Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins

Have you ever cooked/baked something only because you really wanted to try a new ingredient, or perhaps cook in your new pot or pan, use your brand new ice cream maker, creme brûlée torch, or some other appliance? Well, this muffin was inspired not by an ingredient or a cooking utensil/appliance, but by a beautiful ceramic dish that I wanted to present it in! I was determined to make something pretty to put on this dish as soon as I received it in the mail. A fresh citrusy muffin adorned with little chocolate flowers seemed perfect to go with the lovely red mushroom decoration on the plate.

 

A little bit background on this plate that I’m raving about - My friend Maitreyee makes beautiful ceramic kitchenware & decorative pieces, and she was nice enough to customize this plate for me. You can check out her shop, YayClay (love the name!) on Etsy, or Facebook.

Ingredients: (Makes 18)

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 cup milk

3 Tbsp lemon juice

1/2 cup sour cream

¼ cup unsweetened applesauce

¼ cup canola oil

1-1¼  cup white sugar

Zest from 2 lemons

1tsp vanilla extract

2 eggs
4 tsp poppy seeds

(Oil + Applesauce can be substituted with ½ cup butter)

 

Preheat oven to 350°F and line a muffin pan with cupcake liners.

 

Sift the flour, baking powder and baking soda in a bowl. Add salt, mix and set aside.

 

In another bowl mix milk, lemon juice and sour cream, and set aside.

 

In a large bowl, cream together oil, applesauce, sugar, vanilla extract and lemon zest. Add eggs and beat well. Alternately add the flour mixture and the wet ingredients, mixing gently as you fold in the flour. Do not overbeat. Fold in poppy seeds.

 

Pour batter into the lined muffin tin (~¾ full), and bake in preheated oven for ~20-25 minutes until golden brown in color with tops that bounce back when touched.

 

If you want to get a little fancy and add a glaze, mix ½ cup powdered sugar with just enough lemon juice (or milk/water) to get a thick paste. It only takes a couple teaspoons of liquid. Spread or drizzle the glaze on the muffin while it is still warm. Sprinkle some lemon zest and poppy seeds on top for a beautiful presentation and an extra boost of citrus flavor.

~Gayatri

 

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Orange-glazed Cranberry Orange Bread

A Cooks of Cake and Kindness Culinary Experience Part III: To round out our 3-course dinner of Portabella mushroom caps and Spaghetti and No-Meat Balls, we finished off with a deliciously tangy citrus dessert - certainly a departure from our typical chocolate-based choices! Not only did we have our hungry dinner party to feed (who, by this time, had a high expectation for dessert!), but we also promised one of our coworkers some baked goods, so we ended up making 1.5x the original recipe, resulting in some of the odd ingredient quantities seen below.

 

Ingredients

2¼ cups all-purpose flour (we would typically do a partial substitution with whole wheat flour, but this was our first time making this bread so we didn't want to try anything too radical)

¾ tsp salt (more like just a pinch)

1.5 tsp baking powder

1.5 cups brown sugar

zest of 1-2 large oranges (we had clementines on hand, so we used the zest from 5 of them)

1⅛ cup buttermilk (if you don't have buttermilk on hand, you can make your own: 1 cup buttermilk = 1 cup milk + ~1 TBSP vinegar. Let it sit for a few minutes until the milk curdles)

¾ cup canola oil

3 large eggs, slightly beaten (we used egg-beaters)

1.5 TSBP orange juice

¾ tsp vanilla extract

1 cup fresh cranberries (we used dried cranberries, soaked in warm water for about 30 minutes)

4 mini-loaf pans or 2 4x8 loaf pans (we made one larger and 2 mini loaves)

For orange glaze: ½-1 cup powdered sugar + 1-2 TBSP buttermilk + 1 tsp orange zest (or more if you want more orange flavor)

 

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Grease loaf pans and set them aside.

In a large bowl, mix together flour, salt, and baking powder. In a separate small bowl, combine sugar and orange zest (rub them together with your fingers to better infuse the orange flavor), then add to the flour mixture.

In another bowl, mix buttermilk, oil, eggs, orange juice, and vanilla. Slowly add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and stir until just combined. Drain the cranberries, then mix them into the batter. Pour batter into the prepared loaf pans, filling each pan until they are about ⅘ full.

Bake 30-40 minutes, or until toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. The larger loaves will take about 5-10 minutes longer than the small loaves. Once the bread is done baking, remove from the oven and let cool for 15 minutes.

While the bread is cooling, mix together the glaze. In a small bowl, start with 1 TBSP buttermilk and ½ cup powdered sugar and about 1 tsp orange zest. Whisk together until the glaze is smooth. Adjust the quantity of sugar and buttermilk as needed.

Drizzle the glaze over the bread. We did this in 2 steps: for the first, we drizzled enough to cover the top of the loaf, then waited about 10 minutes for this first layer of glaze to set. For the next application, we drizzled the glaze in a zig-zag or scribble pattern and let it set.

When you're ready for a sweet but tangy citrus dessert, slice and serve!

~Karla