Blueberry Muffins with Lemon and Ricotta

11:00 AM ByFiled UnderBreakfast

I have discovered something amazing.

UH-MAY-ZING!

Lemon Zested Sugar.

 

If y’all knew about this and didn’t share this with me… I think our relationship might be somewhat fractured :-) .

When Tina announced that April’s Crazy Cooking Challenge was Blueberry Muffins, I knew that I wanted something different, something more, something tonguegasmic.

Maria is one of my favorite bloggers and I remembered bookmarking a muffin recipe of hers from last year, so I dove into my bookmarks (oh-dear-pinterest-I-am-so-grateful-for-you-now) and once I found it, I remembered why I had bookmarked it:

1) I’ve never used ricotta before

b) her photography is beyond amazing

c) Lemon Ricotta Blackberry Muffins – need I say more?

I adapted them just a teensy weensy bit by using blueberries instead of blackberries

Maria’s recipe needs no adaptation – it’s brilliant and perfect and wonderful as is.

But.

I’ve never had blueberries and lemon together in a muffin before…

I can promise y’all right now.  This combination will be happening again.

Oh yes.  Yes, it will.

It’s from Maria that I learned about the Lemon Zest and Sugar trick – it’s honestly recipe-life changing – I’m going to re-make my Blackberry Lemon Coffee Cake using this trick – it subtly, but powerfully enhances the flavor of lemon in a brilliant way.

Okay — done raving about Maria (for now)

Back to the Crazy Cooking Challenge

Photobucket

I started out by setting some unsalted butter out so that it could reach room temperature, zesting two lemons and then mixing the lemon zest into 1 C of sugar with my fingers (it’s entirely possible that I spent an inordinate amount of time smelling my hands after this) and then pre-heating my oven to 350°F.
I’ve come to realize that my dark, tiny, yellow-y kitchen is simply abysmal for pictures – so due to the timing of the pictures – there aren’t any step by steps.
  • I whisked together all the dry ingredients:  flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
  • In another bowl:  cream together, lemon sugar and butter.
  • Add in ricotta cheese (hello baking first!) and beat until smooth
  • Beat in egg, fresh squeezed lemon juice and vanilla bean paste (or pure vanilla extract – it’s a 1:1)

Once the wet ingredients are combined and smooth, add in the dry ingredients and mix until just blended.

  • Line muffin tins with paper liners or spray with baking spray
  • Use an ice cream scoop or spoon to fill the muffin tins, press 3 to 5 blueberries (depending on size of the berries) into the batter and then swirl the batter with your finger (or a spoon, if you don’t like gettin’ your fingers dirty)
  • Top with turbinado sugar.  Maria suggests a sprinkle – I don’t think what I did qualifies as a sprinkle…

But it definitely  made for divinely crunchy topped muffins. :-)
Pop the muffins in the oven and bake for 18 minutes.
Remove from the tins and allow to cool for as long as you possibly can, but not until actually cool, although these muffins are spectacularly delicious while burning the living tar out of the roof of your mouth -scalding the taste buds straight off your tongue or next day cold.
Seriously, y’all.
Seriously.
Make these.
Now.
Go to the Farmer’s Market and buy some fresh lemons and blueberries – stop and buy some ricotta (or if you’re wicked adventurous – make it at home) and then — make. these. muffins.
Do NOT pass Go.  Do NOT collect $200.  Just. Make. These. Muffins.
Whether you make them with blackberries, like my inspiration, Maria  - or you make them with blueberries and an overabundance of Turbinado sugar, like me — just do it. Make them.
They will forever change your blueberry muffin experience.
Print
Blueberry Muffins with Lemon and Ricotta

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 18 minutes

Approximate Time: 28 minutes

Yield: 1 dozen muffins

Blueberry Muffins with Lemon and Ricotta

Ingredients

  • 2 C all purpose flour (no need to sift)
  • 1/2 tsp baking powder
  • 1/2 tsp baking soda
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1 C white granulated sugar
  • Zest from 2 lemons
  • 1/2 C unsalted butter, room temperature
  • 1 C ricotta cheese (I used low fat)
  • 1 egg
  • 1 Tbsp freshly squeezed lemon juice
  • 1 tsp vanilla bean paste or pure vanilla extract (just throw out any imitation extract now, please)
  • 1 C (ish) fresh blackberries
  • Turbinado Sugar - for topping

