Lemon « Hot Polka Dot

27Apr/10

Holy Muffins Batman!

This muffin has attitude. Just look at them sitting there all unassuming, all casual, all cute. Then you put one in your mouth and it's like, BAM! Flavour town!

You remember the original Batman series right? Of course you do. Silly me. So you would obviously recall those hilarious fight sound animations. If not, here are some examples to jog your memory...

Thwaak!

Zowee!

Blam!

Awwk!

Biff!

Oooff!

Bloop!

Yeah, you remember now. Aren't onomatopoeias fun? These muffins remind me of Batman and Robin, Lemon and Ginger. The dynamic duo. The caped crusaders. Fighting crime and taste bud boredom across the fine city of Gotham.

(Insert Adam West voice over here) To the kitchen! We haven't one moment to lose!

Take that taste bud! Aiiieee!

And that! Gliipp!

And now, to finish you off! (My favourite move) Ker-sploosh!

The thought of Batman in my kitchen is giving me the giggles so here is your recipe.

Tagged as: Ginger, Glaze, Lemon, Muffins and Scones, Recipe Continue reading

13Apr/10

It’s a Good Thing.

I've just realized that all this time I haven't been properly creaming butter and sugar. Many cookie recipes start out by telling you to “cream together butter and sugar until light and fluffy”. I read this and thought, ok cool thirty seconds should do it. I the peek inside the mixer with satisfaction and say, that looks pretty fluffy.

Wrong!

Martha has shown me the light. In this recipe she asks you to cream together butter and sugar until light and fluffy for not one, not two, but five minutes. I was like, what?! Seriously that long? Well alright. If you say so, Martha. And then something magical happened. My butter and sugar became one harmonized ingredient and fluffed like nobody's business. It's a good thing.

Now, don't get me wrong, it's not like I've been ruining countless batches of cookies before this epiphany. There's lots of evidence to the contrary. They all turned out just fine, apart from that one sheet of peanut butter cookies I tried to shape like four leaf clovers for St. Patrick's Day, but they still tasted just great if a little lopsided. You never saw those. Be grateful you didn't.

So I guess we learn something new everyday. I've learned to obey the greatness that is Martha Stewart. But then again, maybe I didn't. I changed a lot with this recipe. I'm sure the original recipe would be delicious without my tweaking, but I wanted a bit more lemon flavour and a pinch more crystallized ginger. That's ok right? Forgive my insolence Martha, but I made them yummier. Now please don't hurt me.

Tagged as: Candy, Citrus, Cookies, Ginger, Lemon, Recipe Continue reading

27Mar/10

Got The Blues.

I baked you a cake. A Blueberry Boy Bait Bundt Cake with Lemon Blueberry Glaze. Try to say that ten times fast.

I love blueberries not just for their adorable smallness, their violet blue hue and explosion of sweetness. Blueberries also hold a special place in my heart right there next to jars of buttons, kittens and antique brooches.

I have fond memories of picking giant, juicy wild blueberries when I was a kid camping in Algonquin Park with my family. We spent every summer there until I was eleven. It's where I learned to swim in Lake of Two Rivers. It's where I learned to draw in the sand of the warm beaches. It's where I distinctly recall drinking orange juice so cold every morning that you could feel it going down into your stomach. It's where I fell in love with fresh blueberry pancakes and bumbleberry pies.

Granted this cake is made with frozen blueberries, but still full of lots of blueberry goodness. Next time, fresh blueberries. Promise.

Tagged as: Blueberry, Cakes, Cinnamon, Citrus, Glaze, Lemon, Recipe Continue reading

24Mar/10

Beater Licking Good.

One of the happiest childhood memories that I have is licking the beaters whenever I helped my Mom in the kitchen. Whether it was cookie dough or brownie batter or icing, licking the beaters was always the best part about baking at that young age. It's that little preview of the treat you're helping to create, that little something extra that seems like it shouldn't be allowed but it is.

I also have a less than happy childhood memory associated with the beaters. When I was a kid I had long curly brown hair that I would always get compliments on. I'm sure you can see where this is going. Long hair + beaters = bad news. So this one time when I was helping my Mom with the baking I got a little too close for comfort and a piece of my hair zipped right into the running beaters and yanked out. Ouch. It wasn't much but it still hurt. Needless to say we didn't eat that batch of cookies and from then on I was to tie my hair back when helping in the kitchen. But I did get to eat some Soda-Licious gummy fruit snacks to ease the pain and dry my tears. That was never allowed at home. Fruit snacks were strictly for school lunches and nothing else, though I did attempt to sneak them whenever I could.

The reason for all this nostalgia about beaters is yet to come. As an adult I don't normally lick the beaters anymore. I tend to just throw them in the sink and my inner child always fights to get free and save the smidgen of wasted batter still clinging to them. There are times though when licking the beaters is absolutely necessary like with this White Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting. I stood there in my kitchen and licked clean the spatula, the scraped bowl and the mixing paddle. I couldn't help myself. My inner child made me do it. My electric beaters might have transformed into a Kitchen Aid Mixer paddle attachment, but that doesn't mean I'm not allowed to lick it.

Tagged as: Citrus, Cream Cheese, Cupcakes, Frosting, Icing, Lemon, Recipe, Strawberry, White Chocolate Continue reading

13Mar/10

How Not to Waste a Dozen Eggs.

