Blueberries Again!

What a gorgeous week it has been! 50 degrees in February? Very strange, but I can't say I am missing the bitter cold winter winds. The spring like weather has made me think of all things fruity and delightful. I have recently found the most perfect recipe for a Blueberry Breakfast Cake. I found this on the Alexandra's Kitchen Blog  , just another food blog that I am in love with. This recipe is absolutely perfect for any time of year! It would make the most perfect breakfast for company around the holidays, or even just a brunch with friends. I will definitely be keeping this cake in my repertoire.

I know I always say it, but this really is the most simple recipe ever. I think it only took about 20 minutes to put together.
I started by fluffing my butter and sugar together. One of my most favorite things to do, I love the way the butter and sugar start out, and then what they become in the end! Nothing goes together better then butter and sugar. Along with the butter and sugar you throw in the zest of one lemon, which I love because it gives it a little tangy taste.

After the butter and sugar are nice and fluffy, I added one egg and a little vanilla and let that continue to mix. In the meantime I mixed my blueberries with 1/4 cup of flour. Mixing the blueberries with flour before adding them to the batter allows them to stick into the batter a little better.

Then in a separate bowl I mixed together my flour, baking powder and salt.

The treat in this recipe is the buttermilk. It makes the batter really thick, but in the end it makes the cake so fluffy. Buttermilk really is a gem. I added my flour mixture, and buttermilk alternating back and fourth between the two until it was all mixed together. The batter was extremely thick, much thicker then your normal cake batter. Lastly I folded in my scrumptious blueberries and spread the batter out into a greased 9' pan.

I baked the cake for about 40 minutes. You can only imagine how delicious this made the house smell! We live in a tiny house, which when cooking or baking can be a blessing or a curse. Cakes and delights such as this makes the house smell yummy, opposed to Jake's fajitas that make the house smell like burnt meat, YIKES! Anyways! 40 minutes later this gorgeous, blueberry sweet came out of the oven.

It was almost impossible to allow it to cool before cutting into it. I was dying to see how it came out. About an hour later when it was finally time, I most definitely was not disappointed with the outcome. It was so moist and the blueberries just burst in your mouth, and there was a simple hint of lemon. YUM. I would most definitely recommend this recipe for any occasion. Make this for family and friends, they will thank you for ever and want the recipe! Thank you Alexandra's Kitchen for this sweet treat. 

Buttermilk-Blueberry Breakfast Cake

Serves 6-8
½ cup unsalted butter, room temperature
2 tsp. lemon zest or more — zest from 1 large lemon
7/8 cup* + 1 tablespoon sugar**
1 egg, room temperature
1 tsp. vanilla
2 cups flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. kosher salt
2 cups fresh blueberries
½ cup buttermilk
* 7/8 cup = 3/4 cup + 2 tablespoons
** This 1 tablespoon is for sprinkling on top
1. Preheat the oven to 350ºF. Cream butter with lemon zest and 7/8 cup of the sugar until light and fluffy.
2. Add the egg and vanilla and beat until combined. Meanwhile, toss the blueberries with ¼ cup of flour, then whisk together the remaining flour, baking powder and salt.
3. Add the flour mixture to the batter a little at a time, alternating with the buttermilk. Fold in the blueberries.
4. Grease a 9-inch square baking pan (or something similar) with butter or coat with non-stick spray. Spread batter into pan. Sprinkle batter with remaining tablespoon of sugar. Bake for 35 minutes. Check with a toothpick for doneness. If necessary, return pan to oven for a couple of more minutes. (Note: Baking for as long as 10 minutes more might be necessary.) Let cool at least 15 minutes before serving.

PB&J

I have recently returned from a trip to Florida, where I was visiting two of my very best friends, my sister and brother in law. It was a wonderful visit, and I miss them already!

 

Living in Florida you get spoiled my so many delightful restaurants and bakeries that you just can't find in Maine. While I was living in Florida one of my most favorite places to stop and get a treat was a little cupcake bakery called Sweet by Good Golly Miss Holly. Its an adorable shop with the most delicious cupcakes you've ever tasted in your life. Upon my arrival my sister and her husband surprised me with one dozen mini cupcakes from Sweet! 

