Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins

My boss gave me a couple of lemons recently from a large bag she had picked up at the store. I have never really done anything with whole lemons before, but these smelled so good I knew I had to find something to bake. Annie from Annie's Eats suggested the Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins on her blog, originally found on the Joy of Baking website. The first time I made these I followed the recipe exactly (except I used non-fat yogurt because that's all I could find and they still turned out great). The second time my lemon wouldn't zest well, so instead of making the glaze I used the juice of the lemon in the muffin itself. Both versions turned out equally well.

Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 tablespoons poppy seeds
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/4 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 cup (1 stick butter)
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 eggs
• zest of one lemon
• 1 cup vanilla yogurt
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

For Glaze

• 1/2 cup powdered sugar
• 1 to 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a 12-cup muffin pan with paper liners or spray with a nonstick vegetable spray. Set aside. In a small bowl, stir together flour, poppy seeds, salt, baking powder and baking soda. Set aside. Cream the butter and sugar with an electric mixer. Beat in eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in the lemon zest, yogurt and vanilla and beat until well blended. Stir in the flour mixture until just moistened. Do not over mix. Spoon the batter into the prepared muffin pan and bake for 18-20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Remove from the oven and place on a wire rack to cool for 5 minutes before removing from the pan and glazing.

Glaze: If glazing, while muffins are baking stir together the powdered sugar and lemon juice. The mixture should be runny. Once the muffins are removed from the oven, wait five minutes and then drizzle the glaze over the muffins with a spoon.

Whole Wheat Baking Powder Biscuits

One of our favorite weekend breakfasts is sausage gravy over biscuits. My husband makes a mean sausage gravy and I make the biscuits. I got this recipe from my Fannie Farmer Cookbook, and the only alteration I made was to do a mix of whole wheat flour and all-purpose flour instead of only all-purpose. If you are someone afraid of doing breads, give this recipe a try. It's very easy and makes some tasty biscuits.

Whole Wheat Baking Powder Biscuits

• 2 cups flour (I used about 1 1/2 cups all-purpose and 1/2 cup whole wheat)
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 4 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1/2 cup vegetable shortening
• 2/3 cup milk

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Grease two 8-inch cake pans (I used my pizza stone, un-greased). Put the flour, salt, baking powder and sugar in a bowl. Cut the shortening into the flour with two knives or a pasty blender until the mixture resembles coarse meal. Add the milk all at once and stir just until the dough forms a ball around the fork. Turn the dough onto a lightly floured board and knead 14 times. Pat until 1/2 inch thick. Cut into rounds with a 2-inch cookie cutter (I used our biscuit cutter, not sure how big it is). Place touching each other in the cake pans and bake for 15-20 minutes (again, I placed spaced apart on the pizza stone and baked for approximately 12-15 minutes).

Whole Wheat Waffles

One of my son's favorite breakfast foods is waffles. I've been buying the frozen kind, which taste alright, but really wanted to make my own. My mother-in-law gave us their old waffle iron this weekend, and I tried my hand at waffles. I used the recipe from my Fannie Farmer Cookbook, and they turned out great. Joey and I tested one when it first came out, and can't wait to have them for breakfast tomorrow morning. I froze the waffle quarters and will heat them in the toaster just like the store-bought kind. The only change I made was to sub 1/2 cup of whole wheat flour for the all-purpose, as reflected below.

Whole Wheat Waffles

• 2 eggs, well beaten
• 1 cup milk
• 3 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup whole wheat flour
• 3 teaspoons baking powder
• 2 teaspoons sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

Mix the eggs, milk and oil in a large bowl or pitcher. Stir in the flour, baking powder, sugar and salt and mix until blended. Heat the waffle iron and pour in enough batter to just fill. Close and bake until the steaming stops and the waffles are crisp, tender and brown.

Best Ever Homemade Pancakes

So, there is no photo of the pancakes. First, we all know what pancakes are supposed to look like. Second, I can't make a pretty pancake to save my life. They taste good, they just don't have that uniform golden brown-ness that makes a pancake look good. So you'll just have to trust me and make these for yourself. I found this recipe a few years ago. It was probably the third or fourth pancake recipe I tried, and it's the only one I've made since. It's easy and delicious, what more can you ask for?

Pancakes

• 2 cups flour
• 1 3/4 cup milk
• 2 tablespoons baking powder
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 1/4 cup melted butter
• 3 tablespoons sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt

Combine dry ingredients in a mixing bowl. In a separate bowl mix the butter, milk and eggs. Slowly stir into the dry ingredients. Let sit at least ten minutes before cooking.

As for cooking directions, trial and error is best. I use an electric griddle that works best when set around 350 degrees. Do not try to flip the pancakes until the bubbles pop and the holes remain (if that makes any sense to you, I don't know how to describe it better).