Lemon Snowdrops

It may sound odd, but sometimes I forget that other people eat carbs. Living in L.A., I have become accustomed to folks turning down my baked goods because they just don't eat sugar, wheat, or any sort of refined carbs - not that this stops me from baking what I like!

I made these cookies after exploring sophistimom's lovely blog, and took them to my class at UCLA to give as prizes for a bingo game we played to review for the midterm (I mean, even I can't eat carbs ALL the time). The undergrads GOBBLED them up. And the few that were left were devoured by other grad students. Hmm, on second thought, maybe this carb-eating phenomenon is more a feature of the starving student lifestyle than a typical characteristic of the surrounding population...in any case, I was glad these cookies were enjoyed.

Personally, I enjoyed the buttery, sharply lemony goodness immensely - even in the uncooked dough, since there are no eggs in it! If you like lemon, and chewy cookies, you are going to LOVE these simple goodies.


Chewy Lemon Snowdrops

from Sophistimom

1 3/4 C flour

pinch salt

8 T (1 stick) unsalted butter

zest of 2 lemons

2/3 C sugar

1/4 C agave nectar or honey

1 tsp baking soda

2 T lemon juice

about 1 C powdered sugar, for coating

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

Whisk together flour and salt in a mixing bowl, and set aside.

In an electric mixer with a paddle attachment, cream together butter, lemon zest, sugar, and agave/honey. Beat until very smooth, about 3 minutes, then scrape down the sides.

In a small cup or bowl, combine the lemon juice and baking soda. With the mixer on low, add the lemon juice mixture and flour mixture. Scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber scraper and stir by hand a few times to make sure everything is incorporated.

Roll the dough into balls about one inch in diameter. Bake for 10-15 minutes (less for chewier cookies). Let cool for a few minutes on baking sheets, then roll each cookie in a bowl of powdered sugar to coat before they finish cooling.

Lemon Olive Oil Cake

Since I'm currently sharing an apartment in Berlin with six other people who frequently share food with each other, I've been trying to contribute baked goods to the kitchen from time to time. For Europeans, I like to bake simple desserts that aren't too sweet, which could serve as dessert, breakfast, or snack with tea or coffee. I started out with an almond cake, which went over well (and, incidentally, is gluten-free and incredibly easy), and then decided to work out a lemon cake. Lemon and olive oil being a proven flavor combination, I thought it would be nice to have an even quicker alternative to my lemon olive oil cupcakes.

I adapted this recipe from a French vanilla cake recipe; it's a simple, lightly sweet, and moist cake, with a touch of lemon to make it fresh. I replaced about a third of the melted butter with olive oil, added lemon zest and juice, and poured over some lemon glaze for a finishing touch. It formed a nicely browned crust in the metal loaf pan I used, so I'd highly recommend a metal pan if possible!

Lemon Olive Oil Cake

(so sorry, I don't have access to American measuring equipment here, so grams will have to do for now; use Chocolate and Zucchini's conversion page if necessary)

3 eggs

170 g sugar

zest of one lemon

160 g flour

1/2 T baking soda (about 1/2 European packet)

125 g butter

1/3 C olive oil

juice of 1/2 lemon

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F/180 degrees C. Butter and flour a large loaf pan (i.e., rub butter along the sides and bottom of the pan, then pour about 1 T flour into the pan and shake it around to lightly coat each buttered surface, shaking the excess flour out into the sink or trash can).

In a mixing bowl, whisk together the eggs, sugar, and lemon zest until it becomes frothy and lightens in color. Pour in the flour and the baking soda and whisk it into the mixture as you pour.

Melt the butter in a small bowl, add the olive oil and the juice of half a lemon, and then stir the liquids into the rest of the mixture. Pour the entire mixture into the prepared loaf pan. Bake for 35-40 minutes; it's done when a knife or toothpick comes out clean.

Let cool.

