Lemon Streusel Muffins

Franny has recently become obsessed with muffins. She loves them! So if I ever want to make her day, all I have to do is whip up a batch of muffins. I don't think that kid has met a muffin she doesn't like yet. I should get a little more creative and hide zucchini and carrots; but for now, I'm sticking to what I love- recipes like this:


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Lemon Streusel Muffins

from the Sisters Cafe

1 1/2 cups flour
1 cup sugar
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
2 eggs
1/2 cup plain yogurt
1/2 cup butter, melted
1 Tb grated lemon peel
2 tsp fresh lemon juice

For the streusel:
3 Tb flour
3 Tb sugar
1 Tb cold butter

For the glaze:
1/4 cup powdered sugar
1 Tb fresh lemon juice

In a large bowl, combine the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. Set aside. In a medium bowl, whisk together the eggs, yogurt, butter, lemon peel and lemon juice. Stir the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients. Mix, just until moistened. Let batter rest for 5 minutes. Grease or paper line muffin cups and fill the cups 3/4 full.
In a small bowl, combine flour, sugar and butter. Using your hands or a pastry blender, mix until it resembles coarse crumbs. Sprinkle the streusel over the batter.
Bake muffins at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the muffin comes out clean. Cool for 5 minutes and remove onto a wire rack.
Mix together the powdered sugar and enough lemon juice to make a thin glaze. Drizzle over warm muffins. (My glaze ended up so thin that I just brushed it on over the streusel that kind of melted into a glaze itself. Very tasty.)

Lemon Chicken Noodle Soup

I found a recipe online for a lemony chicken noodle soup. I loved the idea, but wasn't crazy about the recipe as it was written, so I decided to adapt my favorite chicken noodle soup recipe from my friend Annie. I love the way it turned out!!

Lemon Chicken Noodle Soup

3 chicken breasts (or 1 whole chicken)

2 cans chicken broth

3 stalks celery – chopped

½ onion – chopped

parsley (I use about 1 tsp.- can add more or less)

thyme (I use about 1 tsp.- can add more or less)

salt and pepper

1 tsp. fresh garlic

2-3 cubes chicken bouillon

4 carrots – chopped (can add more)

frozen peas (as many or as few as you want)

8-10 oz. home-style wide noodles (can use cooked rice instead)

zest of one lemon

juice of 1/2 lemon

red pepper flakes (to taste)

1 can cream of chicken soup

Place the 3 chicken breasts in a large pot and cover with chicken broth and 3-4 cups water. Add celery, onion, carrots, parsley, thyme, garlic, salt and pepper. Bring to a boil and cook for 20 minutes. Remove chicken and shred it before returning it to the pot. Add 2 or 3 cubes chicken bouillon, carrots, frozen peas, noodles (or cooked rice), lemon zest and juice, red pepper flakes, and cream of chicken soup. Heat through.

Sunday Dinner - Two Desserts

Lemon Fusilli Pasta with Grilled Lemon Chicken
adapted from the Barefoot Contessa

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon good olive oil
• 1 tablespoon minced garlic (2 cloves)
• 2 cups heavy cream
• 3 lemons
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 1 pound dried fusilli pasta
• 1/2 pound baby spinach
• 1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan
• 1 pint grape or cherry tomatoes, halved
• 4 grilled lemon chicken breasts (see recipe below)
  

Directions

Heat the olive oil in a medium saucepan over medium heat, add the garlic, and cook for 60 seconds. Add the cream, the zest from 2 lemons, the juice of 2 lemons, 2 teaspoons of salt, and 1 teaspoon of pepper. Bring to a boil, then lower the heat and simmer for 15 to 20 minutes, until it starts to thicken.

Bring a large pot of water to a boil, add 1 tablespoon of salt and the pasta, and cook according to the directions on the package, about 12 minutes, stirring occasionally. Drain the pasta in a colander and place it back into the pot. Immediately add the cream mixture and cook it over medium-low heat for 3 minutes, until most of the sauce has been absorbed in the pasta. Pour the hot pasta into a large bowl, add the spinach, Parmesan, sliced chicken and tomatoes. Cut the last lemon in half lengthwise, slice it 1/4-inch thick crosswise, and add it to the pasta. Toss well, season to taste, and serve hot.

Grilled Lemon Chicken

This is the best chicken marinade ever and I don't think I have it posted anywhere on my blog. My sincerest apologies, my friends, because that is just not right! This recipe is like a secret weapon. It takes ordinary chicken and makes it taste... extraordinary.

