Luscious Lemon Cupcakes

AWARD WINNING LEMON FROSTING

CUPCAKES

• • 1/2 cup unsalted butter (room temp)

• • 3/4 cup sugar

• • 2 large eggs (room temp)

• • 1 tablespoon lemon zest

• • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

• • 1/4 cup fresh lemon juice

• • 1/4 cup whole milk

• • 1-1/2 cups flour

• • 1 and 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

• • 1/4 teaspoon salt

• (some of the butter cream frosting below to stuff the cupcakes with)

FROSTING

• • 1 cup unsalted butter (room temp)

• • 1/8 teaspoon salt

• • 3-1/2 cups confectioners’ sugar

• • 1 tablespoon lemon zest

• 3-4 tablespoons fresh lemon juice 
  

TIP: Lemons produce more juice when they are a room temperature and are rolled on the countertop first before juicing.

Make the cupcakes

• • Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line 12 muffin cups with cupcake liners; set aside.

• • In a large bowl, beat the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Add the eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Beat in the lemon zest and vanilla.

• • In a small measuring cup with a pour spout, stir together the lemon juice and milk. Set aside.

• • Combine the flour, baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl. Stir with a whisk and add it to the butter mixture alternately with the milk mixture, beating well after each addition.

• • Divide the batter evenly among the prepared muffin cups. Bake for 18-20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out with only a few dry crumbs.

• • Cool for 10 minutes. Remove cupcakes from the pan and cool completely on a wire rack.

• Cut the centers out of the of each cupcake and fill the cavity with 1 tablespoon of lemon buttercream frosting.
• Frost with lemon butter cream frosting.

FROSTING:

• • In a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment or with an electric hand mixer, beat the butter on medium-high speed until smooth.

• • Add the salt and continue to beat until incorporated. Add 1 cup of the confectioner’s sugar, beat on medium-low speed until most of the sugar is moistened.

• • Beat in the lemon zest. Gradually add in the remaining sugar, one cup at a time. You may need more or less depending on how soft the butter is. Beat on medium-low speed until the sugar is moistened.

• Add the 2-3 tablespoons of lemon juice depending on how creamy you want the frosting to be. Turn the speed up to medium-high and beat until light and fluffy. Scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed.

Emily’s Lemon Trifle

LEMON CAKE:

• 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1 1/4 cups low-fat buttermilk
• 4 large egg whites
• 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
• 2 teaspoons grated lemon zest
• 1 stick unsalted butter — at room temperature (8 tablespoons or 4 ounces)
• 1/2 teaspoon pure lemon extract
  
  

DIRECTIONS:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Butter and flour two 8×2-inch round cake pans, line with parchment paper, then butter the parchment.

2. In a medium bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt. In a separate medium bowl or large measuring cup, whisk together the buttermilk and egg whites.

3. Put the granulated sugar and lemon zest in the bowl of standing mixer or a large mixing bowl and beat momentarily on low. Add the butter and beat on medium speed for 3 full minutes, until very light and fluffy. Beat in the lemon extract.

4. Beating on medium speed, alternate the dry and wet ingredients starting and ending with the dry. Beat until smooth after each addition. Beat for 2 additional minutes on medium speed, ensuring the batter is very well combined and that plenty of air has been beaten into it.

5. Divide the batter evenly between the two pans. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes, or when a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Place the cake pans on a wire rack and let cool 5 minutes, then run a dull knife around the sides of the cake to loosen. Gently invert the cake onto a rack, let cool to room temp.

LEMON CUSTARD:

• 3 lemons
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 1/4 pound unsalted butter, room temperature
• 4 extra-large eggs
• 1/2 cup lemon juice (3 to 4 lemons)
• 1/8 teaspoon kosher salt

DIRECTIONS:

1. Zest 3 lemons into food processor, avoid white flesh of lemon, and add the sugar. Pulse until zest is minced with the sugar and fragrant.

2. Move sugar and zest mixture into a stand mixer or medium bowl and cream butter into the sugar zest. Beat in eggs, 1 at a time. Add lemon juice and salt, mix until combined.

3. Pour mixture into a saucepan and cook mixture over low-medium heat until thickened, about 10 minutes. Whisk constantly. When thickened, remove from heat and refrigerate to cool.

WHIPPED CREAM:

• 2 cups heavy cream
• 5-7 tbsp sugar
• 1-2 tsp Lemon extract (optional)

DIRECTIONS:

1. Chill large bowl and mixer attachments in freezer.

2. Add heavy cream and sugar into chilled bowl and beat until stiff peaks form.

3. You can add a teaspoon or two of lemon extract to ramp up the lemon flavor, but it isn’t required. Refrigerate.

ASSEMBLY:

• 1 box of Nabisco vanilla lemon wafers
• Lemon Cake (recipe above)
• Lemon curd (recipe above)
• Whipped cream (recipe above)

DIRECTIONS:

1. Take the room temperature cakes and cut into 1-inch squares. Set aside.

2. Layer bottom of trifle bowl with a thin layer of lemon curd. Place cake squares into a single layer over the curd.

3. Layer more lemon curd with rubber spatula, and then whipped cream with clean rubber spatula. Gently press down after each layer. Continue layer cake, curd, then whipped cream. End with a lemon curd layer before piping on whipped cream designs or layer with whipped cream. Crumble and decorate with Nabisco lemon vanilla wafers. Chill until serving.

