Lavender Cupcakes with Blueberry Jam and Lemon Buttercream

Last week one of my cousins had a baby shower, and for this event I was asked if I would be willing to make cupcakes as one of the desserts. Always one of my favorite things to make, of course I said yes! I was so excited to have a reason to make cake, and also excited when I found out that creative liberties were being handed to me. The mother-to-be's sister, another one of my cousins, said that she didn't care what kind of cupcakes they were. All she wanted to be able to do was finish them off with some mustache cupcake toppers to match the shower theme, easy enough!

After brainstorming some ideas with Lara we came up with a game plan. I wanted to do lavender cupcakes because the lavender just popped out the last few weeks and I'm loving it! Delicious and seasonal. We thought lemon sounded like a nice combination with the lavender so lemon buttercream was decided for the frosting, and to finish them off with something a little extra special we decided to fill them with a little blackberry jam. Lavender, lemon and blackberry, how could it be bad? 

To answer the above question; it couldn't be bad, and it wasn't! If fact, this may be my favorite cupcake flavor combination yet. They turned out fabulously, the lavender flavor came through very mildly which is what I wanted - I didn't want a cupcake that smelled or tasted like perfume or potpourri. The buttercream was perfectly tart and sweet from the lemon, and the blueberry filling really put it all over the top. Could you skip it, sure, but I don't think they'll be as good!! :) 

Lavender Cupcakes with Blueberry Jam
From Delectably Mine
Ingredients

• 3/4 cup (6 ounces) milk
• 1-2 tablespoons fresh lavender flowers
• 2 1/4 cups (10 1/2 ounces) all purpose flour
• 1 1/3 cups (9 ounces) granulated sugar
• 1 7/8 teaspoons baking powder
• 3/4 teaspoon kosher salt
• 3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) butter, softened, cut into small cubes
• 3 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• Blueberry jam, for filling

Directions
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F and line cupcake pan(s) with liners.

Place the milk in a microwave safe bowl and microwave for 1-2 minutes until simmering. Remove from microwave and add the lavender flowers to the milk, stirring to combine. Let milk sit and cool for about 45 minutes. 

Meanwhile, place the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt in a mixing bowl and stir to combine.

Add the butter and mix on low speed, until mixture resembles coarse crumbs (2-3 minutes). Add the eggs, one at a time, followed by the vanilla, and scrape the bottom of the bowl to make sure all the ingredients are well-combined. 

Once the milk has cooled to around room temperature, use a fine mesh strainer to remove the flowers. Add half of the strained milk and beat on medium speed for 1½ minutes, scrape the bottom and sides of the bowl, then add the remaining milk, and beat for another 30 seconds.

Fill prepared muffin pans ⅔ full with batter, and bake for 18-20 minutes, or until a tester inserted in the center of the cupcake comes out with a few moist crumbs. Let cool in pans for a couple of minutes, than transfer cupcakes to a wire rack to cool.

Once cool, take a sharp knife and cut out a cone shaped wedge of cake from the top of each cupcake forming a little well. Place a spoonful of blueberry jam into each well. Frost with lemon buttercream (recipe below). 

Yields: 18 cupcakes

Lemon Buttercream
From Delectably Mine
Ingredients

• 2 1/4 sticks (10 ounces) unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 5 cups (20 ounces) powdered sugar
• pinch salt
• 1/2 lemon, zested
• 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

Directions
Place the butter in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Beat on medium-high speed until smooth, about 1 minute. Add the confectioners’ sugar, salt and lemon zest to the bowl and mix on medium-low speed just until incorporated. Continue to beat on medium-high speed until smooth, about 1-2 minutes. Mix in the lemon juice on low speed just until incorporated. Increase the mixer speed and whip on high speed until light and fluffy, scraping down the bowl as needed, about 4-5 minutes. 

* Note: I wanted a little more stable frosting since it was hot out. After a quick internet search, seemed like a lot of people use a 1:2 ratio of fat to sugar so that's what we did. Worked great, a nice stiff frosting that held up well. The final frosting is very sweet this way, so if it's not as hot I would probably not use this high of a ratio of sugar to butter, but it definitely worked great for this situation!

Rosemary Lemon Roast Chicken

It may be Mother's Day today, but this year my family celebrated mom last week. Mom decided that she wanted to head to Indiana with a friend to spend time at Conner Prairie, a living history museum where people recreate what life was like in Indiana in the 19th century. My mom is a big Civil War reenacter,  and loves all of these kind of things so this is her favorite kind of weekend, and her top choice for where to spend her Mother's Day this year. Her friend's daughter works at Conner Prairie so they are going to dress up in the historically accurate clothes and have a blast. Hope you're having a wonderful Mother's Day weekend mom!

Even though mom was not going to be home on Mother's day this year I still wanted to make her a special meal, as a thank you for being such a great mom. So instead of celebrating today, we got together last weekend for a Mother's Day meal starring this Rosemary Lemon Chicken. It's a simple recipe, but so full of flavor that everyone loved it. I can't think of much else that goes so well with chicken as lemon and rosemary do. The whole thing can be prepped the night before so all you have to do the day you want to make it is stick it in the oven. If you're craving some delicious chicken, but want to make life easy for yourself, this is the recipe you want to make. 