Every single one of them was just as delicious as the last, but there was cupcake in particular that intrigued me, it was a Peanut Butter & Jelly Cupcake. It tasted exactly just like a sandwich and I was in love. When I got home I decided to try and recreate a version of this cupcake. I found a recipe on the Food Network that seemed easy enough. It was a regular yellow cupcake with strawberry jelly shot into the middle. 

The ingredients for the cupcakes were pretty simple. Flour, Sugar, Baking Powder, Sour Cream, Eggs, Butter, Vanilla, and Jelly. My adorable cupcake papers were a valentines gift from my sweet friend Meagan! They were perfect for valentines day! 

I started the process by creaming together the butter and the sugar. While that was being mixed I whisked together my flour and baking powder, and set it aside. After the butter and sugar was nice and fluffy I added the sour cream 

After that was well mixed I added my eggs, and vanilla, then slowly started to add my flour mixture and milk. Mixed it all together then they were ready to be scooped into the pan! 

 

And into the oven they went for about 20 minutes! 

Once they came out of the oven, I transferred them to a cooling rack and began on my peanut butter cream cheese frosting. The frosting was also very easy. In the kitchenaid I creamed my butter and cream cheese together and added the vanilla and peanut butter. Once it was all mixed together I threw in a little confectioners sugar for sweetness!

Now the fun part! Once they were cooled I filled a pastry bag with the delicious strawberry jelly. I filled each one until jelly was almost flowing out of the top.

Once the jelly was inserted in the middle, I frosted them with the peanut butter frosting. A little peanut butter and jelly treat!

I have to be honest, these were not my most favorite sweet I have ever made. The peanut butter frosting was a little much for me. If you are a hardcore peanut butter fan then these are for you! This is what this blog is all about, experimenting and learning!

We'll see what comes next!

Ingredients

• 8 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon table salt
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 2 large eggs, room temperature
• 1 large egg yolk, room temperature
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 cup strawberry jelly
• Peanut Butter Cream Cheese Frosting, recipe follows
• Confetti pastel sprinkles, for garnish

Directions

Put an oven rack in the middle of the oven and preheat to 350 degrees F. Line a standard 12 cup muffin tin with cupcake liners.

In the bowl of a stand mixer, add the butter and sugar and beat until light and fluffy, about 3 to 4 minutes.
Meanwhile, in a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt.
Add the sour cream to the butter and sugar mixture and continue to beat until incorporated. Add the eggs and yolk, 1 at a time, beating until thoroughly mixed into the batter. Add in the vanilla and continue to mix. Slowly add the dry ingredients, in increments, and mix until combined.
Scoop the batter into the cupcake liners to fill 3/4 of the way. Put in the oven and bake until the cupcakes are a pale gold color and a cake tester comes out clean, about for 18 to 20 minutes. Remove the cupcakes from the oven and let cool in the tins for 5 minutes. Remove to a wire rack to cool completely before frosting and filling.
Meanwhile, fit a plain pastry tip to the bottom of a gallon-sized resealable plastic bag and fill with strawberry jelly. Once the cupcakes are cool, insert the tip far into the cupcake and slowly squeeze in about 1 tablespoon or so of jam. Be careful not to overfill the cupcakes or they will crumble and explode. Repeat with the remaining cupcakes. Frost the cupcakes with the Peanut Butter Cream Cheese Frosting using a pastry bag and a star tip. Sprinkle lightly with the confetti sprinkles and serve.

Peanut Butter Cream Cheese Frosting:

• 1 (8-ounce) package cream cheese, room temperature
• 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 cup creamy peanut butter
• 1 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar

In a large bowl, add the cream cheese and butter. Beat until well combined, then add the vanilla and peanut butter and beat until well mixed. Slowly add the confectioners' sugar and beat until well incorporated.

Sweet, Sweet Pastry Construction!

I am so excited and thrilled to write this post because I am extremely proud of myself and the sweets that came out of my kitchen (and are already gone I might add) yesterday! For Christmas my dear friend Meagan and her adorable family gave me a fabulous cookbook (among other amazing gifts like my new Hunter boots I cant ever take off!) called The Big Book of Baking. Its one of the best baking cookbooks I own. It has recipes for all difficulty levels.

Yesterday I was feeling adventurous. I wanted to spend the day baking something that I had never made before and would challenge me. Flipping through the book I stumbled across a recipe for Eclair's. Sweet, flaky, Custard filled Eclair's are something that I can rarely walk past in a bakery and not purchase. I read over the recipe several times that morning make sure I had every ingredient I needed and was in full understanding of how to put this recipe together.

