Julie over at A Finger In Every Pie has a recipe for what her brother and sister-in-law call "the best cupcakes ever." And they do look good, don't they? They're Lightly Lemon Cupcakes. And they have blueberry and lemon in them, and they have the word "Light" in the title so you can eat 5 of them and still rationalize that you're eating healthy.
The full recipe for the cupcakes is after the jump. For the icing recipe, click on the link above.
Lightly Lemon Cupcakes
I'm not always 100% crazy about my own culinary experiments -- but like our family's new twins, these cupcakes are keepers.
1 cup butter, softened
2 cups sugar
3 eggs
Grated zest of two (organic or wax-free) lemons
1 teaspoon Madagascar vanilla extract or paste
3 cups all-purpose flour
6 Tbsp. cornstarch
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups sour cream (or yogurt or crème fraîche, or a combination)
Preheat oven to 350º F. In a mixing bowl, or in a stand mixer, cream butter and sugar. Beat in eggs, one at a time, and continue beating until mixture is light and fluffy. Add lemon peel and vanilla and mix well. Sift dry ingredients together; add to creamed mixture alternately with sour cream/dairy mixture (I used a combination of sour cream, crème fraîche and yogurt, since that was what I had in the fridge). The batter will be quite thick. Fill greased or paper-lined muffin cups with about 1/4 cup of batter. Bake at for 25-30 minutes or until toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes; remove to wire rack to cool completely. Makes about 30 cupcakes.
Chocolate-stuffed bananas on the grill
Tyler Florence welcomes new daughter
Beware kids' menus!
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
7-02-2007 @ 5:12PM
Hilary said...
I don't get how these are "light" cupcakes, aside from them having a light lemon flavor.
Reply
7-02-2007 @ 6:31PM
Karen said...
errr... yeah. what she said.
A cup of butter and 2 cups of sour cream does not make for Light cupcakes.
Reply
7-02-2007 @ 6:41PM
Silver_Potato said...
And they have blueberry and lemon in them, and they have the word "Light" in the title so you can eat 5 of them and still rationalize that you're eating healthy.
Reply
7-03-2007 @ 10:17AM
Aimee said...
"Lightly Lemon"--I think it means that there is a light lemon flavor to the cupcakes, not that they are diet food. The author was just being facetious:)
Reply
7-03-2007 @ 11:49PM
Julie said...
I think Aimee wins the prize of her own batch of cupcakes. Bob Sassone, who was kind enough to link to my post, was indeed being playful when he made a little joke about the cupcakes being "light" or in supermarket parlance, "lite".
"Lightly Lemon" was intended by me to imply that the cake portion of the confection is lightly flavored with lemon. The icing packs more of a lemon wallop. None of it was ever meant as a "lite" recipe -- although if you consider that the yield is 30 cupcakes, the butter ratio isn't quite as deadly as you might think.
Reply