Lemon Coconut Strawberry Cupcakes

Its strawberry time here in Florida!!!  These cupcakes have the delicious combo of lemon and coconut with some strawberries tossed in!!!
This light springtime cupcake is delicious–with my favorite thing–coconut.
Preheat oven to 350 F degrees and line muffing pan with paper muffin cups or butter muffin pan for use with out paper cups.

Don’t forget to check out our post on how to clean your strawberries!!!!

Ingredients
1 cup flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1/8  tsp salt
1/4  cup sugar
1/2 cup grated coconut
1/2  cup chopped fresh strawberries
2 Tablespoons butter melted
1 egg
1/2 cup milk
2 Tablespoons lemon juice
1  tsp grated lemon rind

In large bowl sift flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt.  Stir in grated coconut,  strawberries and  1/4 cup sugar.
In small bowl combine melted butter, lemon zest, lemon juice and milk and egg.  Add liquid mixture all at once to dry ingredients and stir just until moistened.  Divide evenly into muffin cups.  Before baking cupcakes can be topped with a coconut crumble mixture.  This crumble topping is sweet enough to eat cupcakes without frosting or you can leave it off–or do both!!!
Coconut Crumble Topping
1/4 cup flour
3 Tablespoons butter
1/3 cup coconut
1 Tablespoon sugar
Mix all ingredients with your fingers until crumbly and sprinkle on top of cupcakes before baking.

Bake cupcakes for 20 to 25 minutes or until tops a springy.  Remove from oven and cool in pan a bit before moving to wire rack–about 5 minutes.    Cool completely before spreading with vanilla buttercream.

Vanilla Buttercream
1  1/2 cups powder sugar
1/2 cup butter (at room temp)
1/2  tsp vanilla
1-2  Tablespoons heavy cream
Beat ingredients together with electric mixer until consistency is ok for spreading.

Top with sliced fresh strawberry.  These cupcakes are moist and delicious.  A little on the sweet side for me—but still good.

*Christine*

Strawberry, Lemon, Rosemary Scones

I absolutely love scones.  They are probably one of my favorite things to bake.  Just enough sweetness to satisfy that sweet tooth, but not too much to feel guilty.  I have tried sooo many recipes it’s ridiculous.  I like this recipe because of the unique flavor combination.  I snipped the rosemary from my garden and strawberries are in season here in Florida, so I thought why not?  I bought a bunch of organic lemons and needed to use them up so I added some lemon rind as well.  The first time I made them they were a little wet so I decided to decrease the buttermilk.
The temperature for baking scones can be very tricky.  You need the oven hot enough to give them that first lift to rise–but not too hot so they might burn.  Also I’ve noticed through the years that if you leave them in the oven too long they will begin to deflate!  When you take anything small out of a hot oven, whether it is cookies, muffins or cupcakes they will continue to bake for a little while.  I have always had the problem of overbaking things and have to force myself to stick to the allotted time….. so hard for me!!!

Ingredients
1 cup plus 2 T ap flour
1 cup whole wheat pastry flour
3 T sugar
1  1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup chopped strawberries,  fresh or frozen
6 Tablespoons butter
1 tsp grated lemon rind
1 tsp chopped fine rosemary
1/2 tsp vanilla
2/3 cup buttermilk

1 T cream (or milk)
raw sugar for sprinkling on scones before baking

STIR flours, baking powder, baking soda, sugar and salt together in medium bowl.  Cut in butter until crumbly and well incorporated.
Toss in strawberries and gently stir with hands.
In small bowl combine lemon rind, rosemary, vanilla and buttermilk. 
Add all at once to dry ingredients and fold in just until blended.  Turn out onto well floured surface and pat into small rectangle.  Fold into threes.  Left side into center, then right side into center over that.
Keeping surface well floured, pat dough into 3″ x 18″ long rectangle.
Cut into triangles.  You should get about 11 to 12 scones.
Place on baking sheet and brush tops with cream.  Sprinkle raw sugar over each scone and bake in oven for 15 to 20 minutes until lightly golden

Remove from oven, and serve warm.  They are so moist and delicious and the rosemary is so subtle you will hardly know its there!!   Enjoy!!!
                      *Christine*

Lemon Coconut Cookies

I can not begin to describe just how delicious these cookies are!!!  The whole house smells so fresh and with strong scents of lemon and coconut!    They are so light, and healthy too.  No sugar, just a little agave syrup for sweetner.   This recipe is so easy and simple and has just a few ingredients.  I adapted this recipe  from Anja’s Printable Recipes.
Preheat oven to 350F degrees and line sheet pan with parchment paper.

Ingredients
2 Tablespoons butter
1 egg
1/4 cup agave syrup
grated lemon peel from 1 lemon
1/4 tsp vanilla
3/4 cup whole wheat pastry flour
1/8 tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 cup unsweetened coconut flakes
some grated coconut for rolling the cookies in

In medium bowl combine butter, agave and lemon peel and beat until smooth. Add egg and vanilla and mix well.
In a small bowl combine flour, baking powder and salt and stir to blend.  Stir the dry ingredients into lemon peel mixture until well blended.  Stir in the coconut flakes.   Cover dough and keep in the fridge until stiff enough to handle–at least 45 min.  (waiting is the hardest part!)
Remove dough from fridge and roll into 1″ balls.  Roll balls in shredded coconut and place on baking sheet.  Bake for 15 to 18 minutes.  Remove cookies immediately from baking sheet and cool on wire rack. 

These cookies are so delicious I will definitely make them again.  Be sure to store them in an airtight container after they are completely cool.
*Christine*