I started of by cutting up my butter and placing it into a saucepan with a small amount of water, stirring constantly until it formed a buttery mixture.  This was the base for my dough.

Next was to sift my flour, which as you know from previous posts is not my most favorite thing. I still have not purchased a sifter!

After the butter was melted and the flour was sifted with no lumps, I added it to my butter mixture beating it together until the batter came way from the sides of the pan and formed a ball.

After it was a nice firm ball I allowed it to cool slightly before transferring it into the Kitchenaid and whisking in the eggs and vanilla.

Once my eggs and vanilla were added I started to spoon the batter into a pastry bag. I did not have the correct size tip, so I ended up not using a tip at all and just cutting the end of the pastry bag a little bit bigger.

I piped out 8 of these little babies onto my greased and lightly water down cookie sheet! No, they are not perfect but I sure was excited to get them in the oven to see how they would come out! They were in the oven at 400 degrees for about 30 minutes. I watched them very closely so they would not burn or fall in.

Just look at them!!!! They are not the most perfect looking pastry in the world, but the fact that they even came out at all amazed me! I immediately cut slits into the sides of each of them to let the steam out and get some air into the insides. I set them on a wire rack to cool.

In the mean time I started on my custard, another nerve racking task. I started by whisking together the eggs and the sugar until it formed a nice thick base. I then added my cornstarch and whisked it together. While my egg mixture was being mixed I brought the milk to a slow boil. Once it was just about to boil I added it to my egg mixture mixing together over low heat. I stirred it constantly until it was starting to thicken.

After the custard was nice and think I took it off the heat and placed a piece of parchment paper over the top of the pan and allowed it to cool completely.
While the custard and pastries were cooling I started on my chocolate frosting.

The frosting was very easy, over medium heat I mixed the confectioners sugar, cocoa powder and butter until it was nice and creamy and delicious.

Once everything had cooled I cut each pastry in half and started to pipe in the custard. I did this with a pastry bag as well that way it went in nice and neat. I placed the tops on them and frosted only a little bit with chocolate. I did not want the chocolate to be overpowering.

I have to say they were absolutely fabulous! They were literally gone within 24 hours of coming out of the oven! The pastry was buttery, crisp and perfectly flaky. The custard was so sweet, light and fluffy. They were deeeelish! The next time I make them I hope to get the construction of the pastries down to be a little fancier and Eclair looking, but for my first time this will do!

Eclairs

Ingredients

• 6 tablespoons butter, divided into 4 and 2 tablespoons
• 2/3 cups water
• 3/4 cups all purpose flour
• 4 eggs
• 1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract, divided into 1 and 1/2 teaspooons
• 2 eggs
• 1/4 cup granulated sugar
• 2 tablespoons cornstarch
• 1 cup milk, plus 2 tablespoons
• 3/4 cup confectioners’ sugar
• 1 tablespoon cocoa powder

Instructions

1. Begin to make the pastry by melting 4 tablespoons of the butter in a saucepan over low heat.
2. Add water and bring to a boil.
3. Remove from heat and the add flour, whisking furiously until the dough leaves the sides of the pan and forms a ball.
4. Cool slightly, then whisk in two of the eggs and 1 teaspoon of the vanilla.
5. Place the dough in a pastry bag or plastic baggie with the corner cut to form a hole.
6. Pipe the dough onto a greased cookie sheet misted with water.
7. Bake at 400 degrees until light golden brown in color, approximately 30 minutes.
8. While the pastry bakes, make the pastry cream. Whisk together the remaining two eggs, sugar, vanilla, and cornstarch in a medium bowl and set aside.
9. Place one cup of the milk in a saucepan over low to medium heat and bring to a simmer.
10. Pour the hot milk over the egg mixture in bowl and whisk until combined.
11. Return the combined mixture to the saucepan and cook over low heat, stirring constantly, until thick.
12. When the pastry cream thickens, remove from heat, cover and allow to cool.
13. To make the icing, beat the remaining 2 tablespoons of butter, confectioners’ sugar, and cocoa powder together on medium speed.
14. Increase speed to high and add the remaining 2 tablespoons of milk until combined.
15. Remove the pastry from the oven, and cut a small slit in the slide of the pastries to allow the steam to escape.
16. To assemble, cut the pastries lengthwise like a hotdog bun.
17. Spoon the cream along the length of the pastries and lightly press to close the cut sides together.
18. Spread the chocolate icing along the tops of the pastries.