Lemons

Such a humble fruit, really.  Many people use lemons daily without even giving them a thought.  Adding a bit to water, to drink more or using them in various recipes, lemon is a modern-life staple in many homes.  Recently neighbors had a week sharing lemon dishes with one another.  Decided to post all of the award-winning creations here to share with others and to save these enjoyable recipes for future references.

My lemon contribution was Lemon Gummy Bears.  There are a LOT of different recipes online for homemade, DIY, Gummy Bears.  If you are eating Scripturally-clean foods, you may need to make your own gummies in order to avoid pork-gelatin.  Still others want to make their own to control allergens such as food dyes and other chemical-like ingredients which commercially available gummies often contain.

One on-line retailer of Gummy Bear products lists the typical ingredients in commercially available gummy bears as: corn syrup, sucrose, gelatin, citric acid, apple juice concentrate, sodium citrate, coconut oil, natural and artificial flavors, carnauba wax, red 40, yellow 5 and blue 1. 

My Recipe?  No artificial ingredients. But how does it taste?  Several of the people who sampled the DIY Homemade Lemon Gummy Bears stated they tasted better than store-purchased bears.  Try them for yourself and see what you think: 

Lemon Gummy Bears

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 Cups Lemon Juice (fresh squeezed is best)
• 3/4 Cup Applesauce (Note: if you use cinnamon applesauce, you will see occasional cinnamon flakes in your end product)
  
• 6 Tablespoons Unflavored Gelatin
• 1 Teaspoon Sweetener of choice (or if you are okay with sugar–add sugar to taste)
• 5 drops Lemon Vitality.  (I used Young Living Lemon Vitality Essential Oil)

Method:

1.  Place the fresh-squeezed (or bottled) lemon juice into a room-temperature sauce pan.
2. Add the applesauce to the lemon juice.
3. Optional: If you want your lemon gummies to look a bit more “lemon” colored, add a pinch of ground turmeric powder. The photos below do not include the additional turmeric coloring. 
   
4. Whisk the above ingredients together in the room-temperature sauce pan.
5. Sprinkle the gelatin on top of the saucepan mixture and allow this to sit at room temperature for 5 minutes.
6. At this point, your mixture will be thick with the majority of the liquid absorbed.  If not, your gelatin may not be active, as gummies need to be THICK at room temp. NOTE: If you want to use sugar–put in the sugar now, before heating (below).  If you are using a sweetener, don’t add it until the heating process is over.
   
7. Place the sauce pan over medium heat.
8. Whisk or stir occasionally until the gelatin dissolves and the mixture is smooth. 
9. Remove the sauce pan from heat.
10. Whisk in sweetener of choice (if using) and add the Lemon Vitality YLEO drops.

The mixture is now ready to use filling silicone gummy bear molds.  If you don’t have gummy bear molds, any silicone mold will work.  Alternatively, pour the mixture into a glass pan, allow to cool, then cut into squares or other geometric shapes of choice to enjoy.

To fill the gummy bear molds, it works best to place your molds on a cookie sheet.  Fill the molds with the gummy bear mixture.  Let it cool on the counter top for about an hour.  Then place it in the fridge until firm.  Store in the fridge. 

NOTE: These non-commercially made gummies do not have stabilizer in them so the warmth of your mouth and/or hands can melt them much quicker than their store-purchased counterpart.  This gives an enjoyable burst of flavor! 

FLAVOR VARIETY TIP: Switch the Lemon Vitality for Citrus Fresh Vitality, Lemon Vitality, Thieves Vitality, Orange Vitality or any other favorite Vitality Oil to switch up the awesome flavorings.

Have you made Gummy Bears before?  If so, which kind? 

Ghee – Clarified Butter

One Brand of Ghee-Clarified Butter

Have you heard the buzz about ghee, or clarified butter–which is butter with all of the solids removed?  If so, you have probably wondered if the buzz is worth the expense (wow, it is expensive, hm?!) .  If you’ve not heard any of the buzz about this product–then it is time to check it out now. 

Here is a video with Dr. Berg summarizing his take on the product.

 

Candied Pecans (Keto)

INGREDIENTS:

• 1.5 Cups Pecans (160 grams) roasted
• 1/2 Cup Erythritol (105 grams) or sweetener of choice
• 2 TBSP Water
• 1/4 tsp maple extract
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp ginger
• 1/4 tsp nutmeg or clove
• 1/4 tsp salt

METHOD:

1. Mix together water, sweetener, spices, salt and maple flavoring until combined.
2. Bring to a simmer over medium heat until the sweetener is fully dissolved.
3. Stir in pecans to coat with mixture.
4. Continue to cook and stir until the water has evaporated of and the syrup is think enough to coat all of the nuts completely.
5. Remove from heat.
6. Spread out unto a baking sheet with a non-stick baking mat or parchment paper covering it so that the nuts are in a single layer.
7. Let cool completely before storing in an air-tight container at room temp.

NOTES:

If you would like a “frosted” look to your spiced nuts, once the nuts are fully cool, sprinkle on a small amount of granulated keto sweetener, and then shake off the excess before storing.

These are great as in a salad (think to replace croutons) or as a snack.

Original recipe notes: These can be sealed for up to 2 months in a sealed jar or container. Don’t store in the fridge because of condensation issues. Store in the freezer for up to six months. Or eat them right away! Yum, Yum!