Honey-Lemon Ricotta Muffins

Life is the flower for which love is the Honey.- Victor Hugo

Spring began last week. We have already gone stargazing, camped out in our yard and one of my children has gotten a sunburn. We have killed mosquitoes and have been tempted to go swimming in our lake (hmmm, maybe not yet). We stumbled upon a rattle snake,  to later realize it was just a milk snake. And I can not tell you how many times my daughter has said to me, "It is so hot, why is it so hot? Aren't you hot?" No, this is not hot my dear little Canadian children. And that is just the first week of our Canadian spring.
Today we are going on another adventure. We are on our way to the Muskoka Region of Ontario. My husband and his band have a radio interview.  I love to travel, so we decided to all travel north together, about three more hours north. Why not?
These muffins I packed for our adventure. They are delicious. I used fresh honey that my sister in law picked up at a local farmers' store. 4 out of 4 children stuck in a car agree these are amazing! We all highly recommend these muffins for your next breakfast morning...or road trip.

Honey- Lemon Ricotta Biscuits (adapted from Nonna's Lemon Ricotta Biscuits )
Makes 12 muffins

INGREDIENTS:
muffins:
2 cup flour ( I used 1 cup all purpose and 1 cup spelt)
1/4 cup ground almonds
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup honey
1/4 cup brown sugar or coconut sugar
1/2 cup butter at room temperature
1 Tablespoon finely grated lemon zest
1 cup ricotta cheese
1 large egg
1 Tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
lemon glaze;
1 cup icing sugar
1-2 Tablespoon fresh lemon juice


DIRECTIONS:

1. Prepare a 12 cup muffin tin. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Combine flour, ground almonds, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a medium bowl.
3. Using an electric mixer beat butter, honey and lemon zest until well combined.  Beat in Ricotta, egg, lemon juice and almond extract.
4. Add dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and stir just until blended. 
5. Bake for about 20 minutes or until golden.  While baking, make glaze.
6. For the lemon gaze: mix 1-2 Tablespoon lemon juice with one cup of icing sugar ( you can add more or less of the lemon juice to make the glaze the consistency you like)
7. Remove muffins from oven, serve warm with the lemon glaze. Enjoy!

A May Day

Live each day as if your life has just begun. - Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe

Spring comes suddenly in Ontario.  Where I live, it did not come last month or last week.  I do believe it came last night.  Here is the world I woke up to this morning...

The End!

Hello Spring!

When the world says, "Give up." Hope whispers, "Try it one more time."- Anonymous

And then spring came. Here is my world today...

The end!

Banana Macadamia Pancakes with Orange Butter

No matter how long the winter, spring is sure to follow. - Proverb

My littlest son, 8 yrs old, expecting pancakes, ran down the stairs bright and early to see which flavour was being made today.  "Banana, "I said.  "Yuck!" he said, "I hate banana pancakes."
Honestly, me too, I am not a fan of banana pancakes...but something about this recipe caught my eye...and I am very happy it did. These were a very big hit.  My eldest son and my husband declared these their new favourite pancakes.  They loved the addition of the macadamia nuts. And my littlest complainer, even ended up saying, "Yum! I love these! Can I have some more of the orange butter on top!"

For this beautiful spring day...I give you...

Banana Macadamia Pancakes with Orange Butter (from epicurious.com )
makes 15 4-inch pancakes

Ingredients
for the pancakes
1 1/2 cups flour
3 Tablespoons sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cup buttermilk
3 Tablespoons unsalted, butter melted
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 ripe bananas
1/2 cup roasted macadamia nuts, chopped

for the orange butter
1/2 stick (1/4 cup) unsalted butter, softened
1/2 teaspoon grated fresh orange zest
1/2 teaspoon fresh orange juice
1/8 teaspoon salt

Directions
for the pancakes

1. Whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a bowl.
2. In a separate bowl, whisk together buttermilk, 2 tablespoons melted butter, eggs, and vanilla until smooth.
3.Add flour mixture and whisk until just combined.
4. Mash banana and fold into batter along with nuts. (Batter will be very thick.)
5. Cook on a buttered (lightly oiled) skillet or flat top over medium heat.,using about 1/4 cup of batter for each pancake.

for the orange butter

1. Stir together all orange butter ingredients in a small bowl until combined well.
2. Once combined, add to the top of warm pancakes and serve with maple syrup.

Enjoy! Happy Spring!

Lemon-Blueberry Pancakes and Melting Snow...

The first day of Spring in one thing. The first spring day is another. Sometimes the difference between the two can be as great as a month. - Henry Van Dyke

Growing up, blueberry pancakes heralded an extra-special day.  And the melting snow of this week
seemed like something very, very worth celebrating. I have tried many Blueberry pancake recipes, but these were the lightest and fluffiest. In addition, I love the combination of blueberries and lemon. So, to make these pancakes more spring-like, I added lemon to sweetened sour cream, which made a wonderful topping for the blueberry pancakes.  My whole family loved these fresh, light  pancakes...
              
                      and especially loved the lemon topping...
                                                                 I hope you do, too...


