Lemon Ricotta Cookies

I saw this recipe on an episode of Everyday Italian years ago.  I was intrigued because I love lemon desserts and cheese, but didn’t get around to making it until last week when I had a container of ricotta in my fridge that needed to be used up.  These cookies aren’t the best looking thing I’ve ever made and I originally hadn’t planned on putting them up on the blog because I think they appear a bit sickly, but the positive reaction from my coworkers made me realize the recipe is a real gem.

These cookies have the texture of a little cake.  They are only subtly sweet and would be perfect with a cup of tea.  They would be a nice addition to a holiday cookie platter, since the tang of the lemon would provide a nice balance to many of the richer holiday treats. Read the rest of this entry »

Blueberry Lemon Scones

In honor of the upcoming Royal Wedding today’s topic is SCONES. My mother is a huge fan of them and often has one with her tea. (which makes us 1/8 English right? perhaps an invitation to the wedding eh Kate?) I was out visiting them one weekend and up early doing my usual pantry/frigeadaire raid when I spotted frozen blueberries, what’s a girl to do? Ideas flew through my head, blueberry muffins, blueberry pancakes, blueberry crumb cake. I did some’ google-ing’ and Baking Bites popped up with this recipe for Lemon Blueberry Scones. I figured this would be easy enough to prepare before my mother woke up Saturday morning. What better gift is there than waking up to the smell of freshly baked buttery scones! Sure to nudge my brother out of the favored child slot even if just for a few hours.

This recipe brings us back to my love of zesting. A microplane or zester is one simple tool even the novice baker can use to add pizazz to a confection. I bought one for my parents and they now regularly make blueberry pancakes w/added lemon zest — you CAN teach an old dog new tricks! If you’ve never had a scone you may be surprised. Scones are NOT supposed to be overly sweet. You’ll notice these call for a scant 1/4 cup of sugar in them which for most baked goods is an extremely small amount. A scone is more of a dry biscuit-y bread to be eaten with tea or clotted cream, perhaps while watching the BBC or perusing Great Expectations. This is no doughnut or cinnamon bun; scones are serious, proper, tight lipped and British! Don’t try giggling around a scone, they would not stand for it. Read the rest of this entry »

Lemon Lime Pound Cake

This year I received many wonderful birthday presents.  A bike charm necklace, a muffin pan charm necklace, an old fashioned bike print, a daily planner decorated with bikes, miniature whisks, salted caramels… my friends and family know me well.  As wonderful as all of my gifts were, a cake pan with a bike imprint really topped them all.  It’s the perfect combination of my two favorite things: biking and baking.

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Ooey Gooey Lemon Bars

It’s been rainy and dreary here in New York.  I know I shouldn’t complain since we haven’t had any rain all summer, but it’s still disappointing when you have three days off from work and were hoping to go to a water park.  The upside is that baking is much more pleasant when it’s 70º instead of 90º degrees.  And what better way to brighten a cloudy day than lemon bars.  These bars are both very tart and very sweet, and the vibrant yellow color brings some cheer to a damp day. Read the rest of this entry »

Pink Lemonade Whoopie Pies

This past weekend was Pat’s grandfather’s 85th birthday.  I was very excited when I found out it was a pot luck.  I love sharing food with new people.  Pat suggested I make these chocolate caramel slices.  Pat suggests these bars for almost every occasion, but with good reason – they’re delicious, rich, and always a crowd pleaser.

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Lemon Baby Bundts

This was supposed to be a post about how valuable it is to have some standard recipes that you can make in a variety of ways.  In this case the recipe is Ina Garten’s Lemon Cake.  I have made this recipe as two loaves, as a three layer birthday cake, and as cupcakes for a friends wedding.  On Sunday I decided to make this recipe in my brand new baby bundt pan.  And you know what?  It didn’t come out that great.  And as soon as I tasted the cakes and realized they had a sort of chewy texture and I remembered this had actually happened before when I made this recipe as cupcakes.

I’m still not entirely sure what the problem is.  It  could be that this cake doesn’t work well in miniature form.   Or that I happen to like cake on the dryer side and this one is possibly TOO moist when you brush it with the simple syrup.  Or maybe it’s that I keep thinking it’s a pound cake recipe and am reminded when I go to make it that it’s not pound cake, and isn’t advertised as such.

The cake recipe in two previous incarnations.

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