Lemon Glaze

juice of 1 lemon

100-150 g powdered sugar

Place the juice in a small bowl. Stir in enough powdered sugar to thicken and sweeten the juice (it will still be a little runny, but the consistency is not super sensitive). Once the cake has cooled at least a bit, pour the glaze over the cake. Let it solidify, then serve!

Lemon Cornmeal Pancakes (Gluten-Free)

A generous friend recently gave me a whole box of gluten-free baking ingredients; while I am not gluten-free, baking alternatives always interest me. I feel like I've developed a sense of the necessary components of baked goods with gluten, so I've been reading gluten-free recipes for a while to get an idea of how they work. Most of the time, I am not excited enough about a recipe to buy the different flours, starches, and gums required of gluten-free baking, so I never have the exact ingredients necessary.

Now that I DO have the ingredients, however, the experimentation has begun. I read a bit of the theory on Gluten-Free Girl's blog, and explored recipes on websites including King Arthur Flour, which sells quality ingredients and has nice recipes. On the King Arthur site, this recipe for Lemon Cornmeal Pancakes caught my eye because they just sound bright and cheery - and that's exactly how they turned out! Lemon zest really is a magical ingredient, and is a happy complement to the slightly crunchy cornmeal.

The original recipe calls for potato starch, which I didn't have, so I subbed in tapioca flour/starch (understanding from Gluten-Free Girl that different starches generally serve the same chemical role in a given baked good). I used the melted butter option, since I love butter, but it may be made dairy-free as well by using olive or canola oil instead of butter, and almond or soy milk instead of the milk. I always enjoy the flavor combination of olive oil and lemon, but if olive oil disagrees with you or is too strong a flavor for you, canola may be a better choice. I did end up adding an extra tablespoon of milk to thin out the batter, and they turned out well.

These pancakes are an easy foray into the world of gluten-free goods because they use ingredients that are naturally gluten-free but not that hard to find, and the process of making them is not difficult. Cornmeal is used in Johnnycakes, so it is a time-tested pancake option, producing nice texture and mild flavor. I'm pretty sure my guest did not realize these were gluten-free, so that says something, right?

I'll be working on some whole grain gluten-free muffins later this week, so stay tuned!

Lemon Cornmeal Pancakes

In a mixing bowl, whisk together:

1/2 C potato starch or tapioca flour/starch

3/4 C cornmeal (whole grain or regular)

3 T sugar

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

3/8 tsp xanthan gum

In a separate bowl or measuring cup, beat together:

2 large eggs

3 T melted butter or vegetable oil

3/4 C milk

2 T grated lemon zest or 1/2 tsp lemon oil (I used the zest of two lemons)

Whisk the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients. The batter should be thinner than normal pancake batter, so if it's not add another tablespoon or two of milk to the batter.

Preheat a pan or griddle to medium-high heat; if you have an electric griddle set it to 350 degrees. Grease the pan or griddle.

Pour about 2 T of batter per pancake into the pan. Cook each pancake for 1-2 minutes, until the top is bubbly and the edges are dry, and then flip and cook for another minute or so on the other side.

Serve hot with maple syrup, agave syrup, berries, whatever suits your fancy.

Coconut Milk Ice Cream: Blackberry Lemon

So, the good news is that I've found a great coconut milk-based ice cream recipe that's easy to make, experiment with, and render low-fat. The other good news is that you will want to sit down and eat it all at once, which could make this bad news for some of you.

It all started when I was forwarded this link to the best vegan ice cream recipes out there. I don't normally keep ice cream in the freezer, since I'm lactose intolerant, so this vegan ice cream thing is tempting me into a life of constant freezer goodness.

I first made the Caramel-Cinnamon Ice Cream with Black Gingerbread Chunks in a version that involved homemade spiced marshmallows, fleur de sel caramel sauce, Vietnamese cinnamon, dark chocolate chunks, and toasted pecans. I meant it to be a spicy caramely version of Rocky Road, but I'm really at a loss for what to call it. Whatever it was, it was tasty, and the homemade marshmallows really turned into wonderful chewiness in the frozen dessert.

