Lemonade Cupcakes

I don’t know if lemonade is the official July 4th beverage, but it should be. Here’s my recipe for a homemade version that starts with syrup - you can store it and use it for drinks and also these wonderful cupcakes and frosting!

LEMONADE SYRUP
1-1/2 cups water
1-1/2 cups sugar
1-1/2 cups lemon juice (6-7 lemons)
1 tablespoon freshly grated lemon zest

Place the water and sugar in a saucepan and boil for 3 minutes. Remove the pan from the heat. Stir in the lemon juice and zest. Refrigerate at least one hour. Strain. Makes about 3 cups (to make lemonade, mix some cold water or seltzer with some syrup, add ice cubes).

LEMONADE CUPCAKES
1/2 cup butter
1 cup sugar
2 large eggs
1/3 cup plain yogurt
1/3 cup lemonade syrup
1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons lemonade syrup

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Grease 10 muffin cups. Beat the butter at medium speed until well blended. Add the eggs one at a time beating after each addition. Beat in the yogurt and 1/3 cup lemonade syrup. The mixture will look curdled. Combine the flour, baking powder and salt and mix together. Add the dry ingredients to the butter mixture. Beat to blend ingredients thoroughly to a smooth batter. Spoon the batter into the prepared muffin tin. Bake 18-20 minutes or until a cake tester inserted into the center comes out clean. Remove from the oven. Brush the remaining 3 tablespoons lemonade syrup over the cupcakes. Let cool. Frost and serve. Makes 10

LEMONADE FROSTING

1/2 cup butter
3-4 tablespoons lemonade syrup
1 teaspoon freshly grated lemon zest
2 cups confectioners’ sugar

Beat the butter, 3 tablespoons lemonade syrup and the zest at medium speed until well mixed. Gradually add the confectioners’ sugar and beat until smooth and well blended. Add more lemonade syrup if needed for spreading consistency.

Hanukkah Muffin Tin Doughnuts (Duffins)

Remember a few years ago there was a new bakery item called a duffin?

It’s a cross between a doughnut and a muffin. It became world famous but began in the U.K. at a famous tea room called Bea’s. Then Starbucks sold a version of it and it was a hot item for a while.

I remember duffins because I made them at home and everyone loved them. Unlike classic doughnuts, they are incredibly easy to prepare and taste absolutely wonderful, so for me, these are the best choice when you want a homemade Hanukkah doughnut but don’t want the fry-mess and the fried-food-kitchen-odor.

My version (the recipe first appeared in The Jewish Week) is also dairy-free but you can substitute dairy milk or cream for the coconut milk, and you can brush the surface of the baked muffin with melted butter, then roll it in sugar and stuff it with jam (that’s the way it was done at Bea’s). Also, you can cut them (or use a pastry tube) and fill them with whipped cream or sweetened mascarpone cheese. Or jam.

Btw, I don’t call them duffins because I don’t want to get into legal or social media trouble. So for me, these are simply Hanukkah Muffin Tin Doughnuts.

Hanukkah Muffin Tin Doughnuts (Duffins)

• 1 cup sugar

• 1 large egg

• 3/4 cup coconut milk (or use dairy milk or cream or other nondairy milk)

• 1/4 cup vegetable oil

• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

• 1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour

• 2 teaspoons baking powder

• 1/4 teaspoon salt

• 2 tablespoons confectioners’ sugar

• 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease 10 muffin tin wells. Place the sugar and egg in a large bowl and beat with an electric mixer at medium speed for 1-2 minutes or until light, thick and smooth. Add the coconut milk, vegetable oil and vanilla and mix for 1-2 minutes or until they are thoroughly blended. Mix the flour, baking powder and salt together. Add the flour mixture to the egg mixture and beat at medium speed for a minute or until well blended. Fill the muffin wells about 3/4 full. Bake for 18-20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Let cool for 5 minutes. While the doughnuts are baking, mix the confectioners’ sugar and cinnamon together. After the doughnuts are baked, but still warm, sprinkle the tops with the cinnamon sugar.

Makes 10 

Banana Muffins with Oat Streusel

It may be a new year but some things never change.

I bought too many bananas again and I cannot bring myself to throw away good, usable food.

So I made Banana Muffins with Oat Streusel.

Bringing them to a friend.

Remember these — not just a good breakfast, brunch or nosh — they make perfect mishoach manot for Purim (begins at sundown on February 25th).

