Sunday, April 10, 2011

Lemon Ladies Orchard Review + My Lemon Sweet Buns & GIVEAWAY!--Ends April 23, 2011

*Disclaimer:  This post has been compensated through a free product (s) or monetary payment.  Opinions are solely mine. All links are "no-follow" links.**

lemons.jpeg
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.

Lemon Sweet Bun with Lemon-Sugar Coating.jpeg
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)!


Both Are Mandatory To Enter:

1. You must follow me on Google Friends Connect before any of your entries will count.  If you already follow, then tell me so in a comment.

2. Go the Lemon Ladies Orchard and tell me something you learned in another comment.


Extra Entries:

Add @Nuts4Stuff to Your Twitter and tell me so in your comment with your Twitter id--1 extra entry

Tweet Lemon Ladies Orchard Meyer lemons #Giveaway @Nuts4Stuff http://tiny.cc/i36bm (can be done daily)--1 extra entry per day in another comment

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Subscribe to the Nuts 4 Stuff blog by email--1 extra entry (must confirm)

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List this giveaway on any giveaway site just leave a link to this post wherever you share it--2 extra entries (leave 2 separate comments and tell me where in each comment)

Blog about this giveaway and and comment with a link to the post--3 extra entries (leave three separate comments and tell me where in each comment)

Grab my Nuts 4 Stuff button and paste it in your sidebar--3 extra entries (leave three separate comments and tell me where you left it in each comment)

Add Nuts 4 Stuff to your blogroll  (using my URL) with a link back to me (comment where you left it for 1 more extra entry)

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.