I successfully substituted so many ingredients from the original recipe that I knew I could mess with it even more. This time I wouldn't make the mistake of adding more than a cup of mix-ins, since that made for super chunky ice cream, but I would replace the caramel sauce with blackberry jam and lemon curd, the cinnamon with a touch of ginger, add a bit of agave to sweeten it, and swirl in a ribbon of berry syrup.

The ice cream itself ended up incredibly creamy; next time I would probably leave out the berry syrup and just add it as a topping, since the water content of the uncooked berries froze very hard - or I would make the syrup break the berries down more before swirling it in to the ice cream. The lemon curd really made this flavor, so don't back away if berries and lemon sound strange to you.

Here's my take on this super easy, fabulously adaptable recipe:

Blackberry Lemon Coconut Ice Cream

1 C light coconut milk

2 C lactose-free, vanilla soy, or coconut creamer

1/4 C no sugar added seedless blackberry jam (strain to remove seeds)

1/4 C lemon curd (I love TJ's)

3 T agave syrup

1/4 tsp ground ginger

pinch salt

2 T corn starch

2 tsp vanilla extract

Combine the coconut milk and creamer in a medium sauce pan, along with the jam, lemon curd, agave, ginger, salt, and corn starch. Whisk vigorously to combine and beat out any lumps. Turn on the heat to medium, and whisk occasionally until it just comes up to a boil and has thickened significantly. Cool completely and add the vanilla. Chill thoroughly in the refrigerator. Before churning the ice cream, prepare any add-ins (berry syrup, chocolate chunks, etc.). Once the ice cream base is chilled, churn in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer’s instructions (mine took 20 minutes total), adding any add-in in the last 5 minutes of churning. Transfer to an air-tight container, and freeze solidly for at least 4 hours before serving.

Blackberry Syrup

1/3 C water

3 T agave syrup

1/4 tsp lemon zest

12 oz. blackberries

Combine ingredients in a medium saucepan over medium heat, and simmer for 8 minutes. Watch to make sure it doesn't boil over, stirring from time to time. After the 8 minutes, remove from heat. Optional: add up to 2 tsp liquor (brandy, framboise, etc.) and another 12 oz. of berries to add texture to the syrup. Let cool before mixing into the ice cream, or serve warm/room temperature as a topping on the finished ice cream.

How to adapt this recipe:

• Replace the liquid sweeteners (jam, lemon curd, agave) with up to a total of 1 C of another liquid sweetener (the caramel Rocky Road version had 1 C of fleur de sel caramel sauce from Trader Joe's).
• Replace the ground spice (ginger) with up to 1 tsp of another ground spice (the original had 1 tsp of cinnamon). Take care to not overwhelm the flavor you're trying to achieve - start with 1/4 tsp, taste, add more if you prefer.
• Add up to 1 C of chunky/chewy add-ins: marshmallows, chocolate chunks, nuts, berries, cookies, cake crumbs, etc. Adding more than 1 C will mean you are chewing your ice cream rather than licking it.

Lemon Olive Oil Cupcakes

Being outside of the U.S. for more than a month now has brought up a number of food cravings for me; I expected to miss authentic Asian food, and while I am in Israel, pork, but lately the American blogs I've been reading have been featuring gorgeous cupcakes that I can't get out of my mind. I find myself desiring a cute, fluffy, frosting-laden cupcake.

Fortunately, there is something I can do about this - especially since I usually prefer my own cupcakes to anything from a professional bakery. Sometimes I think it's good to know how to cook for the sake of knowing how to satisfy one's food cravings in one's own kitchen, but on the other hand I think that the more foods I try, the more cravings I develop. At least the two go hand in hand! This time a longing for cupcakes coincided with a craving for lemon-flavored dessert, and I am completely pleased with the result.