Ingredients

• 3/4 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice (4 lemons)
• 3/4 cup good olive oil
• 2 teaspoons kosher salt
• 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 1 tablespoon minced fresh thyme leaves, or 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
• 2 pounds boneless chicken breasts, halved and skin removed

Directions

Whisk together the lemon juice, olive oil, salt, pepper, and thyme. Pour over the chicken breasts in a nonreactive bowl. Cover and marinate in the refrigerator for 6 hours or overnight. (According to Ina, but I think the optimum marinating time is two nights.) Grill chicken.

Tomato Feta Salad
from the Barefoot Contessa- I made only about 1/4 of this recipe. I'm the only tomato fan in the family.

Ingredients

• 4 pints grape tomatoes, red or mixed colors
• 1 1/2 cups small-diced red onion (2 onions)
• 1/4 cup good white wine vinegar
• 6 tablespoons good olive oil
• 1 tablespoon kosher salt
• 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh basil leaves
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley leaves
• 1 1/2 pounds feta cheese

Directions

Cut the tomatoes in half and place them in a large bowl. Add the onion, vinegar, olive oil, salt, pepper, basil, and parsley and toss well. Dice the feta in 1/2 to 3/4-inch cubes, crumbling it as little as possible. Gently fold it into the salad and serve at room temperature.

Caramel Crunch Bars (from Baking From My Home To Yours)

I love these so much! The first time I tried them sandwiched around vanilla ice cream, but after sitting in the freezer, they were two frozen to eat. I prefer them at room temperature. I'm a little mad at Bobby for finishing them off last night without checking with me first. ;)

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon instant espresso powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
16 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
3 ounces finely chopped bittersweet chocolate

6 ounces finely chopped bittersweet chocolate
3/4 cup toffee bits

To make the shortbread

Preheat oven to 375

In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, espresso powder, salt and cinnamon.

In a large mixing bowl, add butter and beat until creamy and smooth. Add both sugars and beat until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Mix in vanilla. Pour in the dry ingredients and turn the mixture on low speed - mix just until the dry ingredients are almost all incorporated. At this point, add the chopped bittersweet chocolate - using a wooden spoon or firm spatula, stir the mixture until combined.

The dough should be creamy and very sticky at this point. Place dollops of the batter over the bottom of a 9" x 13" baking pan coated with nonstick spray. Using an offset spatula, a spoon or wet fingertips, spread the mixture into a thin even layer.

Bake until the shortbread is a rich golden brown and looks like it is trying to come away from the sides of the pan, about 20 to 24 minutes. Remove the pan and turn the oven off.

To make the topping

Scatter the top of the hot shortbread with the chopped bittersweet chocolate. Pop the pan back into the turned off oven and let sit for 2 minutes to soften the chocolate. Remove and immediately use an offset spatula to spread the chocolate mixture all over the top. Scatter the toffee bits on top of the melted chocolate and gently press down to adhere. Place the baking pan on a wire rack to cool completely - if the chocolate has not firmed up by the time you need to cut the bars, briefly place it in the refrigerator to set.


Lemon Cornmeal Cake with Lemon Glaze and Blueberry Topping
from Epicurious.com

Glaze:
1 1/2 cups (packed) powdered sugar, sifted
2 tablespoons (or more) fresh lemon Juice

Cake:
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1/3 cup yellow cornmeal
3/4 cup sugar
3 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup buttermilk
2 large eggs
1 tablespoon finely grated lemon peel
3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted, cooled
Crushed-Blueberry Sauce

For glaze:

Combine powdered sugar and 2 tablespoons lemon juice in small bowl. Stir with spoon until smooth and paste-like, adding more lemon juice by 1/2 teaspoonfuls if glaze is too thick to spread. Set aside.

For cake:

Position rack in center of oven and preheat to 350°F. Butter 9-inch-diameter cake pan with 2-inch-high sides; line bottom with parchment. Combine flour, cornmeal, sugar, baking powder, and salt in large bowl; whisk to blend. Whisk buttermilk, eggs, lemon peel, and vanilla in small bowl. Pour buttermilk mixture and melted butter into flour mixture. Using rubber spatula, gently fold liquids into flour mixture until just blended (do not stir). Scrape batter into pan; spread evenly.

Bake cake until tester inserted into center comes out clean and cake pulls away from sides of pan, about 30 minutes.

Immediately run knife around sides of cake. Place rack atop cake in pan. Using oven mitts, hold pan and rack firmly together and invert cake onto rack. Remove pan from cake. Place another rack on bottom of cake; invert 1 more time so that cake is top side up. Stir glaze until blended. While cake is still very hot, drop glaze by tablespoonfuls onto cake; spread to within 1/2 inch of edge (some glaze may drip down sides of cake). Cool completely. Serve with Crushed-Blueberry Sauce.

