Lemon Bottles and Onesies

I am so far behind on blogging, I just don't know why. I have decided to try and update the blog because this is the easiest way to keep all my recipes at my fingertips. This post is extremly beneficial because I am in the process of planning another friend's baby shower.

For a friend's baby shower in February I decided to make onesie cookies again. I am excellent at underestimating the amount of time and the amount of work that I have to do and this was a perfect example because I was up until 4 am and back up 2 1/2 hours later trying to finish the over 100 cupcakes and an absurd amount of cookies (I think I blocked out the extra number for my own mental health). I was in pretty good shape making the cookies (both onesies and baby bottles)and then I tried the first batch of unfrosted ones and GROSS!!! They had to get thrown out and I started scouring my favorite Allrecipes for a new recipe (and now it was almost 3:30pm). I was pretty happy with this recipe except they blew up when they were baking them so I had to recut them once they came out of the oven (this could be because I used just butter) and some of the icing seemed to smudge in the bags but yet again I think my few hours of drying was just not enough.

Even though some of them were a little ugly they did get rave reviews because of the taste, the frosting and the cookies both had some lemon in them. Genious! (Thank you to whoever came up with that idea). I definitely would make these again but next time I would try and follow the recipe to a T and give myself more time for all of the frosting to dry!




SHIELA'S SUGAR COOKIES
(Source: http://allrecipes.com/recipe/shielas-sugar-cookies/detail.aspx)

INGREDIENTS:

1 cup margarine
1 cup shortening
1 cup white sugar
1 cup confectioners' sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon lemon juice
4 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon cream of tartar
1 teaspoon salt

ICING:

3 cups confectioners' sugar
1/4 cup margarine, softened
1 1/2 teaspoons lemon juice
3 tablespoons milk

DIRECTIONS:

1.Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease cookie sheets.
2.In a large bowl, cream together the 1 cup margarine, shortening, white sugar and 1 cup confectioners' sugar until smooth. Beat in the eggs one at a time, then stir in 1 teaspoon lemon juice. Combine the flour, baking soda, cream of tartar and salt; gradually stir into the creamed mixture. On a lightly floured surface, roll the dough out to 1/4 inch in thickness. Cut into desired shapes with cookie cutters. Place cookies 1 1/2 inches apart onto prepared cookie sheets.
3.Bake for 8 to 10 minutes in the preheated oven. Allow cookies to cool on baking sheet for 5 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely.
4.To make frosting, combine the 3 cups confectioners' sugar, 1/4 cup margarine and 1 1/2 teaspoons lemon juice in a medium bowl. Mix until smooth, adding milk 1 tablespoon at a time until frosting has reached its desired consistency.

BACK............AGAIN!!!

WOW!!! It has been forever since I have blogged and instead of throwing my hands up and saying I am done I have decided to come back to blogging. Since I have been back from Japan I have moved and redone my kitchen, I love all my new space and it is such a huge difference from my little galley kitchen!


So here it is what I have been doing:

THE KITCHEN:


Old Kitchen


New Kitchen

A FRIEND'S BABY SHOWER:
She didn't know what she was having so I made her favorite Red Velvet Cupcakes and made the frosting both pink and blue. I also made regular size and mini cupcakes. They were a big hit! I had sugar booties, duckies, and flowers to put on each one.

We did candy jars as favors:

BIRTHDAY CUPCAKES:
My officemate is not a chocolate fan so I made my lemon cupcakes and lemon frosting for his birthday. This time I let them cook longer and they came out delicious. In the earlier recipe I said to halve the cream cheese frosting so below is the halved recipe (enough for one batch of cupcakes). Sorry for the bad picture, they were the last cupcakes left!

LEMON CREAM CHEESE FROSTING
Source: Allrecipes.com)

INGREDIENTS:

- 1/2 of an 8 ounce package cream cheese, softened
- 1/8 cup butter
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- 1 teaspoon lemon zest
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar

DIRECTIONS:

Beat cream cheese, butter, lemon juice, lemon rind, and vanilla together until smooth and fluffy. Add confectioners' sugar in 2 additions. Beat until creamy. Add more icing sugar or juice as needed for easy spreading.