(Recipe adapted from The Big Book of Baking)

30 Years of Marital Bliss!

Today is a day to celebrate! Its the celebration of two of my most favorite people in the entire world. The two people who have made me what I am today! On this Gorgeous 30th of January my sweet, adorable parents celebrate their 30th Wedding Anniversary

Were they not the most adorable little hippies you've ever seen? 

In honor of their 30 years of marital bliss I decided they deserved a treat! My dad has an obsession with German Chocolate cake, and my mother is just a lover of all things cake. So German chocolate was exactly what I was going to bake for them. Although I knew this certainly was not going to be an easy task, but I was up for the challenge!

The German Chocolate Cake has many different pieces that have to go into creating the batter. Its not your average flour, sugar, eggs, and milk. There are many different steps and you have to take each one carefully and slowly.

I found the recipe for this German Chocolate cake on All Recipes website 

Music: No music today, just enjoying the silence in the kitchen.

I started off by melting one bar of Bakers chocolate with about a 1/2 cup of boiling water. I then set it aside to allow it to cool.

In the Kitchenaid I started the base for my batter with a stick of Butter and sugar. Mixed it together until it was nice and fluffy then added in my egg yolks.

Once the yolks were completely mixed in, I added my completely cooled chocolate mixture.

It looked like the most perfect chocolate mouse. I would have probably eaten it just like this!

Once the chocolate was completely mixed in I had to start to sift my cake flour, baking soda and salt together. Sifting flour and dry ingredients is a task that I loath...

This is why! Sifting 2 1/2 cups cake flour and baking soda through a hand held strainer is not an easy task! I guess its time to upgrade to an actual sifter! 

It was then time to add the flour mixture and buttermilk to the batter alternating flour and milk. After that was mixed in, I removed the batter bowl from the mixer and switched out for a clean bowl to beat the egg whites until they formed stiff peaks! Once the egg whites were peaks I carefully folded them into the batter. This was a nerve racking task. If you stir them in to fast it can completely ruin your cake. I made sure to take nice slow folds around the bowl until I could no longer see the whites of the eggs.

Half way through and I was feeling good! 

The next step was to add the delicious looking batter to three 9 inch cake pans that have been floured and have parchment paper lining the bottom.

And into the oven they go! I was excited and nervous all at the same time! I was hoping for the best with these little babies!

While the cakes were baking I started on the frosting! The frosting seemed pretty simple, you just have to make sure you get it to be the right consistency. I needed the pecans to be nice and toasty, so I put them in the oven on a baking sheet for about 8 minutes to get the full flavor out of them.

While those were toasting I started to cook the butter, sugar, evaporated milk, egg yolks and vanilla over medium heat until it was all melted together.

Once that is all melted down to a buttery liquid, I added the toasted pecans and yummy coconut flakes.

YUM!!!! It was time to let the frosting sit until it was cooled completely so it would get that delicious gooey consistence

Out of the oven came the cakes and they looked fabulous! I could not have been more proud of myself! The real test of course would be the taste test!

I had to wait patiently for all 3 cakes and the frosting to cool! My excitement grew just waiting to assemble it! Once it was finally time I carefully assembled the triple layer cake with just the right amount of frosting under each layer

TA-DAAAAAA!!!!

How gorgeous is that! I could not wait to take it over to my parents for their anniversary treat! The transport was interesting. Thankfully Jake fashioned a little cake carrier out of an old box and it sat safely on the car floor while I slowly drove to deliver it.

Adorably cutting their anniversary cake with same cake knife they used 30 years ago at their wedding. It does not get much cuter then that!

It was a hit! I believe that was what my parents decided to have for dinner last night and my dad indulged in a piece for breakfast this morning!

The cake took about 3 hours all in all to create, but it was well worth it! It came out perfect and my parents loved it! So Happy Anniversary Mom & Dad. I hope to have as happy and healthy of a marriage as you've had! I love you both more then you'll ever know.

