Well, this headline is not quite correct. Marian himself cannot even eat these juicy, lemony little cakes - he was just born. I baked them on the occasion of his arrival for Marian's dad, my colleague.
I came up with the recipe idea, because this dad always fishes only the lemon-flavored chewy sweets from the candy bowl in my office. And - of course - because I love lemons! The fragrance, the taste, just everything I can do with lemons in the kitchen ... I just never accomplished the skill to juggle them, though.
I always have a variety of organic citrus fruits in my fridge, mainly lemons. Even more lemon flavor is provided here by Lemon Curd, the English lemon cream.
To make Lemon Curd, lemon juice and zest, sugar and eggs are beaten over boiling water until it all turns to a creamy mass. This is strained through a colander, then soft butter is stirred into the warm cream and and all of it goes into mason jars for storage. Oh, how delicious and soooo British!
It is always worthwhile to produce all needed baking ingredients yourself. But no dogmas here! The effort is really not necessary. Well stocked supermarkets offer a selection of fine brands (look for it in the jam section). If you try the cream and find it too sweet: just add a little lemon juice to the required amount.
Recipe for a 12 muffin tin or for 12 small single little trays:
Preheat oven to 180 / 160 degrees fan
Brush the muffin tin or small baking dishes with a little olive oil
250 grams all purpose flour
2 teaspoons of baking soda
1 pinch of salt
1/4 teaspoon ground cardamom
1/4 teaspoon allspice
1/2 teaspoon dried rosemary needles
150 grams of sugar
2 eggs
150 ml of olive oil
zest of 2 lemons and Juice from 1 lemon
1 glass of Lemon Curd
Zest your lemons - I succeed best with the micro grater, my all-purpose tool. Make sure that there is NO white peel, which is just bitter. Squeeze out one of the lemons, set the juice aside.
Mix flour and baking powder in a bowl. Stir in the rosemary - rubb the needles between your fingers to break them up a bit - lemon zest, cardamom, allspice and a pinch of salt; use your hand or a fork.
In another, larger mixing bowl, whipp the eggs with the sugar. Then let the olive oil run in and, doing so, continue beating the mixture with the whisk.
Add the mix from the flour bowl and stir. Put the dough in the tin. Put a generous teaspoon Lemon Curd on each portion, then use a fork to twist a small curd whirl into the dough. Bake for 20 - 25 minutes.
After the muffins have cooled a bit, but still are very warm: soak them with the lemon juice. For me, this works best with a silicone kitchen brush. Repeat it with each muffin, until all of the juice is used up.
When those gems have cooled down, pack them in a container and proudly carry them to the office the next day.