In A Nutshell

This recipe comes from a friend in my bunco group; April is an amazing cook/baker and I often badger her for recipes. I love these because they are dainty, tender and very very lemony. I picture having these at Downton Abbey with tea... 2 1/4 cup flour 1/2 t baking powder 1/2 t salt 3/4 cup sugar 3 heaping tablespoons lemon zest 1 cup unsalted butter, room temp 1 egg 1 t vanilla extract Whisk flour, baking powder and salt in a separate bowl (or not). Combine sugar and lemon zest; rub with your fingers to work the zest into the sugar until very fragrant. Add the butter and cream until very light and fluffy. Add egg and vanilla until smooth and then flour mixture; beat only until combined. Preheat oven to 350º; using a 1 T cookie dough scoop, scoop onto parchment lined rimmed baking sheets (I was able to get 48 cookies if I didn't eat any dough). Press down gently with two fingers to flatten the dough a bit. Bake for 12 minutes. Cool and then spread glaze on top. Gla...

I wanted to make a lower carb cake with less sugar as well; I thought it turned out pretty good! It is adapted from Smitten Kitchen. Cake: 1 cup plain Greek yogurt (I used 2%) 1/3 cup vegetable oil 1/2 cup sugar substitute blend (I used Splenda baking blend-- this is mixed with real sugar) zest of one lemon 1/4 cup lemon juice 2 eggs 1 cup flour 2/3 cup almond meal 1 1/2 t baking powder 1/2 t baking soda 1/8 t salt Grease a 9"round pan; preheat oven to 350º. Whisk the yogurt, oil, sugar blend, lemon zest and juice; add the eggs one at a time and whisk well. Dump the dry ingredients right over the batter and stir with a wooden spoon until combined (you can whisk or sift the dry ingredients together first in a separate bowl if you want to). Bake for about 35 minutes. Cut into 8 pieces: 27 g carbs per piece (as opposed to 45 g per piece using the original recipe). Raspberry Sauce : 12 oz. raspberries 1/4 cup water 3 T granulated stevia 2 t sugar 1 T fresh lemo...

I love desserts like this for many reasons; they are comforting, beautiful and everything can be assembled well in advance for ease of serving. You can make the streusel whenever you want and freeze it until you are ready to use it. The lemon custard should be made the day before you are planning to serve the desserts and the blueberry mixture right before assembling them-- it spreads out better if it slightly warm. This is a marriage of two different Fine Cooking recipes. For the Streusel : 2/3 cup flour 1/2 cup oats 6 T unsalted butter, cut into cubes 1/2 cup slivered almonds or walnuts 1/4 cup brown sugar 1/4 cup sugar 1/4 t kosher salt Pulse all the ingredients in a food processor until crumbly. Spread the streusel on a rimmed baking sheet and bake at 325º for about 20 minutes, stirring it every 5 minutes (until golden- don't overbake). Set aside to cool For the Lemon Custard : 3 egg yolks 3 T sugar 1 cup heavy cream (although I'm going to try this with w...

Lemony, delicious goodness! Adapted from Food & Wine. Cake : 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour 1 1/2 cups cake flour 1 T baking powder 1 t salt 2 3/4 cups sugar grated zest from 10 (yes 10!!!) lemons, about 1/3 cup of zest 1/2 cup canola oil 2 sticks (8 oz.) unsalted butter, melted and cooled 3 eggs 3 egg yolks 3 T dark rum 2 T pure lemon extract 3/4 cup heavy cream Lemon Syrup : 1/4 cup sugar 1/4 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice 1 T dark rum Glaze : 1 cup powdered sugar 2 T freshly squeezed lemon juice 1 t lemon or almond extract (which ever you prefer) sliced almonds for decoration For the cake: 1. Preheat oven to 350º. Grease and lightly flour a bundt pan. Sift the flours into a bowl along with the baking powder and salt. 2. With the paddle attachment, mix sugar, zest, canola oil and butter until blended. Beat in eggs, yolks, rum and extract just until incorporated. On low speed, alternate mixing in heavy cream and flour mixture in three batches, star...