Lemon-Blueberry Pancakes (partially adapted from Martha Stewart )
with blueberry syrup and lemon sour cream topping

Ingredients
for the pancakes (serves 4-6)
2 cups all purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 Tablespoons sugar
2 large eggs lightly beaten
3 cups buttermilk
4 Tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
zest of half a lemon
1 cup fresh blueberries

for the blueberry syrup
500 ml blueberries (about 2 cups)
1/4 cup sugar (or to taste)
1/4 cup cornstarch
juice of one lemon
1/4 cup water

for the lemon sour cream topping
1 cup sour cream
1/4 cup sugar
zest of half a lemon
few drops of vanilla flavour


Directions
for the pancakes

1. Mix all the dry ingredients (flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and sugar) in a large bowl.
2. Mix all the wet ingredients (eggs, buttermilk, butter) in another medium size bowl.
3. Gently pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients.  Stir until just combined.
4. Gently fold in the blueberries and lemon zest.
5. Ladle onto a heated buttered / oiled griddle. 

for the blueberry syrup

1. In a saucepan combine: sugar, cornstarch and blueberries.  Stir to coat the berries in the sugar and cornstarch. Once combined, begin to heat at low temperature.
2. Add lemon juice and water. Bring the mixture to a lightly rolling boil for about 5 minutes, or until the berries look cooked through.
3. Serve over pancakes

for the lemon sour cream topping

1. In a bowl combine sour cream, sugar, lemon zest and vanilla.  Stir until combined.
2.Serve over pancakes.

Enjoy!

The Classic Pancake (with homemade syrup, too!)

Spring is when life is alive in everything. -Christina Rossetti

This is the second week of Yeah!  It is Spring! Pancake breakfast recipes ideas.  This one is really, really good.  It is just a simple classic, basic pancake recipe.  Nothing fancy...Just pure tasty!  These were so easy to make, and so delicious that I hope I inspire you to never buy a boxed pancake mix again! When I made these for my children and nieces and nephew, I knew they would enjoy them, but I had no idea they would LOVE them like they did.
Here is what my little critics had to say about this pancake recipe:

"Your pancakes made my stomach hurt.  I usually don't like pancakes, but these were so good that I ate too many and now I feel sick" - nephew, 8 years old.

"Wow! mom, these are really good!  What did you do different?" - son, 13 years old

"They are so light and fluffy!  These are so nice!"- daughter, 11 years old

"Mmmm...make these again!  How many can we have?" - son, 15 years old.

If you make these pancakes...I promise they will fly off the plate as soon as they are made...so I present to you...

The Classic Pancake (from allrecipes: Buttermilk Pancake )
(too good to be from a box)
Serves 4

 Ingredients:
3 cups flour
3 Tablespoons white sugar
3 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
3/4 teaspoons salt
3 cups buttermilk*
1/2 cup milk
3 eggs
1/3 cup butter melted

Directions:
1.  Pre-heat a lightly oiled griddle or frying pan over medium high heat.
2.  In a large bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. 

 

3.  In a separate bowl, beat together buttermilk, milk, eggs and melted butter. Keep the two mixtures separate until you are ready to cook. (you will have fluffier pancakes if you allow your eggs and milk to come to room temperature.  Sometimes I just put my milk in the microwave for 20 sec. to take the chill out)

4. Pour the wet mixture into the dry mixture, using a wooden spoon or fork to blend. Stir until it's just blended together. Do not over stir! Pour or scoop the batter onto the griddle, using approximately 1/2 cup for each pancake. Brown on both sides and serve hot.

 *for an easy substitute for buttermilk: put one Tablespoon of white vinegar or lemon juice in a one cup measure.  Fill the rest of the cup with regular milk.  Set aside for 5 minutes. Let the milk curdle.  There you go: 1 cup of Buttermilk.


Easy Homemade Syrup (from  the peaceful mom blog)

Ingredients

1 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup water

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

1/4 cup butter

 Directions

 1. Put the brown sugar, water and vanilla into a small saucepan.  Heat until it slowly comes to a boil.
2.  Add the butter. Stir until melted.
3. Serve warm or refrigerate for later.

Enjoy!!

 The end!

Waiting at the Window

Waiting at the window...there are my two drops of rain...waiting on the window pain... - A.A. Milne

Here is my world today....

 

And Now the Ice Melts...

Under the snow...blossoms a daring spring. - Terri Guillemets

A walk to the lake...

Spring has come almost over night here in Canada.... Our world has transformed from ice and snow...into a beautiful green landscape....

Here is our world today....

pear blossoms....

sweet spring flower....

water's edge...

at the boat launch...

Our Newfoundland, Navy Bleu, in for her first spring swim

Our first Canoe trip of the year...

A beautiful green canopy already fills the forest...

Lilacs about to bloom...

sweet scented flowers fill the air...

first spring trip to the lakeside beach...