BANANA MUFFINS WITH OAT STREUSEL

Muffins: 

• 1-3/4 cups flour

• 1 teaspoon baking soda

• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder

• 3/4 teaspoon salt

• 1 teaspoon cinnamon

• 3 very ripe bananas, mashed

• 3/4 cup buttermilk or sour milk

• 1/4 cup honey

• 3 tablespoons vegetable oil

• 1 large egg

• 1-1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

• streusel

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Lightly grease 10 muffin tins. Mix the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt and cinnamon in a bowl. In a separate bowl, mix the bananas, buttermilk, honey, vegetable oil, egg and vanilla extract. Add the liquid ingredients to the dry ones and mix only long enough to combine thoroughly. Spoon the batter into the prepared muffin tins. Scatter the streusel evenly on top of each muffin. Bake for 22-25 minutes or until a cake tester inserted into the center comes out clean.

Makes 10

Streusel: 

• 3 tablespoons flour

• 2 tablespoons old fashioned oats

• 2 tablespoons sugar

• 1 tablespoon butter

In a bowl, mix the flour, oats and sugar. Cut the butter into small pieces and work into the flour mixture with your fingers until the mixture is crumbly. Set aside.

Lemon Buttermilk Pudding

I’ve been in a buttermilk mood lately. So, the recent Buttermilk Bread post.

And the Three Cabbage Cole Slaw.

I promised I’d come up with a dessert — specifically pudding — based on buttermilk.

Here it is! Tangy with lemon but with enough sweet sugar for a proper balance.

This is an excellent, light, refreshing dessert fit for summer.

Lemon-Buttermilk Pudding 

• 4 large egg yolks

• 6 tablespoons sugar

• 1 1/2 tablespoons cornstarch

• 1/2 teaspoon salt

• 1 cup heavy cream

• 1 cup buttermilk

• 1-1/2 teaspoons finely grated lemon peel 

• 2 tablespoons lemon juice

• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

• 1 cup unsweetened whipped cream

 Whisk the egg yolks, sugar, cornstarch and salt in the bowl of an electric mixer for 2-3 minutes or until the mixture has thickened and is light in color. Heat the heavy cream and buttermilk in a saucepan over medium heat until bubbles form around the edges of the pan. Gradually add the hot buttermilk mixture to the egg mixture, whisking to blend the ingredients thoroughly. Stir in the lemon peel. Return the mixture to the saucepan and cook over low-medium heat for 6-8 minutes or until the mixture has thickened. Let cool slightly, then stir in the lemon juice and vanilla extract. Set aside in the refrigerator until thoroughly chilled. Fold in the whipped cream. Spoon into dessert dishes.

Makes 4 servings

Honey Cake Muffins

I make honey cake every year for Rosh Hashanah, using my Aunt Belle’s family-famous recipe.

Every once in a while I change the recipe — a different honey, an additional spice (or less seasoning), and so on, just to see if we like it better or I should just stick to the original. I’ve even adapted the recipe to make it with date honey.

They’re all delicious. I love honey cake and I look forward to it every year as a special holiday treat.

Last year I decided to make honey cake into muffins. So — breakfast or afternoon snack instead of for dessert. They are sweet — it is honey “cake” after all — but not as sweet as the recipe I use for dessert. The muffins are also mellowed a bit with oats.

During the year I made these muffins again, several times, using several different spice blends. The recipe below is the more traditional Rosh Hashanah flavor, but you could delete the cinnamon and nutmeg and use one teaspoon Hawaij spice instead. They’re a convenient riff on honey cake; freezable too.

Honey Cake Muffins

• 1-1/3 cups all-purpose flour

• 2/3 cup quick oats

• 2 teaspoons baking powder

• 1-1/2 teaspoons baking soda

• 1/2 teaspoon salt

• 2 teaspoon grated fresh orange peel

• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

• 1/2 teaspoon grated nutmeg

• 3/4 cup honey

• 1/2 cup cold coffee

• 6 tablespoons vegetable oil

• 2 large eggs

• old fashioned oats, optional (or use chopped nuts)

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Grease 10 muffin tins. In a bowl, mix the flour, oats, baking powder, baking soda, salt, orange peel, cinnamon and nutmeg together until uniform in color. Heat the honey and coffee together over low heat briefly, so that they are easy to blend with a whisk. Add the vegetable oil and eggs and whisk the ingredients until they are uniform in color. Stir in the flour mixture and mix until thoroughly combined. Spoon the batter into the greased muffin tins. Top, if desired, with old fashioned oats or chopped nuts. Bake for about 18 minutes or until a cake tester inserted into the center comes out clean.

