Boo hoo!!! I’m crying because I used the rest of my lemons on this cake. I can see more on Eileen’s tree next door. Just need to pull some pantyhose over my head tonight, drug her dog “Amanda Barks-A-Lot,” sneak on over there & help myself… That or ask her for some.

You probably have most of these ingredients:

You might not have lemon curd but can buy it pre-made at most grocery stores:

Lemon curd (click photo for recipe)

INGREDIENTS:
Crumb Topping
1-1/2 c all-purpose flour
2/3 c sugar
1 TBSP lemon zest
1 TBSP orange zest
1/8 tsp salt
1/2 c cold butter, cut into pieces

Cake Batter
1/2 c butter, softened
1-1/2 c sugar, divided
3 eggs, separated
1-1/2 c flour
1/8 tsp baking soda
1/2 c plain Greek yogurt
1 TBSP lemon zest
3/4 c lemon curd
1/4 c powdered sugar

Preheat oven to 350.

Make the crumb topping first. It’s easy. Combine flour, sugar, lemon & orange zest and salt. Add butter & cut into flour mixture with a pastry cutter.

Voila!

Cover & chill in refrigerator.

Now make the batter:

Beat the butter until creamy.

Then add 1-1/4 c of the sugar and beat for about 3 minutes. You want it fluffy. Add egg yolks.

The original recipe says to add them one at a time but I added them all at once because I have 2 small children who get all up in my business when I’m trying to cook.

(And here I thought I was being fancy by having them separated at ALL.)

Beat just until they’re incorporated.

In another bowl, whisk together flour & baking soda.

Just this leetle teeny tiny amount of baking soda makes a big difference!

Add about 1/3rd of it to butter mixture, then add 1/2 the yogurt,

then another 1/3rd of the flour mixture, then the rest of the yogurt and finally the last 1/3 of the flour.

Finally, stir in the zest. Be careful not to over mix this.

In another bowl – beat the egg whites at a high speed until foamy. Then add the last 1/4th cup of sugar, a little at a time, until stiff peaks form.

Fold whites into the batter. Pour batter into a greased & floured 9×9″ square pan.

Drop dollops of lemon curd on top of batter.

Swirl curd into the batter with a knife.

Sprinkle crumb mixture on top & pop into the oven for 45-50 minutes.

I definitely needed to bake mine for 50. Original recipe says stick a toothpick in to see if it comes out clean BUT it might not b/c of the curd. My curd tricked me and I baked it too long. What I recommend is gently shaking the pan – if it jiggles a lot it needs a little more time.

Sprinkle with powdered sugar & serve. YUM!

 
Source: Southern Living Magazine

This is a really simple one to keep in your back pocket! You probably already have all the ingredients. Make sure you have 2-3 lemons though.

You need:

INGREDIENTS
1/2 c butter, melted
1 c sugar
2 eggs, beaten
1 TBSP lemon juice
1/4 tsp salt
1-1/2 c all purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 c milk
1/3 c lemon juice
1/4 c sugar

This is a 2 bowl endeavor which isn’t bad.

Preheat oven to 325.

1. In a large bowl, combine the sugar and butter.

2. Add eggs and lemon juice. Mix.

3. Add salt, flour & baking powder. Mix. (Normally I whisk together dry ingredients in a separate bowl but I didn’t do it this time and it came out perfect!)

4. Add milk and mix till just combined.

5. Fill well-greased loaf pan with batter and bake for 1 hour or until golden brown.

6. In a small bowl, combine 1/3 c lemon juice and 1/4 c sugar. Use a toothpick to poke holes in the top of the cake. Drizzle the lemon juice/sugar mixture over the top of the cake.

Yum!

Source: Food.com

Phew! The holidays kicked my butt this year. How did my parents do this? Better yet, WHY did they do it??

Although I try to post only the best of my kitchen attempts, here are some of my absolute favorites from last year. I mean the ones I crave & want to make again & again.

Happy New Year to you!!

