Tuesday 26 April 2022
Perhaps you've wondered where I've been since I last posted here. To be honest, nowhere, except inside my head. It's a place I escape to often these days. I would be lying if I didn't admit that the war in Ukraine has been, and still is, upsetting me. It invades my waking thoughts several times a day and I have not found much that I wanted to write about in these past weeks. After 2 years of COVID it seemed like the last straw. Now, after more than 8 weeks of silence on my part, I am tentatively picking up where I left off.
After an unusually cold start, Spring is finally here and the flowers in our garden have started to bloom. So I will try to enjoy this beautiful season and will definitely make an effort to write more frequently if more briefly.
Our son will soon be taking some very important exams which he needs to pass before he can continue his education at junior college level (equivalent to senior high school in the US). We support and encourage him and try not to offer advice unless it's asked for - which is not as easy as it sounds. His exams will be over by the end of May and then we will all be looking forward to some downtime during the summer months.
After 2 years we were able to celebrate Easter properly and I made some lemon almond cupcakes for dessert. They are really very easy so I am going to share the recipe with you that I found on Centerstage Wellness.
Lemon Almond Cupcakes
For the cupcakes:
1 cup (120g) all-purpose flour
2/3 cup (150g) granulated sugar
1½ teaspoons of baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
zest of 1/2 lemon
3 tablespoons (40g) of unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/2 cup (4 ounces) (120 ml) milk (I used almond)
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
1 large egg
For the frosting:
1 cup (250g) powdered sugar
6 tablespoons (80g) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/8 teaspoon salt
zest and juice of half a lemon, divided (or 1/2 teaspoon lemon extract)
1/4 teaspoon almond extract
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon milk
Directions:
For the cupcakes:
- Preheat the oven to 325F. Line 12 muffin tins with paper liners, or grease and flour them if you’re out of liners.
- Whisk together the dry ingredients. Use a stand or hand mixer to mix in the butter until the mixture looks like coarse sand.
- Add the lemon zest and whisk until it is incorporated into the mixture.
- Whisk together milk, almond extract, and egg. Pour into the sandy mixture and stir slowly until incorporated.
- Use a 1/4 cup measure to scoop the batter evenly into the muffin tins.
- Bake at 325F for 22-25 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Remove from pan and cool on a wire rack.
- Wait until cupcakes are completely cooled to frost them
- Sift powdered sugar into a mixing bowl. Cream together with the butter, salt, lemon juice and lemon zest.
- When well-combined, add extracts and drizzle in half the milk. Beat on high speed until fluffy, adding more liquid until desired consistency is reached. The frosting should lighten in color and increase in volume. (I only added half the milk as the consistency seemed just right).