laura lemon.

My dad does not like lemons. To the point where he won't eat anything that has even a trace of lemon in it. He also despises pudding, but that's a story for another day.

This lemon hatred had a severe impact on my childhood. See, I grew up in the north and in the north we have these tiny navy blue gems called wild blueberries. Oh I know what you're all thinking: "But Laura, blueberries are available in every single grocery store in the country." Let me stop you right there. You've never had a blueberry until you've had a wild blueberry. They are tiny, probably 1/10th the size of what you find in-store, and bursting with juicy flavour that's out-of-this-world good. And the best part? Like the name suggests, they grow wild. So you don't have to spend $5+ on a pint, you can just go pick a basket or two yourself. 

Late July to mid-August is prime blueberry pickin' season, and every year I would go pick baskets full and my grandmother would bake them into these fabulously moist muffins with a crunchy sweet lemon-sugar topping, which, in my opinion, was the best part. She would always send them home with me, but my dad would never eat them because of the lemon-sugar. And then all of a sudden she stopped making them with lemon sugar, and my mom also started to bake them, but again, without the lemon sugar. This went on for quite a some time until I finally had enough of this lemon-blacklisting and I put my foot down, well, as much as I could as a kid, and demanded politely requested the return of the lemon sugar. I won a half-victory, not enough if you ask me.

But now, as an adult, I can make them with as much lemon love as I want. Sadly I no longer have time to pick wild blueberries, nor do I live in wild-blueberry country anymore, but every time my mom comes to visit me in the summer she brings me a big basket of them. I eat them out of hand, on yogurt, in cereal, and then when they are about to go bad, I freeze the rest of them for baking into lemon-sugar topped blueberry muffins. And oh do I ever. In fact, top them muffins with lemon-sugar before I bake them and after. 

Buttermilk Blueberry Muffins

Recipe from: Joy of Baking

Makes: 12 muffins

Ingredients

Muffins:

2 1/2 cups (325 g) all-purpose flour

3/4 cup (150 g) sugar

2 tsp (10 mL) baking powder

1/2 tsp (2 mL) baking soda

1/4 tsp (4 mL) salt

1 lemon, zested

1 large egg, lightly beaten

1 cup (250 ml) buttermilk

1/2 cup (125 mL) canola oil

1 tsp vanilla

1 1/2 to 2 cups (375-500 mL) frozen blueberries

Topping:

1 lemon, zested

1/2 cup (125 mL) sugar

To make

1. Preheat oven to 375F (190C). Grease or line a muffin tin. In a small bowl, mix together topping.

 

2. In a large bowl, whisk together the egg, buttermilk, oil, vanilla and zest. 

3. In another large bowl. Sift together the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt. zest. Gently fold in the blueberries. Add the buttermilk mixture and fold until just combined. 

4. Divide batter into prepared muffin tin. Sprinkle tops with about about 1/4 of the lemon sugar. Bake on middle rack of oven until a toothpick inserted in centre of muffin comes out clean, about 20 mins. Sprinkle remaining lemon-sugar overtop muffins. Let cool in pan for 10 min. then remove muffins to a cooling rack to cook completely. 

a decent chocolate chip cookie.

I do not have a go-to chocolate chip recipe. You know what I'm talking about. The never fail, make for any bake sale, whip up on a rainy Sunday afternoon chocolate chip cookie. Sure, I have the recipe for the ones I grew up on — my mom's melt-in-your-mouth oatmeal ones and my grandma's crispy, crumbly ones. But, you see, whenever I make them, they never taste the same and I'm always left with a cookie jar full of disappointment cookies (though J. never complains).

So I still am on the hunt for my own signature chocolate chip cookie. Chewy, yet crispy around the edges, loaded with chocolate and still as good on day three as they are out of the oven.

This recipe came close.

I found the recipe while doing research at work and made it the following weekend for my neighbour's birthday (he got half the recipe, we ate the other half). But, alas, this is not going to be my signature recipe. Don't get me wrong, they were really good cookies, but they're not everything I'm looking for. They didn't spread much in the oven, so I was left with small and thick round cookies. They were delicious out of the oven, but sadly, as the week wore on, they became drier and drier. Yes, I still ate them dunked in milk, but I want a cookie that can hold it's own. If I were to make them again, I'd probably bake them a bit less and see if helps keep them moist and chewy.


Chocolate Chip Cookie Attempt #1
Adapted from this recipe

Ingredients
1 cup salted butter, softened
1 cup white sugar
1 cup packed dark brown sugar (I prefer dark flavourwise, but any brown sugar will work)
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3 cups all-purpose flour, sifted
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons hot water
1/2 teaspoon sea salt (you can use any salt, I just always have sea salt on hand)
1 bag semisweet chocolate chips (or a whatever type of chocolate you prefer)

To make
1. Preheat your oven to 325F.

2. Cream together butter and both sugars until smooth. Beat in the eggs one at a time, then add vanilla. Dissolve baking soda in hot water and pour in. Add salt and then add in flour 1/2 cup at a time. Mix in chocolate chips until just combined. 

3. Drop by large spoonfuls onto ungreased baking sheets. Bake for about 8-10 minutes or until edges are nicely browned. Be careful not to overbake or they'll dry out quickly.

overdue.

I created this blog a little while ago. Ok. A long while ago. Ok. Over 8 months ago. And I have yet to post anything. But considering I'm making my friend's wedding cake in (ohgodithoughtihadmoretime) a little over 4 months, I thought this would be a great place to chronicle my adventure. Have I mentioned that I've never made a wedding cake before? Don't get me wrong. I love to bake. I've just never attempted something of this magnitude, something that has so much riding on it, something that needs to be covered in buttercream roses that I have never attempted to make before.

I also may be making a custom 1st birthday cake for a girl a work -- well for her daughter, but really, at that age, it's for the parents -- next month. No pressure there either.

Stay tuned, I'll be posting the good, the bad, the ugly, the yummy, and everything in between.