Lemon Lemon Cupcakes - MADE EVERYDAY

I’ve never liked the old adage “when life gives you lemons, make lemonade”….cause when life gives me lemons, I wanna eat lemon bars till I’m sick and finish the affair with 24 ounces of lemon-berry slush.

Dude.
Lemons.

Thank you for making the world smell, taste, and look better.

And thank you for giving me Lemon Cream Pie.
And now a gazillion of these in my kitchen (since I had to test the recipe 3 times to get it just right):

Yay! Zesty bundles of yellow with fluffy lemon buttercream on top. Mmmmm.
Seriously, this frosting alone is to die for. And if you’re not a Lemon-Lemon kind of girl, it also tastes fantastic on vanilla cupcakes.

(These are part of the Celebrate Mom series, since you and your mom probably love lemons too). Okay let’s start baking.

LEMON LEMON CUPCAKES
Makes 22-24 cupcakes (or 48 mini cupcakes)
Bake at 350 for 17-20 minutes (10-12 minutes for mini cupcakes)
You need appx 5-8 lemons for the cupcakes and frosting

3/4 cup butter (1 1/2 sticks)
1 1/2 cup sugar
3 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1 Tbl fresh lemon juice

2 1/2 cups flour
2 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp salt
1 cup milk
1/3-1/2 cup lemon zest *

* NOTE: I prefer a lot of zing in citrus desserts. So while my husband thought 1/2 cup of zest was too much, I thought it was fabulous. If you’re a mild lemon girl, start with a 1/4 cup zest, taste it, and add more as needed. OR….make your favorite vanilla cupcake recipe instead of lemon and then top it off with the lemon buttercream frosting (recipe below).

Okay, start by zesting a few lemons and squeezing the juice in a separate bowl. Set both aside.

In a large mixing bowl, beat together the butter, sugar, eggs, vanilla, and lemon juice.
In a separate bowl, mix together the flour, baking powder, and salt.
Add to flour mixture to the butter mixture and mix just until dry ingredients are incorporated.
Add the milk and lemon zest and mix again just till incorporated.
Line two cupcake trays with liners and pour 1/4 cup of batter into each cupcake (for mini-cupcakes, pour 1 Tbl of batter into each one)
Bake at 350 degrees for 17-20 minutes and allow them to cool completely before frosting (bake 10-12 minutes for mini cupcakes). Be careful not to overbake them!

While the cupcakes cool, prepare the frosting.

LEMON ZEST BUTTER CREAM FROSTING
1 cup butter (2 sticks) at room temperature
3 Tbl milk
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp fresh lemon juice
6-7 cups powdered (confectioners) sugar
1/3 to 1/2 cup lemon zest (see note above) *

Let the butter soften to room temperature.
In a mixing bowl, beat the butter with an electric mixer (I prefer a hand-mixer for frosting).
Mix in the milk, vanilla, and lemon juice.
Add 6-7 cups powdered sugar and mix.
Add the lemon zest and mix….and take a taste.
Add more sugar and/or zest, juice, or milk if needed.

When life gives you lemons…

…dollop them with frosting and enjoy.
Have a great weekend!

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