Best ever lemon poppy seed muffins

Put together lemon, poppy seeds and buttermilk. Bake it. Get muffin perfection. All in less than an hour and with only one bowl. What else can you ask for?

Remember that delicious apple walnut bread I made a couple weeks ago? I had some buttermilk left from the recipe and I was certainly not gonna throw it away. Thank goodness Joy had this recipe waiting for me. 

These muffins are soft and moist and tender and crunchy and perfect. The lemon flavor is not overpowering and the poppy seeds add that special something. And once more buttermilk proves to be the secret ingredient that brings this recipe together in greatness. 

Before I give you the recipe though... I have a little announcement! I've just decided to include printable recipes in each post so it's easier for you to print the recipe in a nice format without pictures. I hope you enjoy the new feature! I'll update old recipes with the printable recipe as soon as I can (the two  previous ones already have it).

 

Printable recipe

(adapted from Joy the Baker)

2/3 cup granulated sugar
zest and juice of 1 lemon
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup buttermilk
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 stick butter, melted and cooled
2 tablespoons poppy seeds

Preheat your oven to 350 F

In a bowl beat together the eggs, buttermilk, vanilla extract, butter, sugar and lemon juice. Do not freak out! it will look kind of like it curdled but it's ok, it will come out just fine!

Stir in the flour, baking powder and baking soda and mix with a spatula until combined. Do not overmix. Fold in the poppy seeds.

Note: don't forget the baking soda! the combination of buttermilk (acidic) and baking soda, makes this muffins extra fluffy and tender.

Divide batter into muffin cups. (I used souffle cups, they sort of overflowed but that created nice muffin tops). Bake for about 30 min or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.

Experimental lemon 'mousse' with blueberry sauce

Let's say you're at your beloved friends house... it's Saturday night and you want to make something yummy for dessert... Like this...

Now let's say you love mousse but you don't really feel like using raw eggs... Well then you experiment... and by that I mean you find a suitable substitute for the egg whites. Its name is... jello + whipped cream...

Alright, at this point you're like... what the heck, is this a mousse? really? Well I don't know what it is... it's a fluffy concoction that contains lemon and has a mousse-like texture.  To make it even better... it has a swirl of blueberry sauce... and some fresh strawberries on top... so who cares about labels!

Now the recipe...

For the 'mousse'

1 pint heavy whipping cream
2 tablespoons of lemon jello*
1/2 cup water
Juice of 3 lemons
Zest of 1 lemon
4 tablespoons of sugar

For the blueberry sauce

1 bag of blueberries (about 1 pound)
4 tablespoons of sugar

*The store didn´t have regular jello but you can totally go for that one if you want.


In a bowl, mix the 1/2 water and the 2 tablespoons of jello. Heat it in the microwave for about 1 min and stir to dissolve the jello powder. Add the lemon juice and zest. Let it cool outside or in the fridge. Just make sure it's not warm when you proceed to the following step.

With a hand mixer, whip up the heavy cream half way, then add the sugar. When the peaks are almost stiff add the lemon + jello mixture slowly while mixing. You want the liquid to be cold or at room temperature so it doesn´t deflate the cream. When stiff peaks form, transfer the mix to a pan, bowl or whatever you want and put it in the fridge.

Now if you put it just in the fridge, it'll take about 4 hrs to set (setting time for the jello). If you're in a rush, like I was, stick it in the freezer for about an hour and then transfer to the fridge. It'll be ready in about 2 hrs.

Did you forget about the blueberry sauce? Don't! It's seriously yummy and adds a sweet hint to the tart mousse.

Put the blueberries and the 4 tablespoons of sugar in a pan and cook over low heat until the blueberries burst and look tender. I mashed a few with a masher so they would release the juice, making a syrup. If you'd like a more liquid mixture, reduce the cooking time. For a thicker sauce just let more water evaporate. Put it in a serving jar and cool in the fridge until ready to serve.

And you'll get these beautiful blueberry sauce drops in your mousse...

Experiment #1 = success! Yum!

Citrus calling the spring!

Sick of winter? of rain and snow? yeah, me and Maria, from Remena Nena, are sick of it too. That's why we decided to team up and summon spring from both sides of the Atlantic. And what better way than with a refreshing citrus tart.

