When I discovered Numi Mate-Lemon Myrtle tea I was an instant fan. It has a sweet lemon flavor that is lemony but not pure lemon. There is a complexity from the lemon myrtle and mate combination that is awesome.

So, it really was only a matter of time until I created a blueberry muffin with it, wasn’t it? I mean it was just waiting for me.

These were so good. The tea added a nice underlying flavor, and the lemon was subtle rather than tangy. The crumb is moist and tender thanks to a bit of sour cream, but if you don’t do dairy you can leave that out.

The glaze is basic butter, confectioners, and tea with a squeeze of lemon. It added a nice finish to both the look and the flavor of the muffins.

If you are using frozen blueberries you can just add them straight from the freezer. You don’t want to thaw first because they will be so juicy that it will throw your liquid measurement off and your muffins will be soggy.

Mate-Lemon Myrtle Muffins with Blueberries

• 2 packets of Numi Mate Lemon tea
• 3/4 cup simmering water
• 2 cups flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp baking soda
• Zest from one lemon
• 2/3 cup sugar
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter melted and cooled slightly
• 2 tbs sour cream
• 1 cup blueberries

1. Preheat oven to 400F
2. Steep both tea bags in the water for 3 minutes. Remove teabags and allow tea to cool.
3. Mix dry ingredients together in a large bowl
4. Whisk remaining ingredients except blueberries together in another bowl.
5. Fold in the wet mixture to the dry
6. Stir in blueberries
7. Scoop into muffin cups and bake for 25 minutes, or until tops are golden and muffins test done.

Makes 12 muffins

Glaze:

• 1 cup confectioners
• 1/4 cup unsalted butter, melted
• 2 tablespoons Numi Mate Lemon tea
• Juice of half a lemon

1. Mix together until smooth
2. Spread over hot muffins

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I like tea cakes.  They aren’t too sweet, they aren’t hard to make, and they aren’t impressive, they are just comfortable to have around.

Sort of like reading a book that does not challenge you in the least but satisfies you deep inside, you know?

Tea cakes.  A really good tea cake should look nice enough to put on a tea table but be plain enough that you can serve leftovers for breakfast next to some eggs and bacon.  Right?

This one will do it.

I made this with the I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter baking sticks I was reviewing.  You can use those or you can certainly use real unsalted butter.

This cake is not too sweet, with a subtle lemon and Earl Grey flavor.  Really nice for tea or with breakfast, or a snack, or even dessert with maybe some fruit.  It goes together easily, keeps for a long time, and makes the house smell nice.

Can you really ask for more than that?

The original recipe is out of a very old cookbook that I have.  It is based on a recipe called Thrifty Poundcake, from the 1930s.  I changed ingredients and flavors but it is still thrifty, and still really good.

Earl Grey Tea Cake

• 3 cups cake flour, sifted
• 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• pinch of salt
• 2 sticks of unsalted butter or I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter baking sticks  (1 cup)
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 3 eggs beaten
• 1/2 cup Earl Grey tea
• Juice of 1 lemon
• zest of 1 lemon

1. Sift dry ingredients together, stir in lemon peel
2. Cream butter with sugar and vanilla until fluffy.  Add eggs and beat well.
3. Mix tea and lemon juice
4. Add dry ingredients to creamed mixture alternatingly with tea mixture.  Beat well after each addition.
5. Grease a bundt pan and flour it.  Pour in batter
6. Bake at 350 for 1 hour
7. Cool for five minutes and then turn pan upside down
8. Sprinkle with confectioners sugar or glaze with lemon glaze

Lemon Glaze

• 1/4 cup butter melted
• 2 tbs lemon juice
• Enough confectioner’s to make a thick glaze

Mix together and drizzle over cake.  Grate lemon zest over top.

As you can see I tend to glaze mine and then sprinkle with a little confectioner’s from a shaker.  It just looks prettier that way!

Images:Marye Audet

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Not magazine cover beautiful…but delicious.

I don;t think I am done with these yet…I think that I still plan on working with them and seeing if I can come up with the dream recipe.  Taste-wise these were close it was the texture that was off.

Don’t blend the pistachios too much, the oil will cause them to turn into pistachio butter rather than pistachio meal.

The batter is an amazing meon green but the cookies seem to get an edible color by the time they are cooked

Pistachio Macarons

• 1-3/4 cup confectioner’s sugar
• grated peel from one lemon
• juice from one lemon
  
• 1 cup pistachios
• 3 large egg whites
• Pinch of salt
• 1/4 cup granulated sugar
• 3 oz white chocolate melted

Grind the confectioner’s and the pistachios up together in the blender until it is a fine powder.  Set aside.

