Lemon Drop Cupcakes

 















  
     These bright, cheerful lemon drop cupcakes are like a little bit of sunshine - with a little bit of booze. Although we've enjoyed lots of unseasonably sunny weather this January, it looks like the winter weather has finally caught up with us. These cupcakes are a fun way to make use of the beautiful lemons that are in season right now.


     Last summer, I planted a little Meyer lemon tree in our backyard. It was full of fragrant, delicate, pink blossoms, but the tree was so tiny it was hard to imagine actual lemons growing on it. Well, that little tree surprised me, and I ended up with more lemons than I knew what to do with! Not that I would ever complain about a lemon surplus.
     As much as I love lemons, I hate grocery shopping. This was one of those days where I found myself with some really wonderful ingredients, but not quite everything I needed to follow any of the recipes I could find. So, I had no choice: I MacGyvered a new recipe. I've baked many cakes and cupcakes in the course of my lifetime, so I felt pretty confident I could figure out the necessary ratios, using ingredients I had on hand, to create my own recipe. And what do you know - they turned out great!

Oven temp: 350
Yield: About 18.

For the cupcakes:

• 2 eggs 
• 1 stick softened butter
• 1 cup yogurt (I used full fat Greek style, because that's what I had, but I think regular, full fat yogurt or sour cream would also work.)
• 1 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup lemon juice
• 1/4 cup limoncello
• 1 Tbsp vanilla extract
• zest from 1.5 lemons
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1.5 cups flour
• 1 tsp baking soda 
• 1/2 tsp cream of tartar

For the frosting:
**Note: this will make enough frosting for exactly 24 cupcakes, so you can either proportionally increase the recipe, or just grab some graham crackers, or a spoon...Or, save this for sandwich cookie filling. Yum. 

• 1 pkg cream cheese
• 1 stick butter
• zest from the remaining .5 lemon
• 1 Tbsp limoncello
• 1 tsp vanilla bean paste (vanilla extract is just fine, but for frosting, I love the texture and little flecks of vanilla bean you get when you use this paste)
• 3 cups powdered sugar

Candied lemons, following Martha Stewart's method.

Directions:

Get the candied lemons started first - they take the longest. While you're bringing 2 cups of water to a boil, wash and thinly slice a lemon. Remove the seeds. Add 1 cup sugar to the boiling water, stir, and reduce the temperature. Once the sugar has dissolved, add the lemon slices. Give them a quick stir, and then forget about them for an hour or so.
Simmer until translucent, then remove with tongs. Lay flat to dry on a non-stick surface. I sprinkled them with a little extra sugar because I like the sparkly appearance.

Like sunlight shining through yellow stained glass windows.

While the candied lemons are setting, mix up the cupcake batter.
Mix the softened butter on med-high until fluffy, then mix in the yogurt and sugar until light and creamy. Mix in the two eggs. Now, add the vanilla, lemon juice, limoncello, and lemon zest. Mix on med speed and watch your beautiful creamy mixture turn into a curdled mess.

Don't worry. It gets better.

With the mixer on low speed, slowly add the dry ingredients. It's a good idea to stop and scrape the sides of the bowl every now and then so you don't end up with pockets of baking soda. Nothing like a baking soda flavored bite to ruin a perfectly lovely cupcake. You'll end up with a very thick, but fluffy, batter. Prepare your muffin tin with cupcake liners, and spoon in the batter. I filled mine pretty full, and ended up with tall, domed cupcakes. I'm partial to that look, but if you can do without the "muffin top", you can probably squeeze a couple extra cupcakes out of this recipe.

 Bake at 350 for 18-20 minutes, depending on your oven. Mine were done at 19 minutes.

For the frosting:
The butter and cream cheese should both be at room temperature. Beat them both together until you have a fluffy and homogeneous mixture. Add the vanilla bean paste, limoncello, and lemon zest. Beat 'em up again until fully incorporated. Then, with the mixer on low speed, gradually add the powdered sugar. Scrape the sides of the bowl, then mix on med-high for about 30 seconds.

Once the cupcakes are completely cooled (I actually recommend refrigerating them first so the frosting stays where you put it and doesn't melt!), frost, and add candied lemons. I found that making a little slit in the frosting to place the lemon in was helpful.

They're still cute without the candied lemons.

...but they do add a nice finishing touch.