When Life Hands You Lemons...

Make Cake! Oh and cookies. That is how I spent yesterday. It was another rainy day, and to top it off I was not feeling very well, and there was nothing on television. So what to do? I tuned the tv into Sirius and put it on the Frank Sinatra (and friends) station, lit a few candles and got to work....well should not call it work, I do love to bake. I could bake all day, every day and never tire of it. I have been baking since I was a child and so I also now have the ability to play with recipes. 


Last week my husbands co-worker gave him a huge bag of lemons. We gave some to our daughter, started on making Lemon-cello ( that is a long process) and so what to do with all the rest of the lemons and the bottle of juice I have squeezed?? I have my favorite cookie recipe , the Nutmeg Sugar Cookie one that I shared with you all recently and thought how lovely that would be with lemon added. I had already tweaked it once, I now use white wheat flour to add fiber and make it a bit more healthy, and am sure it would be ok to go further and add egg substitute if you like. I also roll the balls in sugar which is a tweak. Anyway, this time I added fresh grated lemon rind, a lot of it, and then added a bit of lemon juice to the mix... ** you will have to add a bit of extra flour in if you do this as the dough will be a bit too moist.  I put the dough, wrapped in plastic, into the freezer to firm up for a couple of hours, and moved onto a cake recipe that I found on line. So I wanted to share it with you. be prepared the house will fill with the delightful sent of fresh lemons and yummy baked goodness! Might be hard to resist not cutting into the cake when it first comes out! But so worth the wait!!

Lemon Poppy Seed Loaf With Lemon Syrup

By Katzen on May 23, 2009

Photo by lilsweetie

5 Reviews

• 
• Prep Time: 15 mins
• Total Time: 1 1/4 hr
• Serves: 12, Yield: 1 Loaf

About This Recipe

"Courtesy of Canadian Living's Dinner Club."

Ingredients

Lemon Poppy Seed Loaf

• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 3 tablespoons poppy seeds
• 1 tablespoon grated lemon rind
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup milk

Lemon Syrup

• 1/3 cup granulated sugar
• 1 teaspoon lemon rind, grated
• 1/3 cup lemon juice

Directions

1. In large bowl, beat butter with sugar until light and fluffy; beat in eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition.
2. In separate bowl, whisk together flour, poppy seeds, lemon rind, baking powder and salt; stir into butter mixture alternately with milk, making 3 additions of flour mixture and 2 of milk. Spread in greased 8- x 4-inch (1.5 L) loaf pan.
3. Bake in center of 325 F oven for 1 hour or until cake tester inserted in center comes out clean. Place pan on rack.
4. Lemon Syrup: In saucepan or microwaveable measure, warm sugar and lemon rind and juice until sugar dissolves. With skewer, pierce hot loaf right to bottom in 12 places; pour lemon syrup over loaf.

Page 2 of 2Lemon Poppy Seed Loaf With Lemon Syrup (cont.)

Directions (cont.)

5. Let loaf cool in pan for 30 minutes; turn out onto rack and let cool completely. Wrap and let stand for 12 hours before slicing. Makes 1 loaf, 12 slices.
6. Make-Ahead Tip: Store at room temperature for up to 2 days or overwrap with heavy-duty foil and freeze for up to 1 month.

Nutrition Facts

Serving Size: 1 (76 g)
Servings Per Recipe: 12

Amount Per Serving

% Daily Value

Calories 243.3

Calories from Fat 90

37%

Amount Per Serving

% Daily Value

Total Fat 10.0g

15%

Saturated Fat 5.4g

27%

Cholesterol 57.0mg

19%

Sugars 22.8 g

Sodium 150.7mg

6%

Total Carbohydrate 35.9g

11%

Dietary Fiber 0.7g

2%

Sugars 22.8 g

91%

Protein 3.5g

7%

© 2010 Food.com. All Rights Reserved. http://www.food.com/373977

Now I normally do not tweak something without trying once before , but I went ahead and used my white whole wheat flour. So it changed the color a bit.....here is my results....

Mixed up in the bowl

Ready for the oven ...with a bit of raw sugar sprinkled on the top...another tweak

Hot out of the oven , just before I add the simple syrup. One tip, poke a lot of holes and all the way through for syrup to really soak in .

And wala, a lovely, moist cake for breakfast greeted me! The top still had a bit of crunch from the raw sugar!

Some handy tips for what to do with the lemons in which you just stole the rind from...cut into wedges and put down the garbage disposal , does a wonderful job of cleaning it and freshening it up. Another great use is to cut in half and rub on elbows to exfoliate and soften...when I was younger I also coated my hair in lemon juice and created highlights. Really brought out my natural red highlights on my dark hair that I had then. Oh one I like is adding lemons to flower water...either whole to hide the stems or in slices to freshen, like in this photo from 1-800-Flowers...How can you help but smile, even on a cloudy day looking at this???

The list goes on and on...but one of my favs, juice them and make lemonade! Because after all when life hands you lemons....

Pic from delish.com