lemon

Easy Lemon Squares

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How is everyone doing? Really. Hanging in there as best you can I hope! I am ok. Some days are rough and I just want to run away somewhere! Other days are great and I’m so thankful and blessed with everything in my life. So all we can do is be there for each other, stay positive and bake 🙂 If you are reading this post in the future, I’m talking about the crap that’s going on in the world, otherwise known as Covid-19. Ugh. Quarantined and missing our friends and family. Kids are out of school for the rest of the year. It’s absolute craziness. For now, let’s just focus on these lemon squares.

Oh, quick side note that will make you laugh. I have no pictures of these bad boys in actual squares because, well when I tried to cut them even after they were refrigerated all day, they still completely fell apart. Total mess, just not worth getting mad over because they are still so freaking good, so… sorry. Just know to freeze them for a bit before you cut with an extremely sharp knife 😉

These lemon bars or squares are delicious and tart and the perfect dessert for spring! So go start your ovens and let’s bake!

What you will need:

8 x 8 inch square bake dish sprayed with non-stick spray

1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/4 cups old fashioned rolled oats
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
3/4 cup unsalted butter, melted
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 (14 oz.) can of unsweetened condensed milk
1-2 tablespoons lemon zest
1/2 cup fresh lemon juice
2 large egg yolks

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, oats, salt and baking soda. Whisk in both sugars. Whisk in melted butter and vanilla until combined. Press half the mixture onto the bottom of your prepared dish and bake for 15 minutes.

While the crust is baking, in a separate bowl, whisk together condensed milk, lemon zest, lemon juice and egg yolks.

Once the crust is done, carefully pour the egg mixture on top of the crust evenly. Crumble the remaining crust on top and bake for another 20-22 minutes.

Allow to cool completely before refrigerating or freezing for several hours before slicing and enjoying.

Store covered in the fridge. 

Lemon Zucchini Bread

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It’s been a minute since I made a post! I’m so sorry! We have just been enjoying summer to the fullest. The last 4 days have literally been pool, beach, pool, beach and tomorrow we have plans to go back to the beach! Trust me, I know how lucky I am to be able to do that. Living close to the lake in Chicago is the best and I would not have it any other way 🙂 Until it’s January and I’ll be looking at real estate in California…

Anyway, here I am with an absolutely delicious bread or cake, whatever you want to call it. The perfect summer snack for you and your loved ones to enjoy after a fun filled sun filled day! So turn on your ovens and let’s get baking….

What you will need:

1 loaf pan greased and lined with parchment paper hanging over the sides

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 tespoon salt
1 cup granulated sugar
6 tablespoons olive oil
2 eggs
1/3 cup milk (I used almond milk)
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups shredded zucchini, drained and dried
1 tablespoons lemon zest

For the glaze:

1 cup powdered sugar
2 tablespoons lemon juice

Preheat oven to 350 degrees fahrenheit.  In a bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside.  In another bowl, beat together the sugar and oil until blended. Add in eggs and milk and beat until incorporated. Beat in lemon juice and vanilla. Slowly beat in flour mixture until just blended. Fold in the zucchini and lemon zest.

Pour into prepared pan and bake for 45-50 minutes. Allow to cool for 15 minutes before lifting it out with the parchment paper. Cool completely.

To make the glaze, stir ingredients together. Start with 1 tablespoon of lemon juice and go up from there depending on consistency. Drizzle over bread. Slice and enjoy!

Iced Lemon Crumb Cake

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I’m baaack! Did you miss me? I feel like it’s been way too long since I made a post. I was going to blog about our trip to Cabo San Lucas but I may not. You guys let me know if you’re interested in that or not. It was so fun and we had a great return experience bringing Liam but I already posted pictures on Facebook and Instagram. I don’t want to over share if you know what I mean…?

Anyway, I have been baking, just not new stuff that I can blog about. There is always something at my house; cookies, bread, cake… but I finally got inspired to make something new with this nice weather we’ve been having! So, kicking off my posting slum with a delicious lemon cake! I’ll just sit here and eat the entire thing, thank you so much. Very summery and seriously, go ahead and eat it for breakfast as a coffee cake! I won’t judge 🙂

So, go get some lemons, get your aprons on and let’s bake!

What you will need:

8 x 8 inch square bake dish, greased

For the crumb topping:

3/4 cup all-purpose flour
6 tablespoons brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon lemon zest
6 tablespoons unsalted butter cut into small pieces

For the cake:

1 1/2 cups flour
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup unsalted butter at room temp
1 cup sugar
3 large eggs
3 tablespoons lemon zest (from about 2 lemons)
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1/3 cup sour cream

For the glaze:

About 1 cup powdered sugar
Fresh lemon juice (I used about half a lemon)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees fahrenheit. First make the crumb topping. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, brown sugar, salt and zest. With your hands or a pastry blender, cut in the butter until the mixture resembles coarse sand. Place the bowl in the fridge while you make the cake batter.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Set aside. In another large bowl, beat butter and sugar until smooth and creamy. Add in eggs, lemon juice and zest and beat until combined. Fold in the sour cream with a spatula until combined. Fold in the dry ingredients until just combined. Pour into your prepared bake dish.