Not only that! but we've decided to create 'Tarting international', our own monthly recipe challenge. Basically each month, one of us chooses a recipe and we both bake and blog about it. We will be really really happy to welcome other participants so if you're up for it, just let us know! the more, the merrier.

Now going back to the tart... it looks like this...

And let me tell you, it tastes like heaven, soaked in lemon and orange... with candied fruit on top...
I played a little more with the candied fruit and made chocolate dipped candied oranges... so coming soon there'll be a 'Candied fruit 101'.

The recipe for the tart comes adapted from 64 sq ft kitchen and Butter Sugar Flour

For the crust

1 ½ cups plain flour
½ cup icing sugar*
¼ teaspoon salt
1 stick (recipe called for 125 g) of butter, cubed
1 large egg yolk
1 tablespoon water


 *If you don't have any, grab your regular sugar, the coffee grinder and give it a pulse

In a bowl combine the flour, icing sugar and salt. Add the cubed butter (cold) and work it with your hands until you get tiny pebbles. At first it will look like there's no way the butter is gonna absorb all that flour, but it is, just be patient. Oh and you can use a pastry utensil but I rather use my hands. Once you get the pebbles, add the egg yolk and the tablespoon of water (cold as well). And keep mixing until incorporated. As you mix the dough will come together. Knead it for a bit, I spent about 5 minutes, until it looks smooth and uniform (no orange egg spots). Wrap it in plastic wrap and let it cool in the fridge for 30 min.

Roll the dough and place it in your baking pan. I used a 9 in springform but obviously if you have a tart pan, go for it. Let it rest in the fridge for 30 min.

Preheat your oven to 350 F
Punch holes in the tart with a fork and blind bake (place aluminum foil on top and place some kind of weight, I used black beans)  for 15 min at 350 F or until the edges begin to brown. Don't wait until it's totally brown since you're gonna bake again once you have the filling.

Filling

3 1/2 ounces of butter, diced
7 ounces granulated sugar
1 orange
3 medium lemons
5 eggs

Turn oven to 375 F
Zest a lemon and an orange and set aside. Beat together butter and sugar. Add the zest and combine until smooth. Juice the three lemons and add the juice to the batter. Beat in the eggs one at a time. My batter looked crumbly on top. Bake for 30 to 40 min, until the tart looks set. The center will still be giggly. The top should look slightly caramelized. Let cool completely and then transfer to the fridge.
Serve cold. Before serving, if desired, place candied fruits on top.

The tricks on how to get this beautiful candied fruit, coming up soon!

If life gives you lemons, bake with them!

I'm all into lemony stuff recently... I really wanted to learn how to make whoopie pies and new year's eve was the perfect excuse... but my list of lemon desire included lemon poundcake, which wento to one of my labmates.

Lemon whoopie pies

Maybe not on the beautiful side but definitely on the tasty one...

For the pies:

1 1/2 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup sugar
1 tablespoon lemon zest, finely grated

1 egg

1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup milk

For the filling:

Half a package cream cheese (4 ounces)

1 1/2 cup powdered sugar

Juice of a lemon

Note: I added also a tablespoon of concentrated lemon juice (the store bought one). The amount of lemon and sugar is totally relative to how much you like to taste both the cream cheese and the lemon. Adjust to taste.

Preheat oven to 350F

Beat together sugar and butter until fluffly. Beat in the egg, vanilla and lemon zest. Add the milk and mix well. Stir in the flour, baking powder and baking soda. Mix until all the flour is incorporated. Do not overmix.

Place tablespoons of dough into a greased pan and bake for about 10 min, until golden on the edges.

To make the filling beat together the cream cheese (better if softened at room temperature), sugar and lemon juice. Place by tablespoons or with a piping bag on one pie and cover with another pie. If the filling is too liquid, harden by refrigerating for half an hour.

Lemon poundcake

1 1/2 sticks butter

1 1/2 cups granulated sugar

1 1/2 cups flour

Zest from 1 lemon

3 large eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 tablespoons cream cheese

Preheat oven to 325 F

Cream butter and sugar together. Stir in the lemon zest. Add the eggs one by one and the vanilla extract and keep mixing. Mix in the cream cheese until smooth. Add the flour. Place dough into a greased loaf pan.

Bake for 1 hr and 15 min. Or until a toothpick comes out clean.