Lemon "cupcakes"

 I use quotation marks because I almost want to call these muffins. 

Muffins with cream cheese frosting. 

Could there be a better muffin?

 They are sweet, but not overly sweet. And the texture is more dense, similar to that of a muffin or maybe even a pound cake. Either way, they taste quite good. I felt bad because I was asked to make cupcakes for an event, and well, I had 24 of whatever-you-want-to-call-these, and no time to throw together anything else, so I brought these muff-cakes. 

Anyway, people seemed to like them. And I ate like 3 of them beforehand, because for some reason I thought that if I kept tasting them, I could be convinced that they were in fact cupcakes. It didn't work, and I just ended up 3 cupcakes fatter.

Ah well.

A veritable cupcake army!

Lemon Cream Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting

Recipe adapted from here and here

Makes 24-30 cupcakes

CUPCAKES

1 cup butter, softened

2 cups sugar

3 eggs

1 T. grated lemon zest

1/2 tsp lemon extract

1/2 tsp almond extract

3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 cups sour cream

FROSTING:

1/2 cup butter

8 ounces cream cheese, softened

3 T. Lemon Juice

1 tsp almond extract

approx. 6-7 cups of powdered sugar

Preheat oven to 350. Line muffin tin with paper cups (or grease it).

In a mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar. Beat in eggs, one at a time. Add lemon zest and extracts; mix well. Combine dry ingredients; add to creamed mixture alternately with sour cream (batter will be thick). Fill muffin cups about 2/3 of the way full. Bake at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. Cool for 10 minutes; remove to wire racks to cool completely. 

For frosting, cream butter in a small mixing bowl. Add softened cream cheese, and beat until smooth. Add lemon juice and almond extract. Beat on high until smooth. Add powdered sugar, adding more until desired consistency. You may also play with the lemon juice measurements if it is not lemon-y enough for you. Frost cooled cupcakes.

best blueberry muffins

Ladies and Gents.

I think I've found The One.

 

I do not want to part from this blueberry muffin recipe.

They are so sweet and moist with a fresh zing from the lemon.

I had one for breakfast, lunch and dinner.  Ridiculous.

Of course these babies are delicious when they're fresh from the oven, but I did enjoy them more after they had cooled off a bit to room temp. The flavors came together, and all that jazz.

 

Blueberry Muffins

Recipe adapted from here

Makes 12 muffins

  

2 eggs

1/2 C. white sugar

1/2 C. brown sugar

1/2 cup applesauce

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 tsp lemon zest 

2 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 cup sour cream

1/2 cup lemon flavored greek yogurt*

1-1.5 cups blueberries

Raw Turbinado sugar or other coarse sugar for sprinkling

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Grease 12 muffin cups or line with paper muffin liners. 
2. In a medium bowl, stir together flour, salt and baking soda. Set aside.
3. In large bowl beat eggs, gradually add sugar while beating. Continue beating while slowly pouring in applesauce. Stir in vanilla and lemon zest.
4. Stir dry ingredients into egg mixture alternately with sour cream/yogurt. Gently fold in blueberries. Be careful not to overmix. Batter can be slightly lumpy. Scoop batter into prepared muffin cups. You can fill the cups all the way to the top for a nice bakery size muffin.
5. Sprinkle each muffin with coarse sugar.
6. Bake in preheated oven for 20 minutes.

*I decided to use the lemon greek yogurt cause I had it, but you can use all sour cream (1 Cup) instead and I'm sure it will be just delicious.)