I Tried It: The Best Lemon Poppyseed Bread

Joanna over at A Cup of Joe was not kidding! This is some seriously good lemon poppyseed bread. I didn't even use lemon glaze, and I probably ate close to twenty percent of this cake while it was still warm. It's so light and fluffy that it made me think of this clip...

The original recipe for this delicious bread can be found at A Farmgirl's Dabbles (c/o A Cup of Joe). Below is my adapted version.

What you'll need:

• 225g flour 
• 120g caster sugar
• 160ml buttermilk
• 120ml oil
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tbsp poppyseeds
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1.5 tsp almond extract
• freshly grated zest of 3 lemons
• a squeeze of lemon juice (about a half lemon's worth)

What to do:

Preheat your oven to 350F/175C.

Zest your lemon. I agree, it is one of the more tedious aspects of lemon-related-recipe-prep. But I promise, it will be worth it.

Combine your dry ingredients - the flour, caster sugar, salt, baking powder, and poppyseeds, in a mixing bowl.

In a separate mixing bowl, combine the wet ingredients - the buttermilk, oil, eggs, vanilla extract, almond extract, lemon zest and the juice from half a lemon. Blend with a handheld mixer, and then gradually add in the mix of dry ingredients. Blend for another minute or two, until all lumps have disappeared.

Lightly grease a bundt tin (or load tins, or muffin tins if you prefer!), pour the batter in, and bake for about 45 minutes - until an inserted fork comes out clean.  Let cool for at least 15 minuets before attempting to dislodge the cake from it's tin.

If you'd prefer this WITH the lemon glaze, check out Brenda's original recipe over on A Farmgirl's Dabbles.


(Thank you Brenda and Joanna!)

Perfect Lemon & Coconut Bars

Aptly named recipe, Green Kitchen Stories, aptly named.

I am a big fan of pretty much all things coconut. These lemon and coconut bars made for a refreshing, summery treat! I added a bit more lemon juice to mine, and enjoyed them the most once cut into small squares after being refrigerated overnight. Not going to lie, I also tried them straight from the oven. Gooey, but good. Head over to Green Kitchen Stories for the official recipe.

I wish I had a pretty picture of my attempt to share, but I sadly only took a quick iPhoto of it:

My apologies for the iPicture quality here - this is admittedly not my finest culinary photograph. I promise this looks much much more aesthetically pleasing and appetizing cut into little bite-size squares.

On this warm summer morning, I kind of wish I still had some of these left in my refrigerator. Will you try some for your next picnic or barbecue? I'll definitely be making some again soon! (Maybe not today though, it's already so warm that my jar of coconut oil is in liquid form this morning! Ha!)

Quick Lemon Raisin Scones

I hope everyone enjoyed the Memorial Day/Bank Holiday weekend! There was lots of time spent outdoors in the surprisingly pleasant weather here. I'm really pleased the sunshine decided to stick around for the long weekend! Late last night I decided to make use of the bowl of lemons on the counter and whip together these quick Lemon Raisin Scones. 

What you'll need:

(Makes 9 scones)

• 225g self raising flour
• 60g unsalted butter (room temperature)
• 30g soft light brown sugar
• 150ml skimmed milk
• zest of 1 lemon
• 75g raisins
• 1 tsp baking soda
• pinch of salt

What to do:

Preheat oven to 180C/360F.

In a mixing bowl, combine the butter, sugar, baking soda, salt, and skim milk using a handheld mixer. Then gradually mix in the flour. Keep going until all of the flour is mixed in and the dough starts to clump together.

Next, add the zest of one lemon. I squeezed in a bit of lemon juice too, just to add an extra lemony kick.  

Once the lemon zest is thoroughly mixed into the dough, add the raisins.  Give the dough a few more seconds with the handheld mixer to distribute the raisins.

Next you'll need to lightly flour a surface and flatten your dough out. You could be fancy and use a rolling pin, but I honestly just used my hands. Quick and easy, right? Flatten the dough out until it's about 1/2 an inch thick. Then cut out scone circles. Again, you can use a fancy cookie cutter or scone cutting contraption if you have one, or you can turn a small drinking glass upside down and portion out your scone dough that way. (Or am I the only person who keeps used glass Nutella jars to use as juice glasses?)

Space evenly on a baking sheet (coating the surface lightly with butter or baking spray if it's not already a non-stick surface) and pop into the oven for about 12 minutes.

The final product should have risen nicely (hooray for fluffy scones!) and should be golden brown.  Enjoy warm alone or with some jam! These hold up well for a day or two in an airtight container too.