Cranberry Lemon Muffins

Sometimes I think that my blog should be called "The Muffin Lady" or something like that...I seem to make a lot of muffins (we try to make a batch each week), and it seems like I am always trying new recipes.  Which is a good thing, variety is nice!  This time I have picked out a recipe which is a little unusual for me.  As much as I love lemon (lemonade, lemon tea, lemon juice on my fish, etc etc), I have never been a big fan of lemon cakes, etc.  Well, until I discovered the Blueberry Buttermilk Breakfast Cake earlier this year...then lemon became a lot more popular in my baking.  Maybe the lemon in cake mixes is too fake for me (like cherry...my hair stylist and I have talked about this many times...have you ever noticed how cherry flavoured stuff never actually tastes like cherry?).  This week's muffin recipe is for Cranberry Lemon Muffins.  I don't have a source for the recipe, it's from my recipe binder (and I've had this one in there for quite a while).

Cranberry Lemon Muffins (Source: Unknown)

MUFFINS

2 1/2 cups flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1 egg
1 1/4 cups milk
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1/3 cup liquid honey
2 teaspoons grated lemon rind
1 1/2 cups cranberries, fresh or frozen

GLAZE (Optional)
2/3 cup icing sugar
1 teaspoon lemon rind
3-4 teaspoons lemon juice

Preheat oven to 400F.

For the muffins, mix together the flour, baking powder, salt and cinnamon.  Set aside.  In another (larger) bowl, mix together the egg, milk, vegetable oil, liquid honey and lemon rind.  Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients.  Stir just until moistened.  Fold in the cranberries.  Spoon batter into lined muffin tin.  Bake for 20-23 minutes.

While the muffins are baking, prepare the glaze.  Combine the icing sugar, lemon rind and the lemon juice 1 teaspoon at a time until you get your desired glaze consistency.  Spread over warm muffins.

Makes 12 muffins.

VERDICT
We really enjoyed these muffins...they disappeared rather quickly!  Will certainly be making them again :-)

Rhubarb-Buttermilk Tea Cake

My monthly Chatelaine magazine never lets me down.  There is always new inspiration in there...fueling my addiction!  A few months back, there was a recipe for Rhubarb-Buttermilk Tea Cake that really caught my eye.  You know that we love our banana breads, but this looked like a nice change of pace for us.  Here is the recipe (Source: Chatelaine, May 2012):

CAKE:
1 1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 egg
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup buttermilk
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups chopped rhubarb
1/2 cup chopped pecans

GLAZE:
1 cup sifted icing sugar
4-5 teaspoons lemon juice

Preheat the oven to 350F.

In a large bowl, whisk together the egg, brown sugar, buttermilk, oil, and vanilla.  In a small bowl, combine the flour, baking soda and salt.   Stir the flour mixture into the wet ingredients.  Add in the rhubarb and pecans, stir only to moisten.  Pour batter into sprayed (bottom only) loaf pan.

Bake in the centre of the oven for approximately 70 minutes, or until insterted toothpick comes out clean.  Cool on a wire rack, in the pan, for 10 minutes.

In a small bowl, mix the icing sugar with the lemon juice.  Add 1 teaspoon of lemon juice at a time until the glaze is thick and smooth.  Drizzle the glaze over the warm cake, the glaze will (and should) run down the sides!

VERDICT:
This cake went over really well with the family!  Our son loved it, and my hubby had no complaints :-)  I especially liked the glaze on top, it was a little addicting!!

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I've Been Featured, Again!

OH MY GOODNESS!  A third feature on the Blueberry Buttermilk Breakfast Cake!  This is amazing!  Thank you Inside BruCrew Life for featuring the breakfast cake as one of her "Fab 5" for this week!  I do hope your kids love it as much as my son does!





Be sure to check out her blog, as well as the other blogs who have featured the cake.  They all do great work!  Here's a picture of of the Blueberry Buttermilk Breakfast Cake...just to tempt you again!