Instructions

  1. Zest two lemons and then, using your fingers, combine the lemon zest with 1 C sugar - set aside
  2. Pre-heat oven to 350° F
  3. Spray 12 muffin cup tin with baking spray or line with paper liners
  4. In a medium bowl combine: flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Whisk together, and set aside.
  5. Using a mixer - beat room temperature butter and lemon zest sugar together until light and fluffy - roughly 2 minutes.
  6. Add the ricotta cheese to the lemon-sugar/butter mixture and beat until smooth.
  7. Add in the egg, fresh squeezed lemon juice and vanilla bean paste and beat until fully incorporated.
  8. Add the dry ingredients to the wet, folding in with a wooden spoon and then beat until just blended and no loose dry mix is evident.
  9. Using an ice cream scooper or a large spoon, fill each muffin tin about 3/4 full.
  10. Press 3 to 5 blueberries into each cup and then swirl the batter (this is really thick, sticky batter) over the blueberries until they're immersed.
  11. Top with a generous sprinkle (tsp-ish-ish) of turbinado sugar (for that extra oomph)
  12. Bake about 18 minutes
  13. Remove from oven and cool about 5 minutes in the tins and for as long as you can stand it on wire racks.

Rachel Says

These muffins are worth the extra effort - they are light, delicious, moist and seriously bursting with flavor. You'll never go back to traditional blueberry muffins.

http://asouthernfairytale.com/2012/04/07/blueberry-muffins-with-lemon-and-ricotta/

Need more blueberry muffin inspiration?
Check out the other CCC participants:

15 Comments

Broiled Grapefruit

12:59 AM ByFiled Under17 day diet, Breakfast

I love grapefruit.

Seriously, y’all.

 

 

Grapefruits, to me, are the perfect citrus – tangy, slightly bitter, somewhat sour with just a hint of sweet.  Just writing about them right now has my mouth watering.

NOM.

 

A few months ago, Maria (one of my favorite food bloggers) wrote a post about Broiled Grapefruit, I was intrigued.  I pinned it and forgot about it.

A few days ago, I was browsing my pinterest boards and came across that pin – I jumped off the couch, grabbed a knife, cut into a couple of grapefruits, used a grapefruit spoon to loosen the fruit from the skin and drizzled them with honey, brown sugar and cinnamon.

 

I turned my broiler on HI and put my dish with the grapefruit in the oven – in retrospect, I should have moved my oven rack up one level so the caramelization would have been more intense.

I left the grapefruit in the oven for about 7 minutes, plenty of time for the sugars to caramelize.

Y’all.

Y’ALL.

{swoon}

I’m loving this deliciousness – it’s warm and sweet, and tangy and just… YUM.

Seriously, y’all – even if you’re in the anti-grapefruit camp, I think y’all should give this a try.  It takes grapefruit to a whole new level of delicious.

So yummy!

Print
Broiled Grapefruit

Prep Time: 5 minutes

Cook Time: 10 minutes

Approximate Time: 15 minutes

Yield: 4 grapefruit halves

Broiled Grapefruit

Ingredients

  • 2 Grapefruit
  • Honey for drizzling
  • Brown Sugar for sprinkling
  • Roasted Cinnamon for sprinkling

Instructions

  1. Turn your oven's broiler on HI
  2. Cut the grapefruit in half - try not to drool
  3. Use a grapefruit spoon, or paring knife, to gently loosen the fruit from the skin (don't completely remove it all the way down to the base, you don't want to lose all the juice) - this allows all the yummy flavors to seep all the way down into the grapefruit.
  4. Drizzle with honey, sprinkle with brown sugar and cinnamon.
  5. Place under the broiler and (depending on your oven) cook for 3 to 10 minutes, or until the sugars are caramelized and the fruit is swollen and ready to burst out of the skin.

Rachel Says

You can use agave nectar instead of honey, turbinado sugar instead of brown and even add a dash of cumino or sea salt for a flavor boost.

http://asouthernfairytale.com/2012/03/12/broiled-grapefruit/

 

Thank y’all so much for linking up every Monday and sharing the yummies that come from your kitchens!

Make sure y’all take the time to visit each other, pin some of your favorite recipes, link back here, comment and share the love!

