a 350 degree oven for 5 minutes
2. remove from the oven, let them cool, then chop coursely
3. peel, rinse, then grate carrots coursely
4. in a large bowl, combine carrots, eggs, buttermilk, vanilla, sugar, vegetable oil,
fresh ginger, and candied ginger
5. in another bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon
6. fold flour mixture into the carrot mixture
7. fold in pecans
8. scoop out into cupcake pans
9. bake at 350 degree oven for ~20 minutes or unti cake tester comes out clean
10. cool in pan for 15 minutes, cool on wire rack completely

I made these for my wedding and on several other occasions.  They are soooo good!