Meyer Lemon Coffee Cake

Sometimes, you find a recipe that you just know you have to try! That's what happened when I found Meyer Lemon Coffee Cake. I was craving spring flavors and truth be told, I had never had a Meyer Lemon before. I have read many recipe's calling for them, I see them at the co-op, but I had never actually tried one before. This was the time to finally try them!

The coffee cake was delicious. LOTS of struesel. If you love struesel, then this is a recipe you have to try! I do love the Meyer Lemons. I will be trying them again in my next lemon recipe.

Meyer Lemon Coffee Cake (Source: Bake, Run, Live.  Adapted from: Martha Stewart)


Streusel Topping:
1 3/4 cup flour
3/4 cup brown sugar, packed
1 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup butter

Cake:
2 cup all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 cup sugar
3 Tablespoons Meyer lemon zest (you will need 4 to 5 lemons)
2 eggs
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup Greek yogurt

Glaze:
1 cup powdered sugar
1 to 2 tablespoons Meyer lemon juice


Struesel Directions:
In medium-sized bowl, combine flour, brown sugar, and salt. Cut in the butter until it resembles small pebbles. Cover and refrigerate until ready to use.

Cake Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter or grease a 9-inch angel food cake pan, set aside.
Sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. In large mixing bowl, beat together the butter, sugar, and lemon zest. Beat on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add in the eggs, one at a time, and then the vanilla. Scrape down the sides of bowl. On low speed, add the flour mixture in 3 additions, alternating with the Greek yogurt.

Spoon the batter into the prepared pan.  Sprinkle the chilled streusel evenly over the batter. Bake in preheated oven for 50-55 minutes, or until toothpick inserted in center, comes out clean. Remove from the oven and let cool for 15 minutes. After 15 minutes, run a knife along all the edges of the pan. Remove the outer ring and let cool completely. To remove cake from bottom of pan, run a knife along the center tube, then gently slide two large wide spatulas between cake and pan. Carefully lift from pan, and let cool on rack.

Glaze Directions
Shortly before serving, whisk together the powdered sugar and the Meyer lemon juice, in a small bowl. Drizzle the glaze over the cooled cake and let it set for 5 minutes before cutting and serving.


Printable Recipe

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Spring Day

My parents live thirty miles south of us on the the Mississippi River bluffs. 

Even though we live so close, they have so many different sites to enjoy. 

They have put a lot of work into the providing seed and the right habitat's for the birds.  Their work has paid off.

Since establishing their home, they have completed a lot of landscaping and have so many beautiful flowers.

The last two weeks, my mom and I have spent numerous hours walking their property on the great morel search....

Thankfully, all of our steps were rewarded with the great morel finds of 2013.

Maple Syrup Granola

It's time for the monthly Surprise Recipe Swap. This month I got to check out Heather's blog, Bake, Run, Live.  Heather had so many great recipes to choose from, I really had a hard time deciding. So, I picked two!  I'll share the second one, a little later on, if that's ok with Heather.

What I chose for today was Heather's Maple Syrup Granola. The week prior to finding this recipe, we had an Amish man stop in at our office selling fresh Maple Syrup. We only use pure maple syrup, but I have never had syrup that fresh! I knew I wanted to use this syrup on something other than pancakes. At least part of it! So, when I found the Maple Syrup Granola, I new that was the destination for my syrup!

This was my first time making granola without peanut butter, so I was a little hesitant. Sometimes I need that little nudge to try a new recipe. I can really get hung up on a favorite recipe and stick with it forever. I am glad for the nudge on trying this recipe, it is delicious! I used some ingredients that were new to me, and it was a complete success. Coconut Chunks are my new love, and I wish I new that coconut was in that form a long time ago!  This granola was great to snack on, or put on top of yogurt. Some went into a batch of cookies, which was an amazing addition to cookies! I think my favorite way to use this granola was on top of frozen vanilla bean yogurt. YUM!

