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| Lemons from Lemon Ladies Orchard |
Have you ever heard of the Meyer lemon? It is an unusual, but pleasantly less bitter variety, a cross between a Mandarin orange and a lemon. It was discovered in 1908 before it was brought from China to America. As you might guess, I was excited to review these Meyer lemons sent to me from Karen Morss in Emerald Hills, California.
The Lemon Ladies Orchard is where these wonderful Meyer lemons are grown from among forty dwarf trees. Each tree has a name and represents a woman in Karen's life that had inspired the orchardess in some way.
The first thing I did after I cleaned them was to take a taste. Though not sweet like a Mandarin orange nor bitter sour like lemon, the taste was more in between. I was tempted to make a Lemon and Sour Cream Pie but decided to make a sweet raised dough with a recipe I usually make when I have oranges with those thick skins.
Karen suggested I use a vegetable peeler instead of a zester and finely chop to get the most flavor. I followed her advice when I made the sugar-lemon topping for these buns. However, I prefer zesting to spread out the flavor, instead of being intense in tiny pieces.
You can make this recipe ahead of time and store in the refrigerator until needed.
Lemon Sweet Buns--Nuts Style!
3/4 cup sugar
5-1/2 to 6-1/2 cups unsifted flour
1/2 cup canola oil
3/4 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons dry yeast
1 cup hot tap water (about 125 degrees)
3 eggs
lemon-sugar coating ingredients below
Mix thoroughly 1-1/4 cups flour, 3/4 cup sugar, salt and the undissolved dry yeast. Add oil. Slowly add the hot tap water. Beat with your electric mixture for a few minutes until well combined. Add eggs and another 1/4 cup of flour. Continue beating and scrape the sides of the bowl.
Now stir in more flour gradually until it becomes a soft dough. Knead on a lightly floured surface for about 5 minutes until pliable. Divide dough into 3 equal parts. From each part, you can make 8 balls.
Roll each ball into the melted margarine, then dip into the lemon-sugar coating on all sides. You can cluster them in greased 8" round cake pans or any size you want. I need to use the 15" x 10" x 2" pans due to limitations of still baking in my toaster-oven!
If using stainless steel or glassbake, you can store this in the refrigerator covered with plastic wrap and foil overnight, if desired. Or you can finish letting it rise after you make the sugar-coated dough balls.
Let the dough balls rise in a warm spot for about 2 hours until doubled before baking. Bake at 350 degrees for about 25-30 minutes.
Lemon-Sugar Coating:
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup grated or zested (use the vegetable peeler and chop into tiny pieces if you want a stronger flavor)
2 tablespoons of melted margarine
Mix together in a bowl and set aside until ready to use to coat.
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| My Lemon Sweet Buns with Lemon-Sugar Coating are delicious! |
Thanks to the Lemon Ladies Orchard, one lucky Nuts 4 Stuff reader in the United States wins a giftbag of their own Meyer lemons ($25 value)!
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Leave a separate comment for each entry. This giveaway is only open to United States residents. Be sure you include your email address inside your comment so I can contact you if you win. Do follow the rules because I check entries. This giveaway ends April 23, 2011 at 12 PM Eastern Standard Time.