I danced in my kitchen today. Have you ever done that? I highly recommend it. It's quite liberating.

I've actually done a great many things in the kitchen.

I've cried.
I've screamed.
I've drawn blood.
I've broken stuff.
I've burned myself.
I've threatened food.

Seriously, I wish I were kidding. You know, the usual.

But today, today was different. Today was the day I mastered a Martha Stewart recipe for the very first time, turned up the volume on Metric and danced my heart out. I also may or may not have screamed “I'm Martha Stewart!” Ok yeah, I did. You'll understand when you scroll down. Trust me. If you have five lemons and a dozen eggs you need to make this. Now.

Tagged as: Citrus, Cupcakes, Lemon, Lemon Curd, Meringue, Recipe Continue reading

10Mar/10

Food for Thought.

I take things personally. I try not to, but I can't help it.

If I discover that a person dislikes me I'll wrack my brain for the answer to their derision. I'm not the type of person to hate anyone so it's hard for me to understand why someone would point their hatred at me. This is especially annoying when I've done everything I can to be pleasant to someone. Some people just can't be pleased I guess.

I cry when I burn dinner.

I feel like a failure if I forgot to get something at the grocery store.

I mope around disconsolate and detached when Tastespotting declines my photos.

This might have something to do with being a perfectionist. It makes me my own worst enemy. If I expect perfection in all things then I'm just asking for disappointment. No one and nothing is ever perfect. It's hard to love the flaws. It's hard to turn failure into success.

But I'll try.

For now, here's some pretty darn close to perfect Apple Berry Crisp.

Tagged as: Apple, Blueberry, Cinnamon, Crisp, Lemon, Raspberry, Recipe Continue reading

8Mar/10

Sablés for Sable.

On this sunny windy day in Edmonton I decided to make some Spring Sablés. I know, I know, it's not Spring yet, but a girl can dream can't she? This past week has been mild, clear and beautiful but I learned today that we might actually get more snow. What a tease that mother nature is. She dangles the promise of melting snows and green grass and even coaxes us out of our winter coats only to pull the Spring rug out from under us and replace it with Winter snowdrifts. Meanie.

I can still try to wish away the interminable Winter with cookies. Deliciously fresh, surprisingly citrus, modestly sweet cookies. They're aptly named too. Sable happens to be the name of my boyfriend's lovely daughter. She approves of all my cookies and makes sure to thoroughly test them. Lemon Cherry Sablés for Sable.

Tagged as: Cherry, Citrus, Cookies, Lemon, Recipe Continue reading

4Mar/10

The Price of Great Muffins.

So I just burnt my nose. Seems odd right? It get's weirder. I burnt the inside of my nose. I was a little too anxious about inhaling the intoxicating scent of a fresh batch of Lemon Blueberry Streusel Muffins that when I opened the oven to check on them I got a face full of 350 degree air.

That's normal right? They smelled so good I burnt my nose. It was worth it though. So worth it.

I was first intrigued by this recipe when I found that it included lemon. Who doesn't like the combination of lemon and blueberry? No one, that's who. Then I wanted to add cinnamon to the streusel recipe because, let's face it, cinnamon is just awesome. I was worried about how the lemon and cinnamon flavours would mingle. You might be too. Don't let them scare you, they're just muffins. Delicious, delicious muffins. Nothing to fear here except an unhealthy compulsion to eat every last crumb. I double dog dare you.

Tagged as: Blueberry, Cinnamon, Citrus, Lemon, Muffins and Scones, Recipe, Streusel Continue reading

12Feb/10

Cake Because I Can.

Generally baking is something people do on occasion. A cake for a birthday party. Hour d'ouvres for a get together. Shortbread for the holidays. Chocolates for Valentine's Day. Rarely do people bake for the fun of it. Instead baking is this stressful thing built around high expectations and consequential disappointments when it crumbles.

Well last weekend I spent hours in the kitchen making a cake. Yes a cake. And here's the best part: there was no occasion. I just woke up that day and said to myself, today's a good day to make a Lemon Raspberry Cake. So I did. And no one complained. Why would anyone complain about cake? It's cake.

I propose we all bake more often. And maybe exercise a little bit more to compensate come think of it. Making delicious food is one of the simplest, most gratifying, tasks that a person can do and it makes everyone around you happy.

So here you are. Lemon Raspberry Cake complete with raspberry jam filling and lemon cream cheese icing.

This recipe was transformed from my Oma's Lemon Loaf recipe into the cake you see before you. My Oma is an amazing cook and baker. She always has the kitchen stocked with chocolate chip cookies among other sweet things. My Opa has at least one of her cookies each day and complains innocently if the supply runs out.

Lemon Loaf is one of my absolute favourites of her many recipes. I love anything with citrus in it as you might have already guessed. I remember when I was a kid she would bake Lemon Loaf and wrap it up in wax paper then keep it in a re-purposed dairy milk bag as she still does today. See in Ontario, milk comes in bags more often than jugs or cartons. Might seem strange but it's worth clearing up in order to understand the whole milk bag thing. A very Grandmotherly thing to do I suppose, save bags and containers to make use of them elsewhere. Anyways that bag of delicious Lemon Loaf would not remain in it's place on the kitchen counter for long. It would disappear slice after yummy slice until we made short work of the dessert.