Maple Granola (Slight adapted from: Bake, Run, Live)


3 c. rolled oats
1 c. dried unsweetened coconut chips
1 c. chopped walnuts
2/3 c. pure maple syrup
1/3 c. coconut oil, melted
1/4 c. light brown sugar, packed
1/2 tsp. sea salt (original recipe called for 1 teaspoon)
3/4 tsp. cinnamon
1/8 tsp. nutmeg
1 c. dried cranberries (or raisins if you prefer!)


Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Set aside.

In a medium bowl, combine all ingredients except the dried cranberries. Mix until everything is well combined. Spread evenly onto baking sheet. Bake for 40 minutes, stirring every 10 minutes. After 40 minutes, add cranberries and bake for another 10 minutes.

Remove from oven and let cool. Store in air tight container.




Interested in Secret Recipe Swap? Each month participating bloggers get assigned to another blogger and have to pick and cook a recipe from our partners blog!

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Relaxin' with the Young Ones

Winter is finally past, and the weather eventually turned nice. There are so many things I want to do, but not enough time in the day. The winter that would not leave us, seems to have everything running late. The garden needs to be planted. Flowers need to be planted. Yard needs to be mowed. Mushrooms need to be hunted for. Spring cleaning waiting to be done. That's just on my list outside of the normal day to day tasks. Truckin' Mans schedule is a whole other issue with the crops that need to get planted.  

Sometimes you just need to pencil in a little free time and go see the new chickens that are growing up so fast. 

We have a mix of Barred Rock, Rhode Island Reds, Black Sex Links, Australorps......

And two tiny little Bantams!

The ladies are always close by, waiting for us to turn away so they can show their authority to the young chicks. 

I am hopeful, that one day soon, they will be one big happy family.

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Mexican Bean Salad

I am seriously behind in sharing this post with you. I have had more technology problems than I can handle lately, but I think the wrinkles are all smoothed out. Other than loosing more files than I ever thought possible on my now dead laptop, I have recovered.

One of the fun things that went on in the middle of my techy issues, was getting my recipe for Mexican Bean Salad ready for my first guest post EVER! Please go over to Real Food Girl: Unmodified and check it out.  Kristine, is amazing, and you will love her. Remember, my Onion Bacon Jam from a while back? Yup... That was one of her recipes!


Go on now... Check out my Mexican Bean Salad here!

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Bake Sale and Raffle

BAKE SALE IS NOW CLOSED - THANK YOU FOR BIDDING!!

Reminder.... Bake Sale and Raffle are open Sunday until 6 pm! 

Amazing Talented Bakers.

Exciting Raffle Prizes.

All benefiting a deserving cause. . . . .  The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society

Bake Sale and Raffle... Click Here

Bake Sale and Raffle

BAKE SALE IS NOW CLOSED - THANK YOU FOR BIDDING!!

Welcome to the Bake Sale and Raffle! We are ready to raise a lot of money that is going to be donated to The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society’s (LLS).  I wanted to get involved and help raise money for this when my dear friend Stacey signed up to ride with Team in Training (Team Minnesota) in America's Most Beautiful Bike Ride around Lake Tahoe. If you want to read more about Stacey's involvement in the bike ride, please click here.  The money raised will help find cures and better treatments for leukemia, lymphoma, Hodgkin’s disease and myeloma.

A HUGE thank you to all the amazing bloggers that have offered to donate some of their amazing talents to baking for us all. Now, instead of just seeing their amazing foods online, you can bid on them, and enjoy them for yourself!


Now for the rules. I hate to be a rule enforcer, but with an event and bidding, we must have some rules!

Bake Sale Rules:

All bids are to be emailed to sugarcookiestopeterbilts@yahoo.com  The item you are bidding on must be listed in the subject line of the email. The dollar amount of your bid should also be in the subject line.

Dates of the bake sale are May 2nd, 12 pm through May 5th, 6 pm. All times listed are Central Time (CST)

The minimum opening bid is $5. All following bids must be higher than the last posted bid, and be in increments of $5.

I will update prices during the day.

Shipping is to US addresses only, unless noted otherwise.

Baked goods will ship within one week, unless noted otherwise.

Winners will be announced on Monday, May 6.

At the close of bidding, I will email the winning bidders with instructions for payment, as well as obtaining address for shipment of the winning item.