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup water
• 4 (1 ounce) squares German sweet chocolate
• 1 cup butter, softened
• 2 cups white sugar
• 4 egg yolks
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 cup buttermilk
• 2 1/2 cups cake flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 4 egg whites
•  
• 1 cup white sugar
• 1 cup evaporated milk
• 1/2 cup butter
• 3 egg yolks, beaten
• 1 1/3 cups flaked coconut
• 1 cup chopped pecans
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour 3 - 9 inch round pans. Sift together the flour, baking soda and salt. Set aside. In a small saucepan, heat water and 4 ounces chocolate until melted. Remove from heat and allow to cool.
2. In a large bowl, cream 1 cup butter and 2 cups sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in 4 egg yolks one at a time. Blend in the melted chocolate mixture and vanilla. Beat in the flour mixture alternately with the buttermilk, mixing just until incorporated.
3. In a large glass or metal mixing bowl, beat egg whites until stiff peaks form. Fold 1/3 of the whites into the batter, then quickly fold in remaining whites until no streaks remain.
4. Pour into 3 - 9 inch pans Bake in the preheated oven for 30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Allow to cool for 10 minutes in the pan, then turn out onto wire rack.
5. To make the Filling: In a saucepan combine 1 cup sugar, evaporated milk, 1/2 cup butter, and 3 egg yolks. Cook over low heat, stirring constantly until thickened. Remove from heat. Stir in coconut, pecans and vanilla. Cool until thick enough to spread.
6. Spread filling between layers and on top of cake. In a small saucepan, melt shortening and 1 ounce of chocolate. Stir until smooth and drizzle down the sides

(Recipe adapted from All Recipes.com)

Homemade Pop-Tarts? Who knew!

If you're not familiar with Pinterest you should be! Its an inspiring website full of fashion, home decor, recipes, and so much more! This is where I get most all of my recipes and then I get linked to all the other amazing baking blogs out there. Through Pinterest I found the adorable blog The Brown Eyed Baker, and on this blog I found this really fun recipe for Homemade Pop-Tarts!! Being a lover of all Pop-tarts I could not even stand it, I had to try this recipe immediately!

Music: John Mayer Room For Squares album

I really, really enjoyed creating these little tarts, I found myself smiling through out most of the creation.
You can make these Pop-tarts with really any type of filling, but strawberry is my favorite so I chose to go with that. I also wanted to do a few with a Cinnamon Brown sugar filling as well.

I started by creating my fillings. The Cinnamon filling was really simple. A little bit of flour, some ground cinnamon and Brown Sugar. Whisk it all together and set it aside until you're ready to fill your tarts. 

For my strawberry filling I wanted to use my very, very favorite jam. Smuckers Strawberry preserves. YUM, I could eat this stuff right out of the jar. DELISH

To make the strawberry filling in a small saucepan you combine some water, cornstarch and then your strawberry jam and allow that to boil once its boiling leave it to simmer for a few minutes. You can only imagine how delightful this smelled!

My shadow, who follows me around the kitchen just hoping something will drop off my counter top.

Making the crust for these made me a little nervous. I make a homemade crust for my pies, but this was a little bit of a different recipe. Crusts can be tricky if you do not get the exact ingredient amounts just right! To little or to much can completely throw off your crust. This crust recipe called for flour, butter, salt, eggs, and milk. 

As you can see it came out just as I had hoped! The next step was to flour up your surface and roll out the dough so that you can cut your squares.

As you can see my squares weren't exactly perfect, but I kind of enjoyed them to be a little off.

I put them on my parchment lined baking sheet and added the sweet strawberry filling! They looked delightful without even having the tops on yet!

I also made a few with the brown sugar filling to mix it up a little bit!

I added the tops, and made sure they were fully sealed around the edges with a fork. I poked some holes in the tops, and let them sit in the refrigerator for about 30 minutes. Then they were ready to be put into the oven! They smelled amazing, I was dying of excitement while they were in there.

How delicious do these look! They came out just like I had hoped. The crust was perfectly flakey, and the strawberry filling tasted just like it came out of an actual Pop-tart box! I would love to have one of these delights every morning!

 

I'm enjoying a strawberry tart as we speak! Its a good day. 

