Fiori di Sicilia Buttermilk Pound Cake

This is no doubt the best pound cake I’ve ever made. Soft and fluffy, but still a perfect pound cake. The glaze just makes it perfection. P.S. Fiori di Sicilia is a extract flavored with a combination of citrus and vanilla.

Ingredients: Buttermilk Pound Cake

1 and 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature

1 cup granulated sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 teaspoon Fiori de Sicilia

2 large eggs, room temperature

1/2 cup buttermilk

Glaze

1 cup powdered sugar

5 tablespoons heavy cream

1/2 teaspoon fiori de sicilia

Recipe: Buttermilk Pound Cake

Preheat oven to 350F and grease a 9×9 loaf pan.

In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt.

In another bowl, beat the butter until pale; add in the sugar until light and fluffy.

Beat in the extracts and eggs, one at a time.

Slowly add the dry mixture to the wet batter until almost completely combined.

Mix in the buttermilk.

Bake for 45 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Glaze

Mix all ingredients together until smooth. Pour on warm cake.

Enjoy!

Advertisement

Lemon Chocolate Chip Meltaway Cookies

These are practically the definition of a summer cookie. Small round lemon cookies dotted with chocolate chips and a double coat of powdered sugar. Yum. I guess they could be called a lot of things, snowball cookies, tea cakes, but I decided to call them meltaways. They do truly melt in your mouth. They’d go perfectly with a cup of tea 🙂

Ingredients: Cookies (adapted from here) *Makes 25-30 cookies

1 cup unsalted butter, softened

1/2 cup powdered sugar

1 tablespoon lemon zest

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 and 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup chocolate chips

Recipe: Cookies

Cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.

Mix in vanilla extract and lemon zest.

Mix in flour and salt.

Mix in chocolate chips.

Chill for 15 minutes, then roll into 1 inch balls and place on un-greased cookie sheets.

Bake for 10-12 minutes. While still warm, roll the cookies in powdered sugar. When cool, roll the cookies in powdered sugar again.

Enjoy!

Three Citrus Cupcakes

So, why are these called three citrus cupcakes? Simple because they have three different citrus fruits, lemon, lime, and orange. The cupcake itself is lemon-lime and the buttercream is orange. They’re so, so good and perfect for spring!

Ingredients: Cupcakes

1/4 cup milk (I used whole)

1/4 cup buttermilk

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 large eggs, room temperature

1 and 1/2 cups cake flour, sifted

3/4 cup granulated sugar

1 and 1/4 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

8 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened

3 tablespoons lime zest

3 tablespoons lemon zest

Orange Frosting

1 and 1/2 sticks butter, softened

3 cups powdered sugar

2 tablespoons orange zest

2 tablespoons fresh orange juice

(for an extra strong orange flavor add 1/4 teaspoon orange extract)

Recipe: Cupcakes

Preheat oven to 350F. Line one cupcake tin with wrappers.

In a medium bowl lightly combine 2 tablespoons milk, 2 tablespoons buttermilk, the eggs, and vanilla.

In a large mixing bowl combine the dry ingredients, including lemon and lime zest, mix on low speed for 30 seconds to blend. Add the butter and rest of milk and buttermilk. Mix on low speed until all ingredients are the same texture and combined. Increase to medium-high speed and beat for 1 and 1/2 minutes to develop the cake’s structure. Scrape down the sides of the bowl.

Gradually add the egg mixture in 3 batches, beating for 20 seconds after each addition to incorporate the ingredients and strengthen the structure.

Put about an ice cream scoop’s worth of batter into each cupcake tin. Bake for 15-20 minutes or until a toothpick comes out with dry crumbs on it.

Orange Frosting

Beat butter until it turns a pale ivory color and is very fluffy. Mix in powdered sugar.

Add orange juice and orange zest. Beat until fluffy.

Pipe or frost onto cupcakes.

Enjoy!

 

 

Lemon-Lime Crinkle Cookies

I know I say this a lot, but these cookies are amazing! Soft, slightly chewy lemon-lime cookies coated in powdered sugar. So good. There’s a lot of zest in this recipe which makes this cookies pop with bright lemon-lime flavor.

Ingredient: Cookies (adapted from here) Makes 15

1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature

1 cup granulated sugar

1 egg, room temperature

1/2 tablespoon lemon juice

1/2 tablespoon lime juice

1/2 tablespoon lemon zest

1/2 tablespoon lime zest

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon baking powder

1/8 teaspoon baking soda

1 and 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1/3 cup powdered sugar, sifted and reserved

Recipe: Cookies

Line the baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.

In a large mixing bowl cream the butter and sugar together with a hand-held mixer until light and fluffy.

Add the egg, lemon juice, lime juice, lemon zest, lime zest and vanilla; beat until well combined. Scrape sides of the bowl, and mix for an additional 30 seconds.