Best Roasted Chicken I've ever made with Root Beer Ice Cream

I've been making roast chicken for a long time. I always use Ina's recipe and I'm never fully satisfied. It always ends up tasting kind of greasy. I have an abundance of fresh thyme and oregano growing in pots on my deck and I thought a thyme-oregano roasted chicken recipe was in order. I combined Ina's with this other recipe I found online and here's what I came up with:

Lemon Roasted Chicken

• 1 5lb whole chicken, rinsed
  
• 2 lemons
• 1 bunch of fresh thyme
• 1 handful of fresh oregano
• 2 Tbsp olive oil
  
• Kosher salt
• Freshly cracked pepper
• 1 head of garlic
  

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Carefully rinse chicken with cold water. Take cloves of garlic from the head of garlic and mince. Chop half of the time and oregano (leave the rest to stuff inside the cavity.) Mix minced garlic with the juice from the lemons, chopped thyme, chopped oregano, and olive oil. Rub evenly over the entire bird. Carefully, lift the skin over the breasts and rub the mixture directly on the breast meat. Next, sprinkle the salt and pepper all over the entire bird. Salt and pepper the inside of the chicken as well. Place the lemon rinds, remaining thyme (including stems) and remaining oregano inside the cavity of the chicken along with the rest of the garlic head, sliced in half, cross-ways.

Place chicken on a rack inside dish. Truss the chicken. Place the meat thermometer in the thickest part of the thigh, making sure not to touch bone. Roast uncovered for 1 1/2 hours or until thermometer reads 170 degrees. I start basting the bird after 2 hours and repeat every 1/2 an hour after that. If you want crispy skin, stop basting for the last hour of cooking time. Remove from the oven and let the bird "rest" for at least 10 minutes before carving. Enjoy!

The root beer ice cream wasn't available for photographs due to the fact that it was consumed much too quickly by the four of us. I got the idea from Natalie and Ray and I am forever in their debt because of it!

Root Beer Ice Cream

2 large eggs
3/4 cup sugar
1 cup heavy cream
1 cup half and half
1 cup milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2-3/4 tsp root beer extract (taste as you add. You want it to be just right!)

Whisk the eggs in a mixing bowl until light and fluffy, 1 to 2 minutes. Whisk in the sugar, a little at a time, then continue whisking until completely blended, about 1 minute more. Pour in the cream, half and half, milk and extracts and whisk to blend.

Transfer the mixture to an ice cream maker and freeze following the manufacturer's directions.

Oops I did it again...

I have a weakness for shortbread. Every time we go to Panera, Bobby and I have to order a shortbread cookie. So when I linked to this new cooking blog from Sara's Kitchen, I knew I was in trouble. They are so amazing. It reminds me a little of my mother's butter cakes. Bobby loved them, too. I'll definitely be making these again, but only when there are lots of opportunities to share them with others. I keep making myself sick by eating too many.

English Lemon Shortbread Strips from Cooking in the Country
(I actually cut this recipe in half. That was a good choice on my part.)

For the dough

4 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup granulated sugar
1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon fresh grated lemon zest
1 pound (4 sticks or 32 tablespoons) unsalted butter, softened
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice

For the glaze

1 cup confectioners' sugar
2 tablespoons butter, softened
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1 tablespoon fresh grated lemon zest

To prepare the dough

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a medium bowl, whisk together flour and salt.

In a large mixing bowl, add sugar and zest - use your fingers to massage the zest into the sugar until very fragrant and combine. Add butter and beat mixture together until smooth. Add juice and mix until combined and creamy, making sure to scrape down the sides as needed. Add flour mixture and beat just until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Scoop mixture into a 10" x 15" baking pan coated with nonstick spray. Place into the oven and bake until the top is lightly golden, about 25 to 35 minutes. Remove and place pan on a wire rack to cool completely.

To prepare the glaze

In a small bowl, whisk together confectioners' sugar, butter and lemon juice until smooth. Spread glaze over the cooled shortbread and sprinkle with lemon zest, if desired. Set aside and let stand at least 30 minutes before cutting.

Makes about 40 cookies.

Lemon Nutmeg Scones with Lemon Cream Cheese Spread

Lemon Nutmeg Scones
adapted from Taste and Tell

1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 cup cornstarch
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 tsp salt
6 tablespoons cold butter, diced
1 (8-oz) container lemon yogurt
1/3 cup dried cherries
2 eggs
4 1/2 teaspoons sugar
1/8 teaspoon nutmeg
3 oz. cream cheese
1 tsp lemon rind

Heat oven to 450F. Grease a cookie sheet.

Mix flour, cornstarch, baking soda, and 1/4 tsp nutmeg in food processor. In a large bowl, combine flour, cornstarch, baking soda and 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg, and salt; blend well. Add diced butter and pulse until butter is the size of peas.

