Lemon Cupcakes with Meringue Frosting

While I was home, mom and I baked a few different things! We tried s'mores cupcakes, which were..not as good as they sound, in my opinion. I'm not going to blog about them. But I AM going to blog about the best cupcakes on the planet: These lemon cupcakes!

The cupcakes were filled with lemon curd, and then topped with meringue, which we toasted with the kitchen torch that mom got for Christmas. She got one from me and one from dad, and we liked the one he bought more..but still!
Mom asked me to rate these on a scale from 1-10. I gave them a 9/10 at first, and then decided that no, these were a 10/10. The perfect cupcake.

They're lemony without being over-the-top sour. There's also no actual frosting, so it doesn't suffer from too-sweet-frosting syndrome either! The lemon curd in the middle is enough to give the cupcake a little 'pop', while being balanced with the meringue.

Getting torched!

I regret only eating one and a half. She took them to work the next day, and they were gone. Gooone gone gone... I want more now!

We had a hard time finding the lemon curd, but I found it in the grocery store aisle where they have jelly and jam! So if you're looking for it, look there.

Lemon Cupcakes Recipe

• 1 box lemon cake mix
• 1 package instant lemon pudding
• 1 c sour cream
• 3/4 c veggie oil
• 3/4 c water
• 4 eggs
• 1 container lemon curd

Preparation

• Preheat oven to 350
• Mix everything but the lemon curd in an electric mixer on medium for two minutes.
• Fill cupcake liners 2/3 full, and bake 15-18 minutes.
• Cool completely.
• Core cupcakes, and fill with lemon curd. Use the cores of the cupcakes as caps to fill the hole.

Lemon Meringue Recipe

• 8 large egg whites
• 1 tsp cream of tartar
• 1 1/3 c sugar
• 2 tsp lemon juice
• 2 tsp lemon zest
• Pinch of salt

Preparation

• Bring 1-2" of water to boil in a saucepan.
• In a mixing bowl, whisk ingredients well. Place above the boiling water.
• Continue whisking until the mixture is hot to the touch, and sugar is dissolved, around 2-3 minutes.
• Move to stand mixer if available, and using the whisk attachment, beat at next-to-high speed until it holds a soft peak, around five minutes.
• Pipe onto cupcakes, and toast lightly with a kitchen torch if available.

Lemon Poppyseed Cookies

I got another new cookbook! This one is just called The Cookie Bible and it has amaaazing recipes in it. I already marked about a dozen pages that I want to try straight away.
The first recipe I tried is called HUNGARIAN Lemon Poppyseed Cookies. I'm not really sure what makes them Hungarian, but that doesn't really matter, does it?

Whoever tested this recipe didn't record it right though, I don't think. It says to measure them by 'heaping teaspoons', and then says to bake for 11-12 minutes, which overcooked them. It also says that it makes 2 dozen cookies, and it made a little more than 3 dozen for me. So I'm going to adjust the recipe for you! For this recipe, you'll need just one lemon, too.

Maaan, these things are great. I'm taking them to my writing group, but I want to keep them all for myself. But then, I'm addicted to anything lemon, so that's why!

Lemon Poppyseed Cookie Recipe

• 2/3 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 (1 stick) butter, softened
• 1 egg
• 2 tsp grated lemon peel
• 1 1/4 c all-purpose flour
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 tbsp poppyseeds

Preparation

• Preheat oven to 350
• Beat granulated sugar and butter until creamy.
• Beat in egg and lemon peel.
• Combine flour, baking soda, and salt in separate bowl. Add gradually to first mixture.
• Beat in poppyseeds on low speed until fully combined.
• Drop by teaspoon full, 2" apart on a baking sheet-- cookies will spread.
• Bake 7-9 minutes, until edges are lightly browned.
• Let cool 1 minute on sheet before transferring to wire rack to cool completely.

Lemon Glaze Recipe

• 1 c powdered sugar
• 2 tbsp lemon juice

Preparation

• Combine powdered sugar and lemon juice.
• Blend until fully mixed.
• Put into a small zip-loc bag, and cut off a small corner. Drizzle over cooled cookies.

