When life gives you lemons…

It’s that time of year when Lemon trees around New Zealand are producing lots of yummy fruit.  Sure, you could make lemonade or a gin and tonic, but I say when life gives you lemons GET BAKING!  Why not try out one of these delish recipes:

Dirk's Lemon Meringue Pie

Lemon meringue pies look tricky.  Trust me, they're not.  So simple in fact, that this is now quite often our go to dessert to make if we are in a rush and off to someone’s house for dinner.

Lemon Bars

These are super yummy.  This is a fave recipe which I really need to get around to making and photographing again as this picture doesn’t do it justice.

Lemon Loaf

Again, this is another beautiful recipe that I need to remake and photograph as the picture is rubbish.  Trust me, the loaf it not :)

Lemon Meringue Cupcakes

These are delicious and impressive.  Fill them with your own home made Lemon Curd to really be fancy.

Lemon Poppyseed Cake  and Lemon Poppyseed Muffins

I love the texture that the poppy seeds give to these two recipes.  The cupcakes are particularly divine – really moist and a nice flavour.

Lemon Tart

This lemon tart is just beautiful.  If you really want to go for gold, you can make your own short crust pastry too (however, store bought stuff will work just as well).

Lemon Tea Muffins

How cute are these?  They are almost too darling to eat.  Almost.

Lemon Whoopie Pies

So far, this is my fave whoopie pie recipe.  They have a lovely lemon flavour, but it is not too overpowering.

Sour Cream Lemon Cake

This cake is beautifully moist.  Who could resist tucking into that with a side or cream or yoghurt?

Here’s a couple of recipes to help you add a little something special to your baking:

Lemon Curd

Candied Lemon Peel

Hopefully that gives you a few ideas on how to use your lemons up :)

Luscious Lemon Whoopie Pies

So far (because I do plan on trying out more) this is my favourite Whoopie Pie recipe.  These Lemon Whoopie Pies were nice and cakey, and not too dense.  The recipe makes 10 Whoopie Pies, but I made 6 large pies out of my mixture.  I thought they looked really cute on my Nana’s old tea set she gave me a few years ago, which you can see in the picture below :)

Makes 6 – 10

250g flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
large pinch of salt
115g butter, softened
150g caster sugar
finely grated rind of 1 lemon
1 large egg, beaten
100ml milk

Lemon buttercream filling:
4 tablespoons lemon curd
115g unsalted butter, softened
2 tablespoons lemon juice
200g icing sugar

Icing:
115g icing sugar
1 – 2 tablespoons warm water

Preheat the oven to 180°C.  Grease a whoopie pie tin, or line 2 –3 large baking trays with baking paper.
Sift together the flour, baking powder and salt; set aside.  Place the butter, sugar and lemon rind in a large bowl and beat with an electric whisk until pale and fluffy.  Beat in the egg followed by half the flour mixture, then the milk.  Stir in the rest of the flour mixture and mix until fully incorporated.
Pipe or spoon 20 mounds of mixture (or what fits in the whoopie pie tins) onto the prepared baking trays.  Bake for 10 – 12 minutes until they have risen and are just firm to the touch.  Cool for 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

To make the filling:
Place the butter and lemon juice in a bowl and beat with an electric whisk for 2 –3 minutes or until pale and creamy.  Gradually beat in the icing sugar and continue beating for 2 –3 minutes until the buttercream is light and fluffy.

To make the the icing:
Sift the icing sugar into a bowl and gradually stir in enough water to make a smooth paste.

To assemble:
Spread or pipe the buttercream on the flat side of half the cakes.  Spread the lemon curd over the other half of the cakes, then sandwich the cakes together.  Spoon the icing over the whoopie pies.