Beat egg whites and salt until frothy, slowly add sugar until medium peaks form.  Slowly add lemon peel and juice, keep beating.  Egg whites should have medium stiff peaks when the beater is lifted.

Fold the pistachio and confectioners mixture into the egg whites.  Try to keep the egg whites from losing volume.

Pipe in small circles on a parchment lined baking sheet.  Allow to stand for 15 minutes.

Bake at 325 for 15 minutes or until dry looking and done.  Cool.

FIll with lemon curd and drizzle with white chocolate

Makes 12.

image:marye audet (c) 2009

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As I have said before, I love breakfast but I really hate making it.  Yes, I am a morning person, and yes I love cooking but the idea of getting up and having to cook is what does me in.

So, in my fantasies I am the quintessential 1950’s sit-com mom (no! Not Lucy!) with the apron, the coiffed hair, the pearls and high heels; but in reality I wear jeans, barefoot most of the time, and I almost always have flour or batter marks on my jean legs where I have cleaned my hands on them rather than being reasonable and wearing an apron.  There is nothing…NOTHING like going to the grocery store to pick up an ingredient you overlooked and realizing that you have two perfectly placed flour handprints on your backside.

Yes.  True confessions.  Oh, and that spot on my jeans?  Chili.

My life is a sitcom sometimes but not the logical and reasonable ones of the fifties and sixties.  For example, as I write this I am sitting at the kitchen table in a Saturday morning kitchen (messy).  The fire is crackling in the fireplace and I am sipping coffee that should have been either drank or poured out hours ago.   I happened to lean forward in my chair and one of the cats took that as an invitation to curl up on most of the chair seat, leaving me balancing precariously on the edge and unable to lean back and enjoy the heat of the fire as opposed to just the cheerful crackle of it.  The dog, on the other hand, is on the cold, wood floor, looking at me imploringly to put my feet up on the hearth so he has an excuse to lay up there by the warmth of the fire and still be fulfilling his dogly duty of lying at my feet.

In the midst of  all of this I really do have a recipe for you.  I made lemon pistachio muffins and they are sunshiny and good…and they are also from a 1950s cookbook that I have.  Well, the pistachio part isn’t…

Anyway, These make twelve 1950s style muffins.  That means they are about 1/4 the size of what we consider a muffin to be now.  Plan on 12 little ones or 6 “normal size” with this recipe.

Lemon Pistachio Muffins

• 1 1/3 c flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 3 tablespoons butter, melted
• grated rind from 2 lemons
• juice from two lemons (about 1/2 cup)
• 1 egg
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 1/2 cup chopped pistachios
• confectioner’s sugar for dusting

1. Preheat the oven to 425
2. Mix the sugar, egg, butter and lemon juice well
3. Beat in the lemon rind and sour cream
4. Mix the dry ingredients together and stir in
5. Fold in the pistachios
6. Put in muffin cups and bake for 20 minutes or until done
7. Cool slightly and dust with confectioners sugar

How easy is that?

images:(c) 2009 Marye Audet, all rights reserved

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So, everyone who knows me  in real life knows I have these amazingly vivid dreams.  Sometimes when I wake up I have trouble figuring out what is real and what is not.  I think I have reality issues anyway.

But, some of my best recipes have been created from a dream that I was eating something.  My dream last night was amazing.

Apparently I was staying at a small, country inn to help create a menu.  The room where I was staying was incredible with fresh cut bourbon roses on the antique dresser, a beautiful antique bed and embroidered duvet.  Much like my own bedroom, everything was decorated with roses.  The windows were small panes of glass and they opened outward, and I would guess by the color of the light that it was June.

The inns kitchen was vintage but was a dream, with double wall ovens, and a a wood burning oven in the outdoor kitchen which was flanked by the kitchen garden.  There was a huge  commercial stove, and counter space everywhere, yet it still looked like an old and charming kitchen; with a copper apron sink, butcher block counters, and a pave stone floor.  I would love to be able to replicate it.

All of that was very nice, but why am I telling you about it?

Well the main part of the dream was cookies.  Yep…cookies.  As I was walking through the meadow a man came up to me and handed me a plate of lemon cookies like I have never had before.  They were almost like macaroons with lemon curd and white chocolate..the cookie simply crumbled away and melted in your mouth leaving the tangy richness of the lemon curd behind.

