Happy Easter! It is a great morning here at our house! The kids woke up early, super excited to run downstairs to find their Easter baskets. The Easter Bunny did a great job hiding baskets throughout the house—the kids ran through the rooms opening doors and cabinets, turning over pillows, and tossing aside blankets. But, this year, EB was a sneaky, sneaky bunny—eventually mom and dad had to step in to help. 🙂
After the excitement of baskets, we all settled in to watch the story of Jesus rising from the grave—the questions, comments, and excitement of the kids are all so refreshing! They are so honest in their observations and making connections to their lives today. Makes for one proud mama (and papa!)!
Easter is also a time for our whole family to get together in celebration…so guess what else that means?!?! Baking time! To help foster in the warm springness of the season, it turned out to be a lemon filled weekend! I made all sorts of scrumptious treats that I’ll be sharing over the next few posts—lucky friends and neighbors who got to be taste testers will know what I’m talking about! 😉
To start our deliciousness off right, we begin with some lemon blueberry muffin cakes…holy moly! I highly recommend using fresh blueberries and fresh lemons—OMG! The combo go together so well making for a sweet, and just tart enough, morning meal. While making the muffins yesterday, I literally had to swat away little hands and fingers, making promises for the morning. While taking pictures, one of our dear little friends stood by vigilantly, making comments the whole time…”Those sure look yummy Ms. Erika”, “Can I have one NOW Ms Erika?”, “Look over there Ms Erika” (trying to trick me while she snuck one away!). Too cute…and her patience was finally rewarded! 😉
Lemon Blueberry Muffin Cakes
1 stick Earth Balance butter
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 ¼ cups sugar
1 TBSP grated lemon zest
¼ cup plus 2 TBSP fresh lemon juice
¾ cup almond milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 ¼ tsp baking powder
1/3 tsp baking soda
½ tsp cinnamon
¼ tsp salt
½ cup applesauce
6 ounce container blueberries
Directions:
- Preheat oven to 350. Line 12 baking cups with cupcake liners**.
- Combine ¼ cup sugar and ¼ cup lemon juice in a small saucepan over medium heat. Simmer, stirring occasionally, until the sugar dissolves and the syrup is slightly thickened. Let stand while you are making the muffins.
- Combine the almond milk, remaining 2 TBSP lemon juice, and vanilla in a bowl.
- Whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon in another bowl.
- Beat butter, lemon zest, and remaining cup of sugar in a mixer on medium speed until pale and fluffy. Reduce speed to low and add the applesauce, beating well after adding.
- Beat in the flour mixture in three additions, alternating with the milk mixture, beginning and ending with the flour.
- Gently fold in the blueberries using a rubber spatula.
- Divide the batter among the muffin cups. Bake 25-30 minutes.
- Transfer pan to a wire rack and brush the tops of cakes with the lemon syrup. Let stand for 10 minutes and remove from the muffin pan and allow to cool completely on wire rack
**I had slightly more batter than the 12 muffin tins, so I used the remaining batter to fill a mini-loaf pan.
These yummy breakfast (or anytime) treats pack some big flavors! What’s one of your favorite lemon combos??
It's Truly Scrumptious! 