Makes 10

Banana Applesauce Cupcakes

One of the greatest pleasures in life is cooking with children.

Children are enthusiastic, creative and joyful abut anything they've cooked or baked.

These cupcakes are a melange of my grandchildren's ideas about what to make for dessert. It had to be dairy free. We had a few bananas and some leftover applesauce that we wanted to use.

The cupcakes were yummy. Even the adults thought so.

Decorations, including the one lone banana slice in the center, by the kids, of course, .

 

Banana Applesauce cupcakes

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil
• 1/4 cup applesauce
• 2 large eggs
• 3 very ripe bananas, mashed
• 1/4 cup apple juice
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease 12 muffin tins. In a small bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt and cinnamon and whisk the ingredients to blend them thoroughly. Place the sugar, vegetable oil and applesauce in the bowl of an electric mixer. Beat the ingredients at medium speed for 3-4 minutes or until well blended. Add the eggs and beat them in. Add the bananas, apple juice and vanilla extract and beat at medium speed for about 2 minutes or until well blended. Spoon equal quantities of batter into the muffin tins. Bake for about 20 minutes or until a cake tester inserted into the center comes out clean. 

Makes 12

frosting

• 1 cup margarine, shortening or mix of coconut oil and margarine 
• 1-1/2 cups confectioners' sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• apple juice as necessary

Place the margarine, confectioners' sugar and vanilla extract in a bowl (or use an electric mixer) and beat with a hand mixer at medium speed for 2-3 minutes or until well blended and creamy. If the mixture seems too thick to spread as frosting, mix in a teaspoon or two of apple juice.

Makes enough for 12 cupcakes

Banana Cupcakes with Brown Sugar Frosting

I am allergic to bananas, so I never eat them or any food that contains banana.

BUT, I buy bananas all the time. Ed eats some and the grandkids eat some. But mostly I buy them because I love the fragrance of a peeled banana and love cooking with bananas just so that I can have a whiff or two.

Over the years I've developed quite a number of banana bread and banana cake recipes, including some dairy-free, some with chocolate chips, some with dried fruit, some with chocolate flavored batter, some with coconut, some with mango, some with streusel. You get the point. I enjoy these goodies vicariously as I watch other people eating them. 

A few days ago, as usual, I had a few unused bananas. I am also trying to use up all the flour in my cabinet before Passover. So there was a double purpose to creating some new banana concoction and the result was cupcakes. My tasters have told me that the cake part is delicious. I tasted the thick and creamy frosting and give it two thumbs up.

 

Banana Cupcakes with Brown Sugar Frosting(P)

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon grated fresh orange peel
• 1 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 2 large eggs
• 3 medium very ripe bananas
• 1/4 cup orange juice
• 3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
• Brown Sugar Frosting

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease 12-15 muffin tins (or line them with cupcake papers). Combine the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt and orange peel in a bowl and set it aside. Beat the sugar and vegetable oil with a handheld or electric mixer set at medium speed for 2-3 minutes or until the mixture is light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, beating after each addition. Mash the bananas and add them to the sugar mixture. Beat thoroughly until the ingredients are well blended. Add the flour mixture, stirring only enough to moisten the dry ingredients and blend them in. Stir in the orange juice and vanilla extract. Pour the batter into the prepared tins. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until a cake tester inserted into the centers comes out clean. Let cool for about 10 minutes. Then remove the cupcakes from the pan and cool on a cake rack. Frost with Brown Sugar Frosting.

Makes 12 large or 15 medium cupcakes

Brown Sugar Frosting (P)

• 1/4 cup Earth Balance Buttery Spread or pareve margarine
• 1/4 cup coconut oil
• 6 tablespoons brown sugar
• 1-1/3 cups confectioner’s sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• orange juice (1-2 tablespoons)

In a large bowl or an electric mixer, beat the buttery spread, coconut oil, brown sugar, confectioner’s sugar and vanilla extract together at medium speed for 3-4 minutes or until smooth and thoroughly blended. Gradually add orange juice, using enough to make the mixture spreading consistency.