Add the dry ingredients to the bowl and stir with a large spoon until until combined.

Refrigerate dough, in bowl, for 1 hour.

Place powdered sugar in a bowl.

Preheat oven to 350F.

Portion cookies about the size of an ice cream scoop and roll into a ball. Roll in the powdered sugar and place on the baking sheet.

Refrigerate again, but only for 5 minutes.

Bake for 10-12 minutes or until bottoms begin to lightly brown.

Optional: while still warm, sprinkle powdered sugar through a sieve onto cookies.

Enjoy!

 

 

 

Lemon Meringue Whoopie Pies

I love lemon meringue pie and I love whoopie pies, so it wasn’t going to take me long before I put two and two together and BOOM lemon meringue whoopie pies. I love meringue, really. It’s just so….fluffy and paired with soft lemon whoopie pie and bright lemon curd. Delicious.

Ingredients: Whoopie Pies from Sweet Pea’s Kitchen

1 and 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

6 tablespoons (3/4 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature

1 cup granulated sugar

1 teaspoon lemon zest

1 tablespoon lemon juice

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 cup buttermilk

Lemon Curd from CHOW: Christine Gallary

4 large egg yolks

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1/4 cup lemon zest (5-6 lemons)

1/3 cup lemon juice (3-4 lemons)

1/8 teaspoon salt

6 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into 6 pieces

Meringue

6 tablespoons granulated sugar

4 egg whites

Recipe: Lemon Curd (Make this 3 hours ahead)

Fill a medium saucepan with 1-2 inches of water. Bring it to a simmer over high heat, then reduce it to low and continue letting it simmer.

Place all the ingredients BUT butter in a large heatproof bowl and whisk continuously for 10-15 minutes until the mixture thickens and it forms ribbons when you lift your whisk from the bowl. Make sure the water does not bowl if it does reduce the heat. Remove the bowl from the simmering water and whisk in each piece of butter separately, mix each one in when the previous one is melted.

Set a mesh strainer over a large bowl. Strain the lemon curd through, pressing on it with the back of a spoon. Scrape off the bottom of the strainer. Cover the lemon curd with plastic wrap. The plastic wrap should be touching the curd as to prevent a skin. Refrigerate for 3 hours. Can be refrigerated for up to 5 days.

Whoopie Pies

Preheat oven to 350F. In a bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.

In another bowl cream together the sugar, butter, and lemon zest for about 3 minutes or until smooth. Add in egg, lemon juice, and vanilla mixing on low until just blended.

Still on slow, mix in half the flour. Add the buttermilk and then add the rest of the flour mixture.

Parchment paper the pans. Drop heaping tablespoons of batter on them, three inches apart. Bake for 10 minutes or until a toothpick comes out with no crumbs. Cool on pans for 10 minutes and then for another 10 minutes on a wire rake.

Meringue

In a glass or metal bowl whip egg whites until foamy. Slowly mix in sugar and continue to whip until stiff peaks form.

Smooth lemon curd over one cookie. Add a dollop of meringue and place another cookie on top.

 

 

 

Mini Lemon Bundt Cakes

So I got a mini bundt pan, I’ve been wanting to get one forever. I couldn’t decide what to make with it so I just went with the recipe which came with it “Lemon Anniversary Cakelets”  the recipe came from NordicWare (my pan if that’s not clear). It is a light, fluffy, lemon cake with a sweet beautiful lemon glaze. And I love the word cakelets so…

Ingredients: Cake

1/2 cup butter, softened  (one stick)

1 and 1/4 cups granulated white sugar

2 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 tablespoons lemon juice

1 tsp lemon zest

1/2 cup plain yogurt (I used Wegmans whole milk yogurt)

1/2 cup buttermilk (I used low fat as I couldn’t find any other kind)

2 cups cake flour

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

Glaze

1/4 cup lemon juice

1 and 1/2 cups sugar (I used granulated)

2 tablespoons corn syrup (I used light)

Recipe:

Preheat oven to 350F In a medium-large bowl, blend butter and sugar on medium speed for 2 minutes or until light and fluffy. Add eggs, vanilla, lemon zest, and lemon juice. When those are combined add the flour, baking soda, salt, yogurt, and buttermilk. Blend on low speed for 1 minute. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and then mix on medium speed until well blended.

Grease and flour the pan. (This was very hard for me- grease and flour well) Divide the batter evenly among cavities, filling 3/4 of the cups. You will probably have extra. Bake for 20-25 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool for ten minutes in pan and then invert onto wire rack and let cool for 15 minutes. While you’re waiting for the cakes to cool prepare the glaze: In a (small) saucepan, combine all glaze ingredients. Stir constantly over low heat until sugar dissolves. It should take about 5-10 minutes. Let cool for 2-3 minutes and spoon over cakelets.