The weirdest thing was that the guy was not the dark, brooding, romantic Heathcliffe sort that I would expect to find in my dream…he was very average, middle aged and not particularly attractive..but he made the most seductive cookies I have ever experienced.

So, guess what I will be doing over the next few days?  No! I am married…I won’t be looking for the guy..I will be trying to come up with the recipe for those darn cookies!

I’ll post it when I get it.  And if you happen to see a plain, middle aged man with a plate of lemon cookies? Get the recipe!

image:morguefile

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Carrots are not often served cooked around here. Not because we don’t like them but because my kids will go through a five pound bag of organic carrots in about two days..so if I want to do carrots I better have them on the menu for the day I shop.

These do not have a heavy flavor..the aroma of the anise and vanilla are delicate and the flavor is more of a nuance than anything. Still, they have a nice complex flavor, not too sweet,  and are a good side to chicken or pork. Probably fish too, but we don’t eat fish much.

These are not particularly sweet.  I added a little sugar to enhance the sugars in the carrots but don’t think of these as being glazed, because they aren’t.

I did these in the microwave, but you could do them on top of the stove. Don’t cook too long, you want them to have a little texture.  I just peeled the carrots and left them whole, but of course you could slice or julienne, adjust the cooking time accordingly.

I garnished with a little chopped parley for the picture..but if I had chopped mint I would have used that.

These would also be cool with a combination of the purple, red, and orange carrots, with maybe some parsnips thrown in as well.

Anise & Vanilla Carrots

• 4 lbs carrots, peeled
• 1/4 cup lemon juice
• 1 tablespoon lemon zest
• 1 star anise
• 2 inches of vanilla bean or 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
• pinch of salt
• coarsely ground pepper to taste
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1/4 cup unsalted butter

Place the lemon juice, zest, sugar, butter, anise, vanilla bean (if using extract add it after the sauce is cooked) , salt and pepper in a microwave save casserole or in a pan if you are using the stove.  Bring to a boil and remove from heat.  Allow to steep for about five minutes.

Add the carrots and cover.  Steam until the carrots are just tender, about 8 minutes.  If you are using the stove top do not let them boil dry-add a little water if needed.  Stir once in awhile and bring the sauce up over the carrots as they cook.

If you used vanilla extract add it just before serving.

Serves 8

Image:marye audet

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Lemon snaps are an easy old fashioned cookie that you really don’t hear much about anymore, and that is a pity.  They are crispy on the outside, tender on the inside and lemony sweet throughout.  There is just nothing that compares with them for an old fashioned treat…unless it is gingersnaps…or molasses cookies…or…

I don’t know, I tend to think of the gingersnaps as being an autumn treat, while the lemon snaps seem lighter somehow.  More summery.  If you can wait long enough they are even better the next day.

I think my family wants to thank those of you who requested more cookie recipes.  They seem to be enjoying the plethora of cookies that seem to never accumulate in my cookie jar. 

A couple of tips when working with these.  They may not totally develop the crackly appearance in the oven.  Just gently push the rounded tops down as soon as you take them out of the oven and the problem will be solved. Do not over cook!

You can also sandwich two of these together with buttercream, or white chocolate ganache, or whatever you like.  Dip half of each cookie in bittersweet chocolate…the possibilities are endless.  Personally  I prefer them just warm from the oven with a cup of coffee.

Lemon Snaps 

1/3 c unsalted butter

1 c sugar

2 eggs

3 tbs lemon juice

1 1/2 tsp lemon extract

3 1/2 c flour

2 1/2 tsp baking powder

1/4  tsp baking soda

1 tsp lemon peel

a few gratings of whole nutmeg

1/2 tsp salt

sugar for rolling

Preheat oven to 375F

Cream butter and sugar together and beat in eggs.  Add the lemon juice and extract.

Mix dry ingredients and stir in until well blended.

Roll dough between hands to form walnut sized balls.  Roll in sugar and place on cookie sheet that is covered with silpat.  Bake for 10 minutes.  Remove from oven and gently press down tops while cookies are warm. about 4 dozen.

Image: Marye Audet

Content:Marye Audet for Baking Delights 

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It should be tender and crumble-y, somewhat like a biscuit but not. How is that for a definition? Be sure to cut in the butter thoroughly because that make a big difference in the tenderness of the finished product. It is at it’s best hot from the oven, butter melting on a steaming slice.