Some of you will be glad to know that this is a vegan cake recipe; others of you will be dubious, but if you've tried this red velvet cake recipe you'll know that vegan baking can make a successful cake. In fact, I find this recipe formula to be much more consistent in providing good texture than almost any scratch cake recipe I've tried, and it is easy! Because the only somewhat perishable item in the recipe is soy milk (well, and the lemons too, but I keep lemon zest and juice in the freezer all the time), you can easily make these out of the normal contents of your kitchen.

And is it horrible that I think that one of the great benefits of vegan baking is the fact that you can eat as much of the batter as you want without worrying about raw eggs? Because I guarantee that you will want to have more than one lick of this batter.

The olive oil is not a strong flavor, but it is a nice compliment to the lemon (much more than it is to chocolate in my opinion!).

Your cupcakes will look much cuter than mine since I had to make do without a proper cupcake pan; some of mine ended up more deformed than others, but they were still much enjoyed. Like I've said before, every recipe I've tried in Israel has had to be adapted, but the changes always add character, and sometimes even improve the result.

Lemon Olive Oil Cupcakes (Vegan)
loosely based on this red velvet cupcake recipe

1 C soy milk
1 tsp apple cider vinegar
1 1/4 C all-purpose flour
1 C sugar
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/3 C olive oil
4 tsp lemon juice
1/2 T lemon zest (zest of one medium lemon)
1 tsp vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350° F/180°C.
Add vinegar to soy milk, and set aside to curdle.
Sift flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a large bowl.
Add olive oil, lemon juice, lemon zest, and vanilla extract to the curdled soy milk, and whisk together.
Pour liquid ingredients into the dry ingredients, and mix until just incorporated.
Fill cupcake liners ¾ full; makes about 12 full-size cupcakes and 45 teeny mini cupcakes.
Bake for 20 minutes for full-size cupcakes, 16 minutes for mini cupcakes, or until a toothpick comes clean.


Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting

4 oz cream cheese
4 oz butter (room temperature)
2 tsp lemon juice
1/2 T lemon zest (zest of one lemon, with a bit set aside for garnish)
2 1/3 C (300 g) powdered sugar

Cream together cream cheese, butter, lemon juice, and lemon zest. Add the powdered sugar 1/2 C at a time until well incorporated. Beat until fluffy, then top cooled cupcakes.

See the red velvet cupcake recipe for a vegan frosting option (it actually tastes pretty good). I also think this would be excellent with a mascarpone frosting that has lemon zest and a little juice added.

I garnished them with a mixture of lemon zest, granulated sugar, and a dash of salt.

Lemon White Chocolate Cupcakes

A few weeks ago, I made 36 cupcakes for an event, only to have a mere 6 cupcakes consumed at the event. Needless to say, I ended up eating more of these Lemon White Chocolate affairs than necessary, since boxes of cupcakes on the counter are difficult to avoid (darn you, clear plastic containers!).

The whole thing made me doubt my decorating choice, as an unknowing guest at the event said to me, "What's the deal with that cupcake icing?" I told her crisply that I had made the cupcakes, and thought it would be fun to squirt the frosting on them like funnel cakes. I don't think I'll continue to be in touch with that particular fellow guest.

Even after this cut to my confidence, I can't deny that the cupcakes themselves taste fabulous. After forcing my relatives to eat the leftovers (one of whom was licking her plate), I received an order for these cupcakes for a non-profit fundraiser. Take that, guests who didn't eat my cupcakes! Your loss.

Really, these are very nice, and follow my preferred principle of doctoring boxed cake mixes. The result is very light, very moist cake, poignantly lemony, and ever so slightly white chocolaty. It makes a beautiful layer cake, or 24 cupcakes (which you may decorate any way you like!). You can even eliminate the white chocolate if you just want a lemon cake, or replace the cream cheese frosting with buttercream. Trader Joe's has fabulous lemon curd and decent white chocolate chips.

