As is probably obvious, I still haven’t been cooking (or baking). Good thing I took these pictures in… oh… APRIL. Slacker, right here.

I’ve been contemplating whether or not I would update more successfully if I changed to a different format. Maybe a few pictures, a little bit of commentary, and the recipe. I don’t know though. I’ve gotten good feedback on the step by step pictures, and even though it is very tedious to stop and take picture of every single step, and then blog every single one of those steps individually… I LIKE the way this blog is set up. I’d appreciate feedback on this, if you have some.

Either way, I won’t be posting at all if I don’t get to cooking! I have made a list of things I’d like to make and feature on Jenn Cooks in the future, so hopefully I will start checking those off soon! Just need a little free time and spare change

Moving on! Like I mentioned, I made these cookies way back in April and took them to a family gathering, probably Easter? See, it’s been so long, I don’t even remember! Either way, they received really good reviews! At least from those of us who like lemon. And they were super easy to make.

You’ll need: Lemon cake mix, eggs, vegetable oil, 2 lemons, lemon extract, powdered sugar

Start by pouring the cake mix into a large bowl. Add two eggs.

1/3 cup vegetable oil

The zest from two lemons… hard to see, but it’s in there! (Quick note: remember zest your lemons first, then squeeze them for the juice!)

2 Tablespoons of lemon juice

Just in case there wasn’t enough lemon flavor for you, go ahead and add in 1/2 teaspoon of lemon extract.

Stir that all up.

Drop heaping teaspoonfuls into balls. There is no picture of this because this dough is very sticky and messy… it’s not like a traditional cookie dough. Roll those balls in powdered sugar and place on a cookie sheet.

Bake for about 10 minutes at 375 degrees, or until the edges are slightly brown. This was the first pan through the oven, so the edges are more brown than I liked. The others were pulled out of the oven a little sooner. Don’t worry, they were still quite tasty!

Lemon Burst Cookies
Source: Brown Eyed Baker

1 (18.25-ounce) package lemon cake mix
2 eggs
1/3 cup vegetable oil
Zest of 2 lemons
2 Tablespoons lemon juice
½ teaspoon lemon extract
1/3 cup confectioner’s sugar

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Line baking sheet with parchment paper or silicone baking mat.
2. Pour cake mix into a large bowl. Stir in eggs, oil, lemon zest, lemon juice and lemon extract until well blended.
3. Place confectioner’s sugar in a bowl.
4. Drop heaping tablespoonfuls of dough into balls and roll in confectioner’s sugar until lightly coated and place on baking sheet.
5. Bake for about 10 minutes or until the edges are lightly browned. Cool for 2-3 minutes on the cookie sheet and then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

Nothing like sneaking in a post on the last day of the month, just so that the entire month of June wouldn’t go by without a post from me! Honestly, I haven’t been cooking a lot. If you’ve been around for awhile, you know I lean towards baking… lots of yummy and fattening goodies! Well, I’ve been on Weight Watchers for almost three months now, and that just doesn’t lend itself well to baking lots of yummy cookies and brownies and cheesecakes, oh my. While not very good for my blog, it has been good for my waistline- 20.6 lbs down as of this past Sunday.

Anyway, as usual, I’m behind in blogging and with no good excuse — today’s recipe was made on Mother’s Day. It’s a Butterfinger Cake that I found at Southern Plate. Super easy to make, and DELICIOUS. I did plenty of breaking my diet the day I made this, and that surely included a gigantic serving of this dessert.

You’ll need: Devil’s Food Cake Mix (plus the eggs/oil/ingredients requested on the box), caramel topping, condensed milk, butterfingers, and Cool Whip

Make the Devil’s Food Cake according to the directions on the box.

In a small bowl, add your jar of caramel topping. I used this 2-cup glass measuring cup because it has a pour spout. That will be important in a minute.

Add the can of sweetened condensed milk.

Give it a good stir until they are mostly combined.

Go back to your still warm devil’s food cake. Take a fork and stab the cake. Really go at it, until it is covered with poke holes.

