Lemon Cookies to soothe my soul

Long time no see, huh? No, I didn't drop off the face of the planet (though at times, it sure felt like it). It has been two weeks since my last post, which makes me sad. My family has been going through a lot over these past two weeks, though, and I just haven't had the time do bake or to post. To give you the abridged version....I *may* have breast cancer (we'll find out after my biopsy later this week), my daughter was in the ER because they *thought* she had a serious blood platelet disorder (turns out she didn't), I had to take my Mom to the hospital because she *thought* she had a heart attack (turns out she didn't), and so much more!

So, the first "free" moment I had....I landed myself in the kitchen.....baking lemon sandwich cookies. YUM!

These were easy to make and they are delicious! If you like lemon (or love it...the way we do), you'll definitely have to try these. If you don't like rolling dough into a log, you could easily roll it out flat and use a cookie cutter. If that isn't your thing either, you could just roll the dough into balls in your hands and flatten with a glass dipped in sugar. Either method should warrant great (and yummy) results.

Lemon Sandwich Cookies
16 tablespoons (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup confectioners' sugar
1 tablespoon finely grated lemon zest (from 1 lemon)
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups all-purpose flour, sifted
Icing (filling)
8 oz. cream cheese
1 tsp lemon extract
1 cup powdered sugar (I used a little more than this, but you can do it to your desired consistency)

Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a large bowl using an electric mixer on high speed, beat butter, confectioners' sugar, lemon zest, and salt until combined. With mixer on low, add flour (dough will still be stiff and somewhat crumbly); finish mixing with a wooden spoon.

Turn half of the dough onto a piece of foil or plastic wrap, bring two opposite edges of the foil up and form a log. (Repeat with second half of dough) Wrap, and chill until firm, about 1 hour (and up to 3 days).

Unwrap dough; cut into 1/4" slices. Place 1 inch apart on two baking sheets; sprinkle with granulated sugar, if desired. Bake until barely beginning to brown, 15 to 20 minutes; transfer to wire racks to cool completely.

While your cookies are cooling, you can make the filling/icing. Mix ingredients together until desired consistency.

Form sandwiches: Place about 1 teaspoon filling between two cookies, sugared sides facing out; squeeze gently.

I ended up getting about 20 sandwiches out of this recipe.....though I rolled my dough pretty fat/thick, so if you made longer, skinnier logs, you could easily get more than that....but we like big, fat cookies!

Enjoy!
-Erica

Berry Lemonade Cupcakes

Alright, so here is the other cuppie that I created with that Jones Soda.



I used the same recipes for the cuppie, icing, and filling...but omited the glaze on top. The flavor of this one was so good, I didn't think it needed the glaze.



Wanna see what is inside? Here ya go:


Now, for the filling on this cuppie, I added a splash of the soda pop, so it isn't as thick and firm as the other filling, but I loved it!

Thanks again to Play at Home Mama, Gonna Go Walk the Dogs, and Put a Cupcake In It for the recipes I used to create these delights.

Check out IronCupcake for more cool cupcake stuff.
Our April ETSY PRIZE-PACK is from artists:
A creation by FRUITFLYPIE, a pair of cupcake earrings from LOTS OF SPRINKLES, a sweet surprise from Sweet Cuppin' Cakes Cupcakery,
PLUS, IronCupcake:Earth can not forget our good friend, CAKESPY, who is now going to be doing a piece for our winner each month until further notice - sweet!

Last and certainly not least, don’t forget our corporate prize providers: HEAD CHEFS by FIESTA PRODUCTS, HELLO CUPCAKE by Karen Tack and Alan Richardson, JESSIE STEELE APRONS ; TASTE OF HOME books, a t-shirt from UPWITHCUPCAKES.COM. Iron Cupcake:Earth is sponsored in part by 1-800-Flowers.

Enjoy!
-Erica

Lemon Ricotta Pancakes

Courtesy of Jenny Bakes, I have made Lemon Ricotta Pancakes. Honestly, I have never heard of such a combination before, especially for pancakes....but it sounded interesting enough for me to try it.