1. Gardener’s Pie (vegetarian version of Shepherd’s Pie): This is always a huge hit. I took it to a Christmas pot luck this year and got so many compliments from vegetarian & non vegetarians alike. 

2. Best Coffee Cake in the World There are no surprising ingredients in this but it’s simply delicious. Perfect for a special brunch or to warm up a chilly Sunday morning.

3. Kermit Smoothie (green smoothie) Want to sneak a handful of spinach into your family’s gullets? Try this! So yummy, easy & fun.

4. Blueberry Lara Bars. A healthy, yummy & portable snack. Perfect for hiking or just to carry in your purse (or man purse) to keep the munchies at bay.

5. No Knead Bread. If you’ve never made bread before I strongly encourage you try this one! It takes less than 5 minutes to prep and is so rewarding! There’s something wonderful about the smell of bread baking in your home.

6. Glory Bowl. After the holidays many people (ahem, THIS person) feel compelled to eat a little, shall we say, “lighter?” Although this dish contains many light elements the rice & dressing make it so satisfying. I had serious doubts about it when my dear friend Kinga recommended it but now it’s one of my favorites. Try it!! I mean it, really! I wouldn’t put it up here if it weren’t super yummy.

7. Red Velvet Cupcakes. Make these for Valentine’s Day! Or use green food coloring and make them for St. Patrick’s Day.

8. Simple Caesar Salad. This is a cheater’s version of caesar salad. Oh garsh sometimes I crave caesar salad so much but don’t want to get involved with raw eggs & anchovies etc. This is a satisfying remedy when you’re short on time. Now that I make this I find most restaurant salads disappointing. Totally reminds me of an ex boyfriend’s mom (who happened to be an excellent cook) answering the waiter’s “How is everything?” with a tragic look followed by her New York accented, “Mine’s bettah.”

9. Chocolate & Butterscotch Chip Cookies. After trying many recipes, I have to say that these are my favorites for both simplicity & results. Because of the cornstarch they end up a bit pale and can trick you into thinking they aren’t done but they are soooooo sooooooo sooooooo (sooooo) good. Every time I make them I have to double the recipe b/c of all the greedy hands snitching them off the cooling racks (G!!!).

10. Vegetable Pot Pie. I just realized I have a few “best _____ in the WORLD” recipes. Do I exaggerate? Or am I just hungry? Anyway, this pot pie was a sleeper hit! I always loved pot pies. From the nastiest to the high end restaurant ones. But I was tired of paying $5.00 for a tiny Amy’s vegetable pot pie, plus I thought I could feed more than 1 person with a lot less packaging. This recipe takes almost 3 hours to make but is TOTALLY worth it! YUM.

11. Broccoli Gribiche. Last year I started making some dishes from Heidi Swanson’s “Super Natural Every Day” and this was one of the hits. I seriously didn’t make ONE bad dish from that cookbook and still use it every week. This is a surprisingly hearty, satisfying yet tasty meal that can be a main or side. The simple ingredients make it a no-brainer!

12. Moscow Mule. Alcohol is a good way to end a list/night/year so here is a simple, tasty drink that we enjoyed time & again mostly during the summer. Our friend Trish introduced us to them last June when we stayed at her house in Denver. We drank them all summer. Not all day but you know what I mean.

I hope you enjoy these recipes & for all the best to you in 2013!

What do you do with leftover cranberries once you’ve made cranberry simple syrup for mojitos? Or cranberry sauce? It seems like a heee-uge waste to toss them so I scanned the internet(s) for recipes.

Originally I said I was going to make scones but then I found this coffee cake recipe on the King Arthur Flour page that looked better!

You need:

INGREDIENTS:

There are 3 parts to this coffee cake: streusel, filling & batter.