Lemon Cookies

Well, this was a coincidence! I was in the mood for something lemon so I decided to make lemon cookies. When I went to the store to buy the ingredients I needed, a bright yellow sign greeted me: The sign for Alex's Lemonade Stand.

Each year the foundation sets up a stand outside of the grocery store where I work (among other places) and sells cups of lemonade to raise money for childhood cancer. Check out the site!

Back to the topic at hand, I made lemon cookies! They came out much more cakey than I expected them to, but they were still good.

They didn't spread as much as I thought they would, either. I used a tablespoon (measuring spoon) to scoop the dough. After doing this, I suggest flattening them down some, because they do rise a little but they don't spread, so flattening them will make them more even.

Another reason to flatten them: It makes the cookie more round. In the pictures you can tell the difference between the ones I pressed, and the ones that I simply lumped-- they're the ones that came out more jagged. Having them flat adds a little extra to the presentation.

The cookie recipe is from one recipe online, and the icing recipe is from another. Both were found on Cooks.com but I tweaked both of them so much that I couldn't find the originals later!
Lemon Cookie Recipe

• Cookie Recipe
• 1 c. sugar
• 1/2 c. shortening
• 1 egg
• 1/4 c. lemon juice
• 1/2 lemon rind, grated
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 2 1/2 c. flour
• 1/4 c. milk
• Icing Recipe
• 1 c. powdered sugar
• 1 tbsp lemon juice
• 2 tbsp milk (with a little extra on-hand to get the right consistency)

Preparation

• Cream sugar and shortening.
• Add the egg and beat until fluffy.
• Add lemon juice and grated rind, beat together.
• Beat in baking soda and baking powder.
• Mix in the flour, alternating with the milk.
• Chill for 30 minutes.
• Preheat oven to 350°
• Use a tablespoon to scoop the dough (against the side of the bowl to flatten it) and drop onto a cookie sheet. Flatten with your fingers slightly.
• Bake 12-15 minutes. Let cool.
• Blend together the powdered sugar and lemon juice.
• Slowly add milk until you get a proper consistency for icing.
• Drizzle over the cookies.

Proof that I put effort into the display pictures I take. (;

Luscious Lemon Bars

My two favorite things in the baking world are recipes that involve a) cinnamon, and b) lemon.

Since I've used cinnamon lately, I thought I'd switch to lemon!

These are your basic lemon bars-- but I've never made them from scratch before! It's always the stuff that comes in the box, where all you do is add liquid (and maybe an egg) and then bake.

To be honest, these tasted just like the ones out of the box. Unless you have the desire to actually make them from scratch, save the money (and time!) and just use the box.

This was fun! And the whole house smells soooo good! It really only took me about 40 minutes to make this-- and that includes baking and clean-up time. And the house smells SO GOOD! (:

And I've never had a chance to cut and squeeze the juice from a lemon before-- I've really just never had a reason to do so. And I FINALLY got to use the trick that I picked up from Rachael Ray 2-3 years ago: Squeeze the juice out cut-side up to keep the seeds from falling into the mixture!
Lemon Bars Recipe

• 1 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 7 tbsp unsalted butter, chilled and diced
• 1/2 cup powdered sugar
  
• Topping Ingredients
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 lemon -- The finely grated rind, and juice, of
• 1 tbsp all-purpose flour
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• Powdered sugar for topping (which I ALWAYS overdo by accident!)
  

Preparation

• Preheat oven to 350°
• Grease the inside of an 8in square cake pan
• Using a food processor (I used an electric mixer, which was more work) blend the flour, butter, and powdered sugar.
• When it "comes together as a firm dough" press it into the pan, and spread smooth.
• Bake 12-15 minutes, or until lightly golden. Leave in the tin to cool.

Topping Preparation

• Whisk the eggs in a bowl until frothy.
• Add the sugar, a little at a time, and whisk until fully blended.
• Whisk in the lemon rind, lemon juice, flour, and baking soda.
• Pour over the cookie base, and bake for 20-25 minutes, until set and golden.
• Leave to cool in the pan.
• Once slightly cooled, cut into bars (recipe says 12, I made 36 by doing smaller bites) and sprinkle with powdered sugar.