Take the crumb topping out of the fridge and evenly sprinkle it over the cake, breaking up any large pieces. Bake for about 40-45 minutes. Allow to cool completely on a wire rack before making the glaze.

Once cake is completely cooled, stir together powdered sugar and lemon juice in a small bowl until you reach a drizzly consistency. Drizzle over the cake with a spoon.

Enjoy! Store covered at room temperature.

Lemon White Chocolate Chip Cookies

I made these a couple years ago before I had a blog. I can’t believe it’s taken me this long to make them again! I love everything lemon and these are so perfect for summer. Well, really anytime, but holy delicious they are so good. They are soft and light and the white chocolate chips really take them to another level. So let’s get started!

What you will need:

Cookie sheet lined with parchment paper

1 2/3 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons cornstarch
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup unsalted butter at room temp
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
1 large egg
1 teaspoon lemon extract
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
Zest from 2 lemons
1 1/2 cups white chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees fahrenheit. In a large bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, cornstarch and salt. Set aside. In another large bowl (or bowl of your electric mixer), beat butter and both sugars until light and fluffy. Add egg, both extracts and lemon zest and beat until combined. Slowly add in flour mixture until combined. Stir in what chocolate chips. Refrigerate dough for at least 15 minutes.

Drop cookie dough by spoonfuls on prepared cookie sheet and bake for 10 or 11 minutes. Allow cookies to cool on cookie sheet for 1 minute before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely. Enjoy!

Ritz Carlton Lemon Pound Cake

My mom sent me this recipe on Facebook and I instantly saved it. I couldn’t wait to try it! Supposedly this is the hotels famous 1920’s tea room pound cake. If you follow me on Instagram or SnapChat, you know I had quite the fail making this. I didn’t get a picture of it but the cake completely overflowed in the oven! I knew it was going to be a disaster trying to get it out of the pan. It ended up being fine, but it was a struggle and made a mess! So, if you make this cake, leave out some of the batter or make 2 smaller ones because this makes a ton! Here we go…

What you will need:

Bundt pan, greased

3 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup unsalted butter at room temperature
3 cups of sugar
1/2 cup vegetable oil
5 large eggs
1 cup whole milk
6 tablespoons lemon juice
Zest from 1 lemon

Note: The recipe above has WAY too much sugar. I used about 2 1/2 cups of sugar but if I ever make this again, I will only use 2.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees fahrenheit. In a large bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside. In another large bowl (or bowl of your electric mixer), beat butter, sugar and oil until nice and creamy. Add eggs, one at a time beating well after each addition. Slowly add in flour mixture, alternating with the milk. Beat in lemon zest and juice. Pour batter into prepared pan and bake for 50-60 minutes.  Let rest at least 30 minutes before turning out of pan.

Here is what mine looked like after I got it out…

Yeah, we had some issues, but it was ok! I saved it.

Slice and enjoy with some tea or coffee!

Lemon Cake

My signature cake shot 🙂

That’s right. Another lemon recipe. But lemon cake??!! I may have died and gone to heaven. Seriously, yum. And since I have shredded coconut on hand, I sprinkled some on top of my slice. I mean…. My mouth is having a party. And I just ate it so unattractively that I’m thinking a YouTube video of me eating cake would get a lot of views. And my self esteem to drop LOL.  So let’s just get to it:

What you will need:

2 (9 inch) round cake pans greased and floured

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
1/2 cup unsalted butter at room temp
3 large eggs
1 cup buttermilk
2 tablespoons lemon zest
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

For frosting:

1/2 cup unsalted butter at room temp
2 1/2-3 cups powdered sugar
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice

Note: I do not like a lot of frosting on my cakes, but if you do, go ahead and double this recipe. Then you will have enough to frost the sides of the cake as well.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees fahrenheit. In a large bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Set aside.

In another large bowl (or bowl of your electric mixer), beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add the flour mixture and buttermilk alternately and beat until just combined. Beat in lemon zest and juice.

Divide batter evenly between prepared pans. Smooth batter with back of a spoon and then gently drop pans on counter to release any air bubbles. Bake cakes for 28-32 minutes. Let cool at least 10 minutes before inverting to cool completely.

To make frosting:

Beat butter until smooth and creamy. Add sugar and lemon juice and beat until desired consistency. Frost cake, slice and enjoy! Store covered for a couple days.

Here’s my slice with the coconut:

Mmmmmm good

Lemon Cookies

It’s a rainy, stormy day here in Chicago. It makes me so tired but spring is finally here! Very refreshing. We need the rain. I decided to bake some cookies (of course) to help with the boredom. I actually had the dough prepared in the fridge so all I had to do was slice and bake. They are so easy and delicious! I have a feeling these will be my summer cookie. Great to bring to a bbq or pool party or other summer fun things. Yay for lemons.  Let’s bake some cookies…

What you will need:

Cookie sheet(s) lined with parchment paper

2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 cup salt
2/3 cup granulated sugar
Zest from 1 lemon (about 1 tablespoon)
14 tablespoons unsalted butter at room temp
2 large egg yolks

For the glaze: 

1/2 cup powdered sugar
1-2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

Note: This dough needs to be refrigerated at least 4 hours so plan accordingly!

