• Share-It Saturdays

    Share-It Saturday: Week 6

    Another fabulous week on the books, and tons of great links were submitted last week!  From the photography to the recipes to the text of the blog posts, you all are inspiring and continually pushing me to do bigger and better things in my own kitchen. Speaking of my kitchen, I have a busy day today – I’ve got several dozen cupcakes to fill and frost.  Right now I’m feeling good and ahead of the game, so cross your fingers that the day continues to…

  • Cupcakes,  Dessert

    Chocolate & Coconut Cream Cupcakes

    My days as a morning person are numbered.  Every year about this time, when the overnight temperature starts to drop and it’s still dark in the morning when I get out of bed – that’s about the time I that stop jumping up  eager to face the day. My girls are the same way, it seems.  My mornings are slowly shifting from wide-eyed, happy, smiling little girls to grumpy, piddling, sleepy-heads who have to be prodded along every step of the way. By the time we…

  • Breakfast,  Muffins,  Pumpkin

    Pumpkin Cream Cheese Muffins

    It’s official.  Pumpkin season is here.  I’m ready.  I always try to hold off on the fall flavors until after my birthday, which is just a few days away, but I couldn’t help it.  The time has come and now I’m all about autumn. I’ve actually made these muffins a few times before but never blogged them, but I couldn’t hold out on you anymore. These.  Are.  Fabulous. The muffins are the perfect blend of cinnamon and nutmeg, the pumpkin puree keeps them super-moist, and…

  • Cupcakes,  Dessert,  Popular

    M&M Cupcakes

    Sometimes, the hardest part of this blog is deciding what to write about.  Lately, my life has become pretty routine – I follow the same schedule and do the same things, week after week.  It’s hard to write about interesting things when you aren’t DOING interesting things.  {Well, blog-worthy interesting things, that is!} I just mentioned that fact to my husband.  He told me that I needed to start doing something interesting, then. I glared at him and told him that I was going to…

  • Dessert,  Pastry,  Pie

    Rustic Apple Tart

    I hope this post makes sense.  I’m hopped up on decongestant and coffee at the moment, so my brain is working much, much faster than my fingers. I’ve had a cold for the past few days, so I haven’t felt like doing much of anything.  I really don’t get sick very often, but when I do, I’m the biggest baby that ever lived.  When I get colds like this, I don’t want to eat anything; which I realize is not conducive to healing, so I…

  • Candy,  Dessert

    Peanut Butter Cups

    Since I’ve discovered that it’s insanely easy to make your own peanut butter, I’ve gone a bit crazy with it.  I had four jars in my pantry, and while we do go through a lot of peanut butter, it would be awhile before we could make a dent in that. Cue the peanut butter desserts.  Wait, scratch that.  Cue the easy, no-bake peanut butter desserts with only four ingredients!  Seriously, can’t beat that! The most difficult thing about this recipe is melting the chocolate.  If…

  • Share-It Saturdays

    Share-It Saturday: Week 5

    Is it just me or did that week fly by?  I guess it was a short week with the holiday on Monday, but even still I feel like I was just sorting through last week’s Share-It Saturday submissions – which, by the way were fantastic!  As always it was difficult to choose my favorites, and this week, the sweet treats won. With fall right around the corner, I was immediately drawn to the Baked Apple Cider Doughnuts from What’s Cooking In The Burbs.  Have you…

  • Appetizers,  Pantry

    Homemade Ricotta Cheese

    My youngest brother is getting married in the spring.  In preparation for the Groom’s family duties, my Mom, sisters and I are beginning the process of scoping out locations for their rehearsal dinner.  Last night, while pouring over menus, venues and prices, I came across my favorite Italian restaurant, Lidia’s.  I love that place.  Everything is made from scratch with fresh ingredients – from their bread to their pasta to their marinara and ricotta cheese…and that’s exactly the reason their food tastes so much better.…

  • Giveaway,  Lemon Love

    Lemon Love

    I spend so much time on here talking about food, which is lots of fun, but I think it’s time to add something more to the pages here at Lemon Sugar.  I get SO many emails, Facebook messages and Tweets asking about my favorite kitchen products, cookbooks and even what kind of dog I have, so I thought you might enjoy a new feature here on Lemon Sugar – Lemon Love. From time to time, I’ll share my favorites with you – what I’m loving,…

  • Dessert

    Homemade Ding Dongs

    Me and my big ideas, right?  Sometimes, there’s a reason that desserts are mass-produced in huge factories with their fancy ding-dong shaping machines and magical ding-dong dipping pools full of chocolate.  They probably even have their own version of Oompa-Loompas, perfectly injecting each one with just the right amount of marshmallow cream. I just have little old me.  And a three-year-old helper – who happens to love marshmallow cream – and ALWAYS, ALWAYS manages to drop a spoon, beater or spatula dipped in the stuff…

  • Share-It Saturdays

    Share-It Saturday: Week 4

    Hi everyone!  Welcome back for another Share-It Saturday on Lemon Sugar!  Before we get started, make sure you like Lemon Sugar on Facebook, and don’t miss my latest post – you can enter to win a Better Zester.  You’ve got to try one to see what all the fuss is about.  You’ll be zesting just for fun. Or is that just me? Don’t answer that.  Let’s move on to the party. Welcome, welcome!  That was my best Hunger Games voice.  Geez, I’m just oozing coolness…

  • Cake,  Dessert,  Giveaway

    Lemon Pound Cake & A Giveaway

    On most Saturday mornings, I take my oldest to dance class.  During her class, my youngest daughter and I venture off to a nearby shopping center and take care of our weekly household shopping.  We wander around, looking at toys, books, kitchen goodies and then pick up a few necessities before heading back to the dance studio.  In this particular shopping center, there happens to be a Starbucks, which always seems like a fabulous idea on a busy Saturday morning. My youngest, who is three…