Lemon White Chocolate Cake

6 oz white chocolate chips
1 box white cake mix (use butter cake mix for a richer cake)
2/3 C water
1/3 C oil
3 large eggs
2 large egg whites
2 T fresh lemon juice
1 tsp lemon zest
1/2 C store-bought lemon curd (half of a 10 oz jar)

Grease and line 2 nine inch pans or line 24 cupcake molds. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Melt white chocolate in glass bowl in microwave for one minute on high. Stir with rubber scrapper until melted and smooth.

Place mix, water, oil, eggs, egg whites, lemon juice, and zest into large mixing bowl. Pour in slightly cooled white chocolate. Blend with electric mixer 1 minute . Scrape bowl and mix for 2 minutes at medium speed. Divide batter into the two pans or cupcake tins. Bake until golden brown and it springs back when lightly pressed with your finger, about 28-32 minutes. Cool on wire racks and then remove from pans to cool on racks until completely cool.

Spread lemon curd between layers or on top of each cupcake. Frost with buttercream frosting (add 1 T lemon juice and 1 tsp zest for more lemony flavor) or Lemony White Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting.

Lemony White Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting

6 oz white chocolate chips
8 oz cream cheese, room temperature
4 T (1/2 cube) butter, room temperature
1 T fresh lemon juice
1 tsp lemon zest
3 C powdered sugar, sifted

Melt white chocolate in microwave on High for 1 minute. Stir with rubber scraper until melted and smooth.

Beat cream cheese and butter until well combined using electric mixer on low for about 30 seconds. Add lemon juice and zest and melted chocolate, beat on low just until combined, about 30 seconds. Add powdered sugar and blend on low until incorporated. Increase speed to medium and beat until fluffy, 1 more minute.

Salted Lemon Butter cookies

I've found another sweet-salty dessert that I love! This is what the French call a sablé, a light, crisp butter cookie - just the right size to pop in your mouth. Not too sweet, tanged with lemon juice and zest, with little salt surprises throughout (trust me, you don't want to skip the salt in this recipe). And you get to rub the butter into the dough with your fingers! You need to freeze the dough before baking them, and the glaze takes a little time to set on the cooled cookies, so plan ahead. It's recipes like this that motivate me to keep lemon zest and juice in the freezer at all times...so glad I know people with Meyer lemon trees!

Salted Lemon Butter Cookies
Sablés au Citron, from the Chocolate and Zucchini Cookbook

1 lemon
1 C 2 T flour
1/3 C sugar
1 tsp fleur de sel or kosher salt (Coarse Sea Salt from Trader Joe's is great)
7 T (3 1/2 oz.) chilled unsalted butter, diced
1 large egg yolk
1/2 C powdered sugar

1. Grate the lemon to yield 1 T of finely chopped lemon zest. Reserve half of the lemon for the glaze.

2. In a large mixing bowl, combine the flour, sugar, salt, and lemon zest. Add the butter and rub it into the dry ingredients with the tips of your fingers or use a wire pastry blender. Add the egg yolk, stir with a fork until blended, and knead the dough until it comes together and forms a ball. If the dough is too dry, add a little ice-cold water, a teaspoon at a time, and knead again. If it is too sticky, add 1 T flour.

3. Divide the dough in two and roll each half into a log, about 1 inch in diameter. Wrap each log in plastic and put in the freezer for 30 minutes.

4. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Remove one log of dough from the freezer, unwrap, and slice in 1/4 inch rounds with a sharp serrated knife, rotating the log by a quarter of a turn after each slice so it keeps a rounded shape. Transfer onto the baking sheet, leaving 1/2 inch margin between them. Repeat with the second log.

5. Bake for 12 minutes, until lightly golden at the edges. Transfer to a rack and let cool completely before glazing, about an hour.

6. Squeeze the half lemon to get 1 1/2 T lemon juice. Put the powdered sugar in a bowl, add the lemon juice, and whisk until smooth and syrupy. Use a pastry brush or the back of a teaspoon to glaze the cookies. Let stand until the glaze is set, about an hour. The cookies will keep for up to a week at room temperature in an airtight container. The dough can also be frozen for up to a month.