All payments must be made via paypal.

Raffle Rules

For every $5 donated (via paypal), 1 raffle ticket is earned. ($20 donation earns 4 tickets)

Shipping is to US addresses only, unless noted otherwise.

Donations for raffle tickets may be made May 2nd, 12 pm through May 5th, 9 pm CST.

Winners will be announced on Monday, May 6.

Random.org will be used to select the winners at the close of the auction.  The first number drawn, will have their choice of prizes. The second number will get to chose between remaining prizes. Third number will also choose, and the fourth number will be notified of their prize. 

Raffle Prizes

Assortment of award winning Wisconsin Cheese 
and four piece stainless steel cheese knife set. 
(Knife set not pictured)

Donated by Wisconsin Milk Marketing Board

 (© 2013 Wisconsin Milk Marketing Board, Inc.)

Cuisinart 11 cup Food Processor 

Available in choice of 5 colors

Donated by: My Truckin' Man

Ice Cream Package!
Cuisinart Ice Cream Maker (available in many funky colors!)
Included with the Ice Cream Maker are the books:
 The Perfect Scoop by David Lebovitz and Jeni's Splendid Ice Cream by Jeni Britton Bauer.

Donated by Anne at From My Sweet Heart

Natural Grace Skin Care

Orange Body Lotion, Nourishing Face Wash, Exfoliating Face Wash & Face Lotion

Donated by: Jill

Bake Sale

Leigh Anne from Your Homebased Mom with Caramel Corn Sampler Pack

***Will not ship until the week of May 25th
Current Bid: $15- Jenny

Tammy from Our Neck of the Woods with Maple Brown Sugar Granola Cookies 
 (Made with homemade granola and farm fresh eggs!) - 2 dozen cookies
Current Bid: $10 - Kari

Chef Madeleine Dee with Homemade English Toffee with Bacon, Cashews, and Milk Chocolate
 Current Bid: $15 - Pam

Amy from Rolling Sin - Sweets After Dark with Homemade Caramels - 3 dozen
Current Bid: $20 - Darcy

Mandy from South Your Mouth with No-Bake Peanut Butter Oatmeal Cookies
Current Bid: $15 - Dianna

Me with Oatmeal Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies  2 1/2 dozen
Current Bid: $15 - Terry

Cynthia from Feeding Big with Chocolate Mint Fudge
**Will not ship until approximately May 16th.
Current Bid: $10 - Angie

Joy from Yesterfood with Oatmeal Raisin Pecan Cookies ( a recipe from 1880 ) - 2 1/2 dozen cookies
Current Bid: $10 - Mike

Erin from Dinners Dishes and Desserts with Peanut Butter Chocolate Balls
Current Bid: $20 - Cliff

From Lark at Lark's Country Heart with Lemon Whoopie Pies- 1 dozen
Current Bid: $15- Cynthia

Shauna from The Best Blog Recipes with Chocolate Chip Vanilla Pudding Cookies - 2 dozen
Current Bid: $20- Michele

Bibi from Bibi's Culinary Journey with Caramel Apple Brownies
Available for shipping in Canada
Current Bid: $10 - Cindy

Donna from Cookistry with Butter Pecan Biscotti
The Biscotti is available with different nut choice, or with dried fruit
Current Bid: $20 - Mr. Donna

Angela from Angela's Kitchen with Snickerdoodles - 1 dozen
Gluten Free and Dairy Free
 Current Bid: $15- Jenny

Angela from Angela's Kitchen with Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Blondies - 1 dozen
Gluten Free and Dairy Free
 Current Bid: $15 - LeAndra

 

Angela from Angela's Kitchen with Brownie Bites - 1 dozen
Gluten Free and Dairy Free
 Current Bid: $20 - Tim

Anne from From My Sweet Heart with Brooksters - 1 dozen
Current Bid: $40 - Mike

Mary from Barefeet in the Kitchen with Dark Chocolate Brownies - 1 Batch (12-16 Brownies)
Available in traditional, gluten free and/or casein free, with or without nuts.
Current Bid: $30- Jenny