I was inspired to make this recipe after coming back from Paris. One morning there I was walking down the street and passed a butcher who had a big rotisserie outside his shop with a dozen chickens slowly turning on spits. Below the chickens was a big pile of red potatoes, soaking in the juices of the chickens that were dripping down as they roasted. It looked and smelled amazing and I knew I wanted to recreate it at home. Since I don't have a rotisserie, a good roasted chicken was going to have to do instead. Roasting the chicken over a bed of red-skinned potatoes allowed the chicken juices to permeate and flavor the potatoes as everything cooked. While this prevents the potatoes from getting crispy and brown, it does make them flavorful and creamy. 

I love rosemary with my chicken and potatoes, so I threw a lot of chopped rosemary in this dish as well as some chopped fresh thyme because I had some in the fridge, but you can always use whichever herbs you like best, it doesn't have to be rosemary. Don't skip the lemon however. It permeates the chicken and potatoes, brightening everything with its tart acidity. The perfect pairing with the earthy rosemary. This one is definitely a crowd-pleaser. Impress your guests this weekend with this simply amazing roast chicken. 

Happy Mother's Day to the best mother around!!

Rosemary Lemon Roast Chicken
Adapted from The Cafe Sucre Farine
Ingredients

• 2 whole chickens, cut into pieces, bone-in, skin-on
• 2-3 tablespoon chopped fresh rosemary
• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh thyme
• 6 cloves garlic, finely minced
• 5 teaspoons kosher salt
• 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• Zest of 1 large lemon
• 2 tablespoon fresh lemon juice (do not use bottled lemon juice, it must be freshly squeezed)
• 4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 2 1/2 pounds of small red skin potatoes, cut into quarters
• 2-3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 1-2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 1 lemon sliced in ⅛-inch slices

Directions
The night before you plan on roasting the chicken, or early on the day of, mix the rosemary, thyme, garlic, 5 teaspoons salt, pepper, lemon zest, lemon juice and olive oil together in a small bowl. 

Place the chicken pieces in a large bowl. Pour the oil-herb mixture onto the chicken and use your hands to mix the chicken and the oil mixture together, rubbing it into the chicken and under the skin, coating everything evenly. Cover bowl and place in the fridge at least 4 hours, preferably overnight. 

The next day, preheat the oven to 450 degrees. Lightly grease one or two sheet pans with oil. Combine potatoes, olive oil, the 1-2 teaspoons salt, and the pepper in a medium-size bowl. Toss to coat. Turn potatoes out onto prepared sheet pans in an even layer. Place in oven and roast for 15 minutes.

Remove pans from oven and add the chicken breasts to the pans, skin side up in between the potatoes. Tuck lemons around chicken and potatoes. Roast for about 30-45 minutes longer, or until the breasts reach 160˚F in the thickest part. (If breasts vary greatly in size, you may need to remove the smaller ones 5 minutes before the larger ones.) My chicken took about 38 minutes. 

Remove from oven and cover chicken loosely with foil. Allow to rest for 5 minutes before serving.

Serves 8-10

Skillet Rosemary Chicken

If you are looking for a simple and elegant meal that is healthy and delicious, I have the recipe for you. This skillet dish is quick and easy but still super flavorful and impressive looking. It also includes some of my favorite things; rosemary, red skin potatoes, and mushrooms. Trust me, it's a winning combination! I think rosemary is my favorite herb, it is just so yummy! I love it with potatoes, and I love it with chicken, so this dish combines all of that into one pan for a complete meal that everyone will love.

I've made this dish several times now and have found that I really love the mushrooms so I always add extra. If you like mushrooms too, I encourage you to add a few more than the 10 ounces called for. A few extra potatoes never hurt either, if you have room in your pan that is. One word of caution, the original recipe called for the juice of two lemons which I found a bit overpowering. I love lemon, but the juice of two lemons was just too much. I suggest using just one lemon (or not juicing the two lemons too vigorously), but you can adjust to your taste however works best. I also found that adding a splash of white wine was an excellent choice, I think adding wine is always delicious!

Skillet Rosemary Chicken

Adapted from: 

Minimally Invasive

Ingredients

• 3/4 pound -1 pound small red-skinned potatoes, halved, or quartered if large
• Kosher salt
• 2 sprigs fresh rosemary, plus 1 1/2 tablespoons leaves
• 3 cloves garlic, smashed
• Pinch of red pepper flakes
• Juice of 1 lemons (squeezed halves reserved)
• 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 4-6 skin-on, bone-in chicken thighs or 3 chicken leg quarters
• 10 ounces cremini mushrooms, halved (or more if you like mushrooms)
• splash of white wine

Directions

Preheat the oven to 450. Cover the potatoes with cold water in a saucepan and salt the water. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat and cook until tender, about 8 minutes; drain and set aside.

