I adore lemons. The juice adds zing to cakes and muffins, the zest is a godsend for punching up citrus notes in any dish, and their cherry yellow colour is like a neon sign to summer. Not, of course, that they are only available in summer. Or that they are best used for summertime cooking. In fact, when the skies outside are glowering, and when your mood could use an uplift, that's when you should bring out the lemon artillery.
I found a recipe for lemon muffins yesterday. The readers' comments were split into two camps: some loved the forthright lemoni-ness of the results; others didn't care so much for the tartness. H and I are firmly in the first camp. And because we are suckers for anything tart (pun intended) I threw in some candied cranberries that I made about a week ago.
2 cups unbleached flour
1/2 cup sugar, plus 2 tbsps
1 tbsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup fresh lemon juice
1 cup fresh, frozen or candied cranberries
2 eggs
Zest of 1 lemon
Preheat oven to 400 F. Spray muffin pan with nonstick spray or use paper liners. In a medium bowl, combine flour, 1/2 cup sugar, baking powder and salt and blend to combine.
Melt butter. Off heat, stir in lemon juice, eggs and most of the lemon zest, reserving some zest for garnish on top of muffins. Stir the egg mixture into the dry ingredients and blend until well moistened.
Combine the 2 tbsp sugar with the remaining zest. Spoon batter into muffin pan and sprinkle top of muffins with the zest and sugar mixture.
Bake 15-20 minutes (mine were done in 15 min) until lightly browned. Be careful not to overbake.
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