Now, my hubby is pretty weird when it comes to trying things that you wouldn't normally think to put together, so I have to approach him carefully with things like this. *giggle giggle* Which means, I omit the fact that there is an uncommon ingredient in the recipe. *smile*

So, I started mixing it up in the kitchen, keeping hubby at bay while I threw in the ricotta cheese.



The batter came together beautifully and it was light and fluffy. I couldn't wait to try them! They didn't really take much longer than my normal pancake recipe, so hubby didn't really suspect anything. *giggle giggle* (I know, I'm so cruel)

Now, I had some left over blueberries from that awesome scone recipe I tried the other day....so I decided to put some of them on top of the pancakes after they were finished.

Beautiful, don't you think?


Ok, so my hubby took ONE bite of them and.....

"Ooooh. Mmmmmm. Honey, what did you do? These pancakes are THE best pancakes I've ever had in my life. Fabulous."

So, naturally I start laughing....evil-like, too. Now he is curious.

We stare each other down a little, but he can't keep his fork out of those pancakes, he is still shoveling them in....even though he now knows there must be something weird in them. *giggle giggle*

Alright, well I laid it on him.

"Lemon Ricotta Pancakes. I got the recipe from this blog that I like."

"Well, keep that recipe. Can you make them again tomorrow?"

He was right, too, THE best pancakes I have ever had in my life. We didn't even add butter or very much syrup, which is very unusual for us.

Thanks Jenny for an awesome recipe! We'll be having them again....soon.

Enjoy!
-Erica

Sunday Spotlight: Brownies for Dinner

Happy Sunday!

I've decided that I'm going to "spotlight" one of my favorite blogs each Sunday...along with a few of their recipes that catch my eye. :)

For my first spotlight:

Brownies for Dinner

What could be better? The moment I seen the title, I knew that blog was for me! *smile* I found Patricia's blog through the Daring Bakers' blogroll. Her blog is really nice, so if you have a few minutes, go check her out.

Alright, so moving on....the first post that really caught my eye:


Blueberry Scones

They just looked so good. I knew I was going to have to try them! So, I went on searching her blog for a few other things that I wanted to try....and boy did she deliver! I'll be posting later with a couple more recipes I tried from Brownies for Dinner....so be on the lookout!



The recipe is easy to follow and has no obscure ingredients. So, it made me happy!



I cheated as well, though, and didn't separate the scones prior to baking. What I did was put them in a "round" and cut them. Then I baked them for 10 minutes, pulled them out, cut them again and then separated them. Put them back in the oven and finished baking. They turned out fabulous (I think so anyway).

My daughters had them for breakfast and totally agreed!

Thanks Patricia!

PS) You can view the recipe and try them for yourself by clicking here.

Enjoy!
-Erica

Lemon-Nutmeg Scones

I've never made scones before, so I was anxious to try some. I found this recipe in Pillsbury Best of the Bake-Off 2008 edition.

They turned out good, if I do say so myself! :)

Here is the recipe:

1 3/4 C all-purpose flour
1/4 C cornstarch
1/2 t baking soda
1/4 t ground nutmeg
6 T butter or margarine
1 container (6 oz) lemon fat-free yogurt, divided
1/3 C golden raisins
2 eggs
3 t sugar
1/8 t ground nutmeg
3 oz. cream cheese, softened

1 - Heat oven to 400 F. Grease cookie sheet (I used parchment paper instead). In large bowl, mix flour, cornstarch, baking soda, and 1/4 t nutmeg. With pastry blender or fork, cut in butter until mixture looks like coarse crumbs.

2 - In small bowl, mix 1/2 C of the yogurt, the raisins (which, I omitted) and eggs. Add to dry ingredients all at once; stir until dry ingredients are just moistened (dough will be sticky) On floured surface, shape dough into a ball. On greased cookie sheet, press dough into 8-inch circle, about 3/4 inch thick.

3 - In small bowl, mix sugar and 1/8 t nutmeg; sprinkle over top of dough. Cut into 8 wedges; separate so wedges are 1 inch apart. Bake 9 to 11 minutes or until very light golden brown.

4 - Meanwhile, in small bowl mix remaining yogurt and cream cheese. Beat until well-blended. Serve with warm scones.


Enjoy!
-Erica