Pile the rosemary leaves, garlic, 2 teaspoons salt and the red pepper flakes on a cutting board, then mince and mash into a paste using a large knife. Transfer the paste to a bowl. Stir in the juice of 1 lemon and the olive oil. Add the chicken and turn to coat.

Heat a large cast-iron skillet over medium-high heat. Add the chicken, skin-side down, cover and cook until the skin browns, about 5 minutes. Remove chicken from pan; add the mushrooms and potatoes to the skillet followed by a splash of white wine. Place chicken over mushrooms and potatoes and drizzle with any marinade remaining in the bowl.

Add the rosemary sprigs and the squeezed lemon halves to the skillet; transfer to the oven and roast, uncovered, until the chicken is cooked through and the skin is crisp, 20 to 25 minutes.

French Style Lemon Yogurt Cake

A few weeks ago I read the book A Homemade Life by Molly Wizenberg. It was one of those books that, though I enjoyed it while reading it, it wasn't until I had finished the book and was thinking back to it that I realized how well I actually liked it. Each of the short chapters in this book shares a small moment in Molly's life that in some way relates back to the recipe that is printed at the end of every chapter. Of all of the recipes in this book the one that stood out the most to me was her French style lemon yogurt cake. I am a sucker for any type of cake, and this simple recipe looked easy and wonderful, it was at the top of my list.

I was right about this one. Sometimes a recipe comes along that you know you will make again and again. This is one of those recipes. In the past week I've already made it twice, and am excited to whip it together again soon!

As I said, this is a very simple recipe. No need for any fancy equipment or special ingredients. I did use a blender to make some coarse almond flour, but the original recipe calls for 1 1/2 cups of flour instead of the 1 cup of flour and 1/2 a cup of ground almonds. So if you don't feel like grinding up any almonds, don't! But since I had some almonds in the pantry, and Molly suggested trying this substitution, I decided to give it a try.

The first time I made this cake I turned it into an almond cake. I didn't have any lemons, and I don't love lemon flavoring in my baked goods, so I decided to substitute with 1/2 a teaspoon of almond extract. It was absolutely delicious! With some raspberries on top and a little whipped cream you have the most delicious, light and summery dessert.

For the second go at the cake I decided to make it as written and add in the lemon flavor. This cake also turned out delicious; sweet and tart and very lemony. The lemon syrup and glaze added moisture and sweetness, a lovely way to top it all off. I paired this variation with some vanilla bean ice cream and it was absolutely wonderful. I probably still prefer the almond version to the lemon one, but both were yummy and worth making again.

Both cakes had a slight problem with falling during the end of baking. It didn't affect the taste at all, but meant the loss of the beautiful domed top I was going for. I hope to be able to make this cake again without it falling. But either way, I know it will be delicious. I have lots of ideas of different versions of this cake I want to try, so it may make another appearance on this blog sometime soon.

 A quick buzz in the blender turns

blanched almonds into almond flour

 Mix the almond flour into the regular flour, 

powder, and salt

 In another bowl combine the eggs, yogurt, 

and sugar

 Mix together well 

 Add the dry ingredients

 Finally, add the oil

 Pour into prepared 9-inch pan, and bake

 Once baked, cover the cake with 

lemon syrup

 Finish off with a drizzle of lemon icing

 Cake with the book

 Cut a nice big slice

Dig in

French Style Lemon Yogurt Cake
From: A Homemade Life by Molly Wizenberg
Ingredients
For the Cake

• 1 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup finely ground blanched almonds
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• pinch of salt
• 2 teaspoons grated lemon zest
• 1/2 cup plain whole-milk yogurt (not low-fat or non-fat)
• 1 cup sugar
• 3 large eggs
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil, such as canola

For the Syrup:

• 1/4 cup powdered sugar, sifted
• 1/4 cup lemon juice

For the Icing:

• 1 cup powdered sugar, sifted
• 3 tablespoons lemon juice

Directions
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line the bottom of a 9-inch round cake pan with parchment paper and then grease the pan and the parchment with butter or cooking spray.

In a medium bowl whisk together the flour, almonds, baking powder and salt. Add the lemon zest and mix thoroughly.

In a large bowl, combine the yogurt, sugar and eggs, and mix well. Add the flour mixture to the yogurt mixture and stir until just combined. Add the oil and stir well until it comes together into a smooth yellow batter. Pour the batter into the prepared cake pan.

Bake the cake for 25 to 35 minutes until a toothpick or cake tester comes out clean. Do not over bake.

Cool the cake in the pan on a wire rack for 15 minutes. Then invert the cake unto a large plate, remove the parchment paper and invert the cake back onto the wire rack so it sits upright.

In a small bowl, whisk together the powdered sugar and lemon juice for the syrup. Place the cake on the wire rack over a rimmed baking sheet or over the sink and slowly spoon the syrup atop the warm cake. Some of the syrup will run down the sides of the cake. Then cool the cake completely.

In a small bowl, combine the powdered sugar and lemon juice for the icing. Whisk well to completely dissolve the sugar. Spoon or drizzle the icing over the cooled cake.