Streusel
5 TBSP cold butter
1/2 c brown sugar, packed
big pinch of salt
2 tsp cinnamon
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 c + 2 TBSP all purpose flour

Filling
1 c whole-berry cranberry sauce (this time I used the remaining cranberries/sugar mixture I made my simple syrup with but you can use cranberry sauce as well)

Batter
1/2 c butter
1 c + 2 TBSP brown sugar
2 large eggs (not pictured)
1 c plain yogurt (not pictured!)
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
2 c all purpose flour

Preheat oven to 350 & lightly grease a 9×13″ baking pan.

Make the streusel first:
Using a large bowl, cream all but the flour together.

Add flour and beat until even crumbs form.

Note: my crumbs were sort of small/fine for my taste. Next time I might cut out the extra 2 TBSP flour to see if it clumps up more.

Now move the streusel aside to a small bowl. You can use this big bowl again for the batter. I appreciated this note in the original recipe! Love saving me some dishes.

Cream together the butter & sugar until smooth.

Add the eggs.

Note: For the past 6 months or so I’ve been experimenting with using egg replacer or other substitutes but have had a few kitchen FAILS. Stay tuned as I continue in my quest to bake without eggs!

Keep beating! Add the yogurt, vanilla & almond extracts, baking powder & soda, salt & flour.

The batter will be THICK.

Spread into a lightly grease 9×13″ pan or whatever molded cake pan you prefer!

Sprinkle the cranberry sauce/cranberries atop the batter.

Next time I think I’ll use a spoon to semi combine the cranberries with the batter.

Sprinkle the streusel atop.

Bake for about 40 minutes.

Without glaze.

With glaze.

Source: very slightly adapted from King Arthur Flour

Now a lot of people (‘specially on the East Coast) are going to be playing the ol’ air violin for me when they read this but yesterday our pilot light went out on our old gas heater. I am flying solo this weekend as G is back in the blue grass of Kentucky and I count on him to do manly things like light the pilot light when it goes out. The house was cold, cold, cold yesterday & never seemed to heat up! What’s a girl to do when the house is cold, the baby’s asleep and M and I are hostages inside, freezing to death? Bake a hot, buttery, COFFEE CAKE!!!

This heated the house and the bellies up thereby improving sour moods on a gray Saturday. Yay for coffee cake!!

The best part (except for the cake which is THE best part) is you probably have all these ingredients (‘cept maybe the pecans which you can always replace with walnuts or omit entirely!)

INGREDIENTS
For the Cake:
1-1/2 sticks butter, softened
2 c scant sugar
3 c flour, sifted
4 tsp baking powder, sifted
1 tsp salt, sifted
1-1/4 c milk
3 eggs whites, beaten until stiff

For the Crumble:
1-1/2 stick butter, softened
3/4 c flour
1-1/2 c brown sugar
2 TBSP cinnamon
1-1/2 c pecans, chopped

1. Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees. In a medium bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder & salt. Set aside.

I used to forge on painfully with my hand sifter until I saw The Pioneer Woman use a strainer. SO much easier! I’m not sure what the great pastry chefs would say but this is my new technique. Thanks Ree!

2. Beat egg whites (Although I’ve been phasing out eggs, I used egg whites in a carton because I had them in my fridge for a longggggg time and they are going to expire end of the month. I am not sure what the substitution is for egg whites but it’s probably just the same egg replacer.)

3. In a LARGE bowl, cream butter & sugar. (A large bowl because this is the bowl all the ingredients will end up in eventually.)

4. Take turns adding flour mixture & milk until just combined.

5. Grease a 9×13″ baking dish. I just save the butter wrapper & use that.

With a rubber spatula, fold in egg whites until just combined. Dump batter into the baking dish.

6. In a medium bowl (I tried this in a small bowl which is why I recommend a bigger bowl!), combine the CRUMBLE ingredients with a pastry cutter or your clean fingers!

Somebody gave me this pastry cutter – I never knew what it was but I’m so glad I have it! (Was it you, Nina?)

Sprinkle crumble mixture on top & pop it in the oven for 40-45 minutes.

Who’s going out the dog door?

Bea, those jeans make your butt look big!

Delicious on a cold Sunday morning! (Or Sat. afternoon…)

Recipe from The Pioneer Woman.