Pour the caramel mixture over your holey cake.

Pour it all on there, and let it start soaking in. It might take awhile.

In the meantime, crush your butterfinger bars. Obviously, I crushed mine a little earlier in the process because that’s the full can of sweetened condensed milk I’m using in this picture.

Spread most of the crushed Butterfinger over your cake. Then stick it in the fridge for awhile to continue settling and soaking up that delicious caramel sauce.

Before serving, top cake with the container of cool whip and sprinkle with the remaining Butterfinger crumbles.

YUM!

Butterfinger Cake
Source: Southern Plate

1 box devil’s food cake
1 bottle caramel topping
1 can sweetened condensed milk
1 tub cool whip
Butterfinger bar

Prepare cake according to package directions. Immediately after removing cake from oven, poke several holes all over the top with a fork. Mix sweetened condensed milk and caramel together, pour over hot cake, spread it over the entire cake. Chill well. After cake has chilled completely, spread cool whip over the top and sprinkle crushed Butterfinger bar on top of cool whip.

I get quite a few cooking magazines in the mail, and most of the time, I thumb through them and then pass them along to someone else without ever making anything. Or I’ll mark the pages, but never get back to making something. When I got my latest issue of Simple and Delicious though, I spotted these muffins, and thought they sounded so good I went home and made them that night! Even though blueberries were astronomically expensive yet. Oh well, they were good!

The recipe calls for a glaze, but I left it off, both due to not having enough lemon juice (I was trying to use up a lemon I had in the fridge) and to save a few extra calories. The muffins were good enough without the glaze, I don’t really feel it was needed! Pictures and directions are for muffins with no glaze.

So if you’re interested in a blueberry muffin with a slight hint of lemon flavor, read on!

You’ll need: butter, sugar, flour, salt, baking powder, milk, eggs, lemons, blueberries.

First, you’ll want to zest and juice your lemon. (Zest first, juice second.) Then you can set these aside for a minute.

In a large bowl, add 1/2 cup butter and 1 cup of sugar.

Cream together until light and fluffy.

Add the eggs, one at a time…

Beat well…

Add the second egg…

and beat well again!

Add 1/2 cup milk,

Lemon zest. The recipe calls for 2 teaspoons, I didn’t measure, but I doubt I had that much. I just dumped in all that I got off of that one lemon I had.

2 Tablespoons lemon juice.

Beat until combined.

In a separate bowl, add 2 cups of flour

2 teaspoons of baking powder

and a dash of salt.

Give it a quick stir together, and then

gradually add your dry mixture to your liquid mixture.

Beat until just combined.

Add in 2 cups of blueberries. You can use fresh or frozen. I used fresh, but if you use frozen, don’t thaw them first unless you want purple muffins.

Fold the blueberries into the batter.

Line a muffin tin with cupcake liners.

I used an ice cream scoop to portion out the batter between the cupcake liners, and ended up with 15.

Bake at 400 degrees for 25-30 minutes. These got a little more brown than I would have liked, as I wasn’t watching the oven very closely. They were still very good.

You can add the glaze at this point if you’d like, but I didn’t feel it was necessary. Enjoy!

Lemon Blueberry Muffins
Source: Simple and Delicious Magazine

1/2 cup butter, softened
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1/2 cup 2% milk
2 tablespoons lemon juice
2 teaspoons grated lemon peel
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
Dash salt
2 cups fresh or frozen blueberries

GLAZE: (Optional)
1-1/2 cups confectioners’ sugar
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1 teaspoon butter, melted
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions

In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in the milk, lemon juice and peel. Combine the flour, baking powder and salt; add to creamed mixture just until moistened. Fold in blueberries.
Fill paper-lined muffin cups three-fourths full. Bake at 400° for 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in muffin comes out clean. Cool for 5 minutes before removing from pan to a wire rack.
In a small bowl, combine the confectioners’ sugar, lemon juice, butter and vanilla; drizzle over warm muffins.

(Recipe says yield of 11 muffins, I got 15.)