To make the dough:

In a medium bowl, whisk together flour and salt. Set aside. In a small bowl, stir together sugar and lemon zest with a fork. This will make a beautiful lemon sugar. Smells so good!

In a large bowl (or bowl of your electric mixer), beat butter with the lemon sugar until creamy and smooth. Add in the egg yolks and beat until incorporated. Add in flour mixture and beat until just starting to clump together. Divide the dough in half and place each half on plastic wrap. Form rectangle logs, about 6 inches long like I did here…

And then cover with the plastic wrap and refrigerate at least 4 hours or overnight.

When you’re ready to bake, preheat oven to 350 degrees fahrenheit. Cut refrigerated cookie dough onto 1/4 inch rectangles, like so..

Bake for 13-17 minutes, depending on how soft or crunchy you want them. Let cool completely on a wire rack before glazing.

To make the glaze:

In a small bowl, stir together powdered sugar and lemon juice. Drizzle over cookies! I used a ziplock bag with a small hole cut in it but you can just use a spoon. Let the glaze harden for an hour before storing in an airtight container. Enjoy!

 

Iced Lemon Pound Cake

Yum. Lemons. I love you. I Needed this cake in my life right now. It’s sweet, can be eaten for breakfast, and is just so (for lack of a better word) delicious! Easy to make and eat, this pound cake is the perfect treat! I have nothing else to say so…. let’s bake!

What you will need:

9 x 5 inch loaf pan, greased
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
3 large eggs at room temperature
1 cup granulated sugar
2 tablespoons unsalted butter at room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon lemon extract
Juice from one lemon
1/2 cup vegetable oil
Zest of one lemon

For the glaze:

1 cup powdered sugar
1 1/2 tablespoons milk
1/2 teaspoon lemon extract

Preheat oven to 350 degrees fahrenheit. In a large bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. In a medium bowl, beat together eggs, sugar, butter, both extracts, and lemon juice until well blended. Pour into the dry ingredients and blend until smooth. Add oil and lemon zest and mix until combined.

Pour batter into prepared loaf pan and bake for 45-50 minutes. Allow to cool on wire rack before inverting to cool completely.

To make the glaze:

In a bowl, whisk all ingredients until smooth. Pour over cooled cake. Slice and enjoy!

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Hot Toddy Recipe

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If you’re like me, you dislike cold weather so much that as soon as it gets below 50 degrees, you literally start freaking out. Depression, blues, cold/flu, and dry skin are a few things that happen to me. So, here is a nice hot beverage to soothe some of those feelings and issues. There are many variations of this drink, but the recipe I’ve posted here is my favorite (mainly because I’m loving whiskey right now. Who knew?). Feeling a cold coming on? MAKE THIS! And drink every last drop. Guaranteed you will feel better. No more sore throat, and for me, lemon is a very relaxing scent. So here we go… how to make a Hot Toddy…

What you will need:

Coffee mug
Green Tea of your choice
1 cup of water
1 1/2 – 2 ounces of whiskey of your choice (the one pictured above is super delicious and I highly recommend)
Lemon wedge
1 tablespoon of honey

To make:

Place water in coffee mug and microwave until boiling. Then, put in all your ingredients; tea bag, whiskey, honey and squeeze in the lemon juice. Stir. Sip. And enjoy!

Funny side note: We did not have any lemons when I made this just now, so I used a couple drops of pure lemon extract. Still delicious!

Blueberry Lemon Bundt Cake

This is one of my favorite flavor combinations! Blueberry and lemon… so good and refreshing. I love this recipe because it’s sweet enough to be a dessert, but you can also serve it for breakfast or brunch. I stole this exact recipe from Martha Stewart, whom I love so dearly. It is super easy and now is the perfect time to make it. So come on…

What you will need:

12 cup bundt pan

For the batter:

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, plus 1 teaspoon for blueberries and zest
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup unsalted butter at room temperature
1 cup packed light brown sugar
1 cup granulated sugar
4 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup sour cream
2 cups fresh blueberries
2 tablespoons lemon zest
Powdered sugar for dusting (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees fahrenheit. In a large bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder and salt and set aside.

In another large bowl (or bowl of your electric mixer), beat butter and both sugars until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in vanilla. Add the flour mixture in three additions, alternating with two additions of sour cream. Set aside.

In another large bowl, toss blueberries, lemon zest and teaspoon of flour with your hands. Gently fold into batter. Spray the bundt pan with non-stick spray. Spread batter in prepared pan. Note: The batter will be thick. I used a big spoon and scooped it in.

Bake on the bottom rack for 60-70 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Cool in pan for at least 20 minutes before inverting onto a rack to cool completely. Dust with powdered sugar before serving (optional).

Enjoy!