In a small bowl, combine 1/2 cup of the lemon yogurt, cherries, and eggs. Add to dry ingredients all at once; pulse just until the mixture comes together to form a ball. On floured surface, shape dough into ball. On greased cookie sheet, press dough into 9-inch circle, about 3/4 inch thick.

In a small bowl, combine sugar and 1/8 teaspoon nutmeg; sprinkle over top of dough. Cut into 12 wedges; separate so wedges are 1 inch apart. Bake for 7 to 10 minutes or until very light golden brown.

Meanwhile, in a small bowl, combine remaining yogurt and cream cheese and lemon rind. Blend well. Serve with warm scones.

Lemon Cream and Raspberry Phyllo Napoleons

Adapted from Bon Appetit

These are AWESOME. I made these to take as a dessert when our friends invited us for dinner a week and a half ago. I loved them so much I made them again for my mother-in-law a few days later. The lemon curd I made was enough for two batches. You wouldn't want to make these too far in advance, but the eight hours suggested in the recipe worked fine for me. Overnight would cause the phyllo dough squares to get soggy. This was so delicious. Kind of dainty and very pretty- it would be perfect for a tea party. Nice summer dessert.

Makes 6. Phyllo Squares 6 fresh phyllo pastry sheets or frozen, thawed 6 teaspoons (generous) sugar 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted Lemon Cream 1/2 cup chilled whipping cream 1 1/2 teaspoons powdered sugar 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract 1/4 cup purchased lemon curd 2 1/2-pint baskets fresh raspberries or 2 cups frozen unsweetened, thawed, drained Powdered sugar For Phyllo Squares: Preheat oven to 375°F. Lightly oil 2 large baking sheets. Stack phyllo sheets on work surface. Trim to 10 1/2-inch square (reserve scraps for another use). Place 1 phyllo square on work surface (cover remaining phyllo with plastic wrap and damp kitchen towel). Sprinkle with 1 generous teaspoon sugar. Top with second phyllo square. Brush lightly with melted unsalted butter. Sprinkle with 1 generous teaspoon sugar. Top with third phyllo square. Sprinkle with 1 generous teaspoon sugar. Cut phyllo stack into 9 equal stacked squares. Arrange stacked phyllo squares an prepared baking sheet. Repeat layering and cutting with remaining 3 phyllo sheets, sugar and butter making total of 18 stacked phyllo squares. Bake until phyllo is golden, about 10 minutes. Transfer baking sheets to racks and cool completely.

For Lemon Cream:
Beat cream, 1 1/2 teaspoons powdered sugar and vanilla in large bowl until medium peaks form.

Whisk lemon curd in another medium bowl until smooth. Add to cream mixture. Beat to stiff peaks.

Spread 1 generous tablespoon lemon cream on each of 6 stacked phyllo squares.

Top each with 6 raspberries. Layer each with 6 raspberries. Layer each with 1 phyllo square, 1 more tablespoon lemon cream and 6 raspberries (save any remaining lemon cream for another use). Top each with 1 phyllo square. Sift powdered sugar over desserts. (Can be prepared 8 hours ahead. Cover loosely and refrigerate).

For Lemon Cream:
Beat cream, 1 1/2 teaspoons powdered sugar and vanilla in large bowl until medium peaks form.

Whisk lemon curd in another medium bowl until smooth. Add to cream mixture. Beat to stiff peaks.

Spread 1 generous tablespoon lemon cream on each of 6 stacked phyllo squares.

Top each with 6 raspberries. Layer each with 6 raspberries. Layer each with 1 phyllo square, 1 more tablespoon lemon cream and 6 raspberries (save any remaining lemon cream for another use). Top each with 1 phyllo square. Sift powdered sugar over desserts. (Can be prepared 8 hours ahead. Cover loosely and refrigerate).

I didn't know if I could find lemon curd at the supermarket in my small town, so I made my own and here is the recipe I used from Mark Bittman's "How to Cook Everything":

Lemon Curd (this recipe makes about 2 cups, so I cut the recipe in half)

3 lemons
8 Tbs (1 stick) butter
1 cup sugar
1 tsp peeled and very finely minced fresh ginger (I left this out when I made my curd, but I'm leaving it in now because I think it would taste fabulous- just may not be right for this recipe)
3 eggs

Zest the lemons and mince the zests; juice the lemons. Combine the zest and juice with the butter and sugar and place in a small saucepan over very low heat or in the top of a double boiler over simmering water.

Cook, stirring occasionally, until the sugar dissolves. Add the ginger if you like. Beat the eggs and add them to the mixture; make sure the heat is very low.

Cook, stirring constantly, until the mixture thickens, about 10 minutes; do not let the mixture boil or the eggs will curdle. Cool slightly, then pour into custard cups, small bowls, or jars; cool, then refrigerate.