Soda bread was developed in Ireland in about 1850 when baking soda was introduced into the country. Because of the climate of Ireland hard wheat was difficult to grow and yeast breads were difficult to make. Soda made the difference by replacing the yeast and creating a soft, well risen bread.

The addition of lemon and lavender is a nice change, giving  a citrus tang to this slightly sweet bread. Try it with some lemon curd for your morning tea or coffee.

When purchasing lavender buds be sure that you are getting organic, edible lavender.

Lemon-Lavender Soda Bread
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/3 cup white sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
4 Tablespoons lavender buds
2 Tablespoons grated lemon peel
1/2 tsp vanilla
2 Tbs Lemon Juice
1 cup buttermilk
1/4 cup butter cut in small pieces
sugar for dusting

Preheat oven to 375°F.
Spray 8-inch-diameter cake pan with nonstick spray, or butter it.
Whisk flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, lemon peel, lavender, and baking soda in large bowl to blend. Add butter. Using fingertips, rub in until coarse crumbs form. Make well in center of flour mixture. Add buttermilk and lemon juice. Gradually stir in buttermilk to blend.

Using floured hands, shape dough into ball. Transfer to prepared pan and flatten slightly. Cut a cross shape in top of dough. Sprinkle dough with sugar.

Bake bread until brown and tester inserted into center comes out clean, about 40 minutes. Cool bread in pan 10 minutes.

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  Still haveing computer problems, now both of our computers are down, so here I sit at the library! Is that dedication or what?  Unfortunatly I can’t upload photos so most of my blogging will be without illustration..

2 c flour

1/2 c sugar

1/4 c packed brown sugar

2 1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

3/4 c milk

1 egg, beaten

1/4 c unsalted butter

1/2 tsp mexican vanilla

1/2 tsp freshly grated lemon peel

1 cup white chocolate chopped in chunks OR white chocolate chips

2 c fresh blueberries

Topping

1/3 c granulated sugar

1/4 c flour

1/4 tsp cinnamon

1/8 tsp ginger

1/4 c unsalted butter

Preheat oven to 375. Put paper liners in muffin cups or use the silicon liners that are available ..I LOVE them. Reuseable so they are a frugal choice AND environmentally responsible.   0

  Combine flour, sugars, baking powder, salt in a bowl. Stir in milk, egg, butter,lemon peel and vanilla. Stir in white chocolate and blueberries. Spoon  into muffin cups.

  Prepare topping:

combine dry topping ingredients in a bowl. With cold fingers rub butter into dry ingredients until crumbly and looks like coarse crumbs.

Sprinkle streusel on muffins. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in pans for 5 minutes and then remove to cool (if they last that long)

Post from: Baking Delights

  This morning I made crepes for breakfast. I don’t do that often because it always seems in my head that they take a long time..But the truth is that crepes are really quick to do, impressive and delicious.

I make lemon curd in the microwave when I am pushed for time. It is quite easy to do..altho the finished product does not have quite the same silky texture as the kind on top of the stove. Use your lemon curd recipe, put all together except the butter..microwave on highfor 3-5 minutes stirring every minute until thick, remove..whisk inbutter a little at  a time until smooth.  I have a lime curd recipe here,

and you can easily substitue lemon juice for key lime.

Be sure your crepe pan is good and hot before pouring the batter in.and if you are like me the first one is a gift to the dog.

Crepes

1 c flour

1 c milk

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

2 tbs butter melted

2 eggs

whisk the eggs until foamy

add the rest of the ingredients and whisk gently until you have a thin batter. Do not over whisk as it will cause the finished crepe to lose it’s delicacy.

put your pan on high heat and let it get good and hot..melt a small bit of butter in it, pouring out the exces into a bowl..do not let the butter start to burn.I also usually spray my pan with PAM just to be sure that there is no sticking.

Pour the batter in with a 1/4 c measure, simultaniously swirling the hot pan so the batter flows in a thin layer over the pan. Cook until the top side has popped bubbles and is no longer shiny

flip carefully and cook a few seconds…remove from pan to plate.

At this point you can stack them with waxpaper between and freeze, refrigerate, or set aside. I usually roll mine as they come off the stove because I am a whiz at multi tasking.

Take a couple of tablespoons of the curd and place it in a line down the crepe about 1/3 of the way in…Conversely, you can cover the whole crepe wih the curd..a little messier but delicious..Carefully roll the crepe to enclose the filling, sprinkle with sugar or powdered sugar, garnish, and serve.

8-10 depending on size of crepes

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