 Homemade Pop-Tarts
Yield: 9 pop-tarts
Prep Time: 1 hour | Bake Time: 25 minutes
For the pastry crust:
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon granulated sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup (2 sticks, or 8 ounces) unsalted butter, cold and cubed
1 egg
2 tablespoons milk
For the cinnamon sugar filling:
½ cup light brown sugar
1½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
4 teaspoons all-purpose flour
For the strawberry filling:
¾ cup strawberry jam (or whatever flavor you’d like)
1 tablespoon cornstarch
1 tablespoon water
1 egg, lightly beaten (to brush on pastry)
1. Prepare the cinnamon sugar filling by whisking the ingredients together.
2. If using the strawberry filling, prepare by whisking together the cornstarch and water, and then combine with the jam in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil and simmer for 2 minutes, stirring frequently. Remove from the heat and let cool.
3. To make the crust, whisk together the flour, sugar, and salt. Using your fingers or a pastry blender, work in the butter until it is the size of peas and the mixture holds together when you squeeze it. Whisk together the egg and milk and add to the dough. Mix together with a fork until everything is evenly moistened. Knead briefly on a floured surface, if necessary, until the dough comes together.
4. Divide the dough in half. (At this point you can wrap each in plastic wrap and refrigerate for up to 2 days.) If you refrigerate the dough, let it come to room temperature for about 15 minutes before rolling out. Roll out one piece of dough to about 1/8-inch thick, in a 9½ by 12½ rectangle. Using a sharp knife, pastry wheel or bench scraper, trim the rectangle to 9×12 inches. Cut the sheet of dough into nine 3×4 rectangles. Using a spatula, transfer the rectangles to a baking sheet that has been lined with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat. Brush the lightly beaten egg on each of the rectangles. Spoon a tablespoon of filling into the center of each rectangle, leaving a ½-inch of space around the edges.
6. Refrigerate the pan with the pastries (you don’t need to cover them) for about 30 minutes. In the meantime, preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, or until lightly browned. Cool slightly before serving. Store pastries in an airtight container at room temperature for up to one week.

(Recipe from Brown Eyed Baker)

Lemon Love

I find myself on a bit of a lemon binge lately. Every recipe I am intrigued by contains Lemon! I guess it is a secret wish for spring! I recently came across a sweet looking recipe from The Bakery Spot blog for a Glazed Lemon Bread. One of my most favorite recipes to make is Banana bread, so I was very excited to try this!

The recipe was fairly simple. First you needed to mix your flour, baking powder, and salt separately and set it aside.

In the mixer I added the sugar and butter and mixed them together until it became fluffy and the most beautiful shade of yellow. There is nothing better then Butter and Sugar if you ask me!

Once you get the butter and sugar nice and fluffy, I added the eggs one at a time, the zest of one lemon, some lemon extract and some whole milk. It formed a gorgeous batter ready to go into a loaf pan and into the oven! This recipe reminded me that I need to invest in a loaf pan!

While the loaf was in the oven I worked on the lemon glaze. The lemon glaze only consisted of Lemon extract and Sugar. It was very simple, just required constant stirring while the sugar dissolved.

60 minutes later, out of the oven came this gorgeous, sweet smelling loaf of bread that I could not wait to sink my teeth into! How delightful does that look?

While the bread was cooling I added a little of the lemon glaze to melt on top.

This was such a treat! It was the perfect burst of lemon. The bread was so moist and warm, I was in love. The lemon glaze on top melts in your mouth. This may just top my banana bread recipe! This bread would be delicious with just a light layer of cream cheese on top with your morning coffee. I absolutely recommend this delight!

Glazed Lemon Bread Recipe

INGREDIENTS
1 2/3 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
2 large eggs
3 teaspoons (packed) grated lemon peel
1/2 cup whole milk
1/3 cup fresh lemon juice
DIRECTIONS
Preheat oven to 350°F. Lightly butter 8 1/2×4 1/2×2 1/2-inch loaf pan. Stir flour, baking powder and salt in medium bowl to blend. Using electric mixer, beat 1 cup sugar and butter in large bowl until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs 1 at a time. Add grated lemon peel. Mix in dry ingredients alternately with milk. Add 1 tablespoon of lemon juice to batter and stir. Pour batter into prepared loaf pan. Bake until tester inserted into center of bread comes out clean, about 1 hour.
Meanwhile, combine remaining 1/2 cup sugar and rest of fresh lemon juice in small heavy saucepan and stir over low heat until sugar dissolves.
Transfer lemon bread to rack. Gradually spoon lemon glaze over hot bread, adding more as glaze is absorbed. Cool lemon bread completely in pan on rack. (Can be prepared 1 day ahead. Turn bread out onto rack. Cover with plastic wrap and let stand at room temperature.)