When life gives you lemons.........

I have been so busy in Japan but when I first got here I was invited to my coworker's house for dinner. I have limited baking stuff here (no mixer!) but still seem to be doing just fine. It is super hot here in Japan but I will take it because that means it is not currently raining!!!! I decided to try something different and went with Lemon Bars. They were really good my one thing would be to decrease the cooking time. I did 15 minutes for the crust and they were still pale but it was good enough!


LEMON PIE BARS
(Source: allrecipes)

INGREDIENTS:

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup confectioners' sugar
1 cup butter, softened
4 eggs
1 1/2 cups white sugar
1/2 cup lemon juice (I used the lemon juice in the bottle)
1 tablespoon lemon zest

DIRECTIONS:

- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
- Mix 2 cups of flour and confectioner's sugar together. Cut in the butter or margarine. Mix well until the dough resembles pie dough consistency.
- Press the dough into a 9x13 inch baking pan. Bake 15 to 20 minutes or until golden brown. (I baked for 15 minutes and it was still pale)
- Beat together eggs, sugar, 4 tablespoons flour, lemon juice and lemon rind for at least 1 minute. Pour the mixture over the baked crust.
- Bake the bars another 20 minutes, or until the lemon topping has set.
- Sprinkle with confectioner's sugar when cooled.

When Life Gives You Lemons.....

Make Lemon Cupcakes and Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting!!

Awhile ago I was browsing the internet and came across a Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting recipe and I knew I just had to make it; however, I didn't know what the cupcake itself should be!! So I turned to my fellow Daring Bakers who came to my rescue, thank you to everyone for their help and I am definitely going to make all of the suggestions!! I especially have to thank Fran from Apples Peaches Pumpkin Pie for the delicious and super easy Lemon-Up Cupcakes!

I learned a very important lesson when making these cupcakes: if you take them out of the oven too soon they deflate!!! When I walked out of the kitchen they were nice and puffy but when I came back in they were all deflated but with enough frosting you couldn't tell! They were still delicious and all of the guys in my office loved them. P.S. Happy Birthday to my officemate!

The recipe calls for 18-23 minutes; however, I took them out at 15 minutes (the box said to!!) so I recommend leaving them in closer to 18 so they don't deflate! Also, the frosting recipe can be halved for these cupcakes - I have the rest in a container in my fridge! O I also cheated and used the bottled lemon juice, I just don't have time to squeeze the lemons, and it worked out great, and I used Fat Free Cream Cheese too!


A little deflated!!




Icing makes them look all better!!!



LEMON UP CUPCAKES
(Source: Apple Peaches Pumpkin Pie )

INGREDIENTS:
- 1 box Butter Recipe Golden Cake Mix
- 1 stick of Butter
- 3 eggs
- 1 box lemon instant pudding
- 1/4 c fresh lemon juice
- zest from 1 lemon


DIRECTIONS:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Prepare cake mix according to directions on box, adding the pudding and substituting the lemon juice for 1/4 c of the water. Beat according to the instructions on the box. Batter will be thick. Scoop into 24 cupcakes. (I use an ice cream scoop.)
Bake 18-23 minutes until light golden brown and toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.


LEMON CREAM CHEESE FROSTING
(Source: Allrecipes.com)

INGREDIENTS:

- 1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
- 1/4 cup butter
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice
- 2 teaspoons lemon zest (About 1 lemon)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 5 cups confectioners' sugar

DIRECTIONS:

Beat cream cheese, butter, lemon juice, lemon rind, and vanilla together until smooth and fluffy. Add confectioners' sugar in 2 additions. Beat until creamy. Add more icing sugar or juice as needed for easy spreading. Makes about 3 2/3 cups.