Here are a few of my favorites from last week’s link up

 

 



22 Comments

Caramel Pecan Biscuit Bake

12:45 AM ByFiled UnderBreakfast, Mouthwatering Monday, Reviews

Dear Ones,

I’d like y’all to say hello to someone.

Caramel Pecan Biscuit Bake

It’s time y’all say Hello to a new kind of Breakfast Dish – That little beauty dripping with caramelized sugars and pecans is White Lily Flour’s Caramel Pecan Biscuit Bake

Would y’all like another introduction?

pecan biscuit bake 2

You’re welcome.

This isn’t your typical Breakfast Bake, it doesn’t have a cake base – this little beauty has a Southern Biscuit base made with White Lily’s Self Rising Flour
white lily self rising flour

This recipe intrigued me.

White Lily Flour is the ONLY flour that my Dad uses to make his Beaten Biscuits – a Southern delicacy unlike any other.

However.  HOWEVER.

Biscuits at breakfast, not something unusual in the South.  However… biscuits in the South not topped with gravy, biscuits in the south not stuffed with Country Ham or slathered with homemade jam …. what is this Southern blasphemy you speak of? {wink, wink}
Well let me tell y’all, my biscuits and gravy loving’ Southern husband – devoured two pieces of this and declared it ‘damn good’.

Monkey and Princess both had two pieces and when I came back to cover the baking dish after breakfast, it was fairly evident some little fingers had been helping themselves to more.

breakfast bake dish

This dish is messy and gooey and crunchy and sweet and downright yummy. The biscuit base is a bit of a surprise if you’re expecting a sweet cake style base, and I have to admit – we really liked it.

Print
Caramel Pecan Biscuit Bake

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 18 minutes

Approximate Time: 38 minutes

Yield: 12 Servings

Serving Size: 1

Ingredients

    Just slightly adapted from White Lily Flour
    Caramel Pecan Topping
  • 1/2 C melted butter
  • 1/2 C Syrup (they recommend Hungry Jack Microwave Ready Butter Flavored Syrup)
  • 1/2 C firmly packed dark brown sugar
  • 3/4 C coarsely chopped pecans
  • 2 tsp ground cinnamon (I recommend Roasted ground Cinnamon)
    • Biscuit Dough
  • 2 C White Lily Self-Rising Flour
  • 1/4 C Crisco, chilled
  • 2/3 C buttermilk
    • Drizzle
  • 1/3 C Cream Cheese Frosting

Instructions

  1. Pre-heat oven to 400 F and lightly spray an 8X8X2-inch baking dish with no-stick cooking spray.
  2. In a medium bowl, combine: melted butter, syrup, brown sugar, pecans and cinnamon. Set aside.
  3. Place flour in a large bowl. Using a pastry cutter, cut in shortening until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs.
  4. Add buttermilk, stir just until dough leaves the sides of the bowl.
  5. Lightly flour your hands to keep the dough from sticking.
  6. Press dough into the bottom of the baking dish.
  7. Using a fork, poke a bunch of holes into the top of the dough.
  8. Pour syrup/butter/pecan/sugar mixture over the dough and spread with a greased spatula, if necessary.
  9. Bake 15 to 18 minutes, or until the dough rises and the edges are golden brown. (The topping will still be jiggly)
  10. Let cool for a few minutes
  11. Heat cream cheese frosting in a microwave safe dish for 10 to 15 seconds, or until melted. Stir and drizzle over the top of the biscuit bake.
  12. Cool 10 to 15 minutes, serve warm.

Rachel Says

I don't know that it's truly an adaptation of their recipe all I changed was: using dark brown sugar, changing the amount of pecans, poking holes into the dough and recommending roasted cinnamon. The original recipe is White Lily Flour's - those are just my small changes/suggestions.

http://asouthernfairytale.com/2012/01/09/caramel-pecan-biscuit-bake/

This recipe today is in conjunction with a giveaway that I partnered with White Lily flour to bring y’all.  I have received product compensation for my time and talents.

Stay Tuned!  I have a Giveaway that involves White Lily Flour – a Cuisinart Hand Mixer – and yumminess on Thursday! Make sure that you’re a subscriber to my blog and following me on Twitter so you don’t miss out!

Favorites From Last Week

Thank y’all for linking up every Monday and sharing the fun of Mouthwatering Mondays with others through your comments, linking back in your posts and visiting each other! Can’t wait to see what y’all have in store for us this week!

 



33 Comments
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