All the Sweet Things

I met Renée Kohlman at the first Food Bloggers of Canada conference back in 2013. I was immediately charmed by her down-to-earth demeanour and Prairie accent, and I like to think we hit it off immediately. Several Skype sessions and a few hundred emails later, she shared the news that she was writing a cookbook with Touchwood Editions, a British Columbia-based publisher, and I couldn’t have been more thrilled for her.

All the Sweet Things, Renée’s debut cookbook, is in fact very, very sweet. In short, I really adore it. Packed full of beautiful photos she took with her iPhone (!!!), recipes that are as charming as they are delicious, and captivating stories that literally force you to curl up with a cup of tea and blanket because you don't want to put the book down, it’s a hefty tome, boasting 60 brand new recipes and 40 favourites from her beloved blog. Now that I've spent a month with it, I have no doubt you'll struggle with deciding which of those 100 recipes to start with because each one looks more appetizing than the last.

My favourite thing about the book are the recipe headnotes. Esteemed food writer Ruth Reichl once said, “Recipe headers are the heart of the cookbook – stories within their own right” and Renee’s certainly heeds that advice, whether she knows it or not. As you read each one it really feels like she’s right there in the kitchen with you, guiding you through her recipes with practical pep talks and a private tête-à-tête.  

Last spring, I was lucky enough to take some of Renée’s recipes for a test drive before she submitted them to her publisher. My boys and I made doughnuts from her book – stellar, of course! – and were besotted with how simple they were. Today, I’m not giving you her doughnut recipe, but instead I’m sharing her lemon and cream cheese muffin recipe. It’s special and perfect for Mother’s Day, in which case you may want to print out this post and leave it on the counter as a hint that someone in your household could make such a treat for you. Speaking of Mother’s Day, if you like baking and sweet stories, All the Sweet Things should be on your own personal present wish list. Just sayin’.

Lemon and Cream Cheese Muffins

If you’re looking for the best muffin to curl up with as you read the Sunday paper with your favourite mug of tea (and favourite person), look no further. With their gentle punch of lemon, these light and lovely muffins are exactly what you need to wake up to on the weekend. Cream cheese is cut into the dry ingredients, so you know what that means—you bite into little nuggets of cream cheese gold with every bite. The best part, though, is the lemon and sugar syrup, brushed over the muffins as soon as they’re pulled from the oven. Heavenly stuff. This is another recipe from my Yukon days, passed down to me from the pastry chef who worked there that first summer. I’ve used it a lot over the years, carting the muffins off to birthdays and baby showers, often not allowed to leave until I've shared the recipe with the attendees.

Makes about 10 muffins

• 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 / 3 cup + 2 Tbsp granulated sugar, divided
• 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup cream cheese, softened
• 1 large egg, at room temperature
• 1 / 3 cup canola or other cooking oil
• 1/2 cup whole milk
• 4 Tbsp fresh lemon juice, divided
• 1 Tbsp grated lemon zest

Preheat the oven to 375°F. Place the rack in the centre of the oven. Line a muffin pan with 10 papers or grease well with your preferred cooking oil. Pour some water into the empty muffin cups to stop them from burning.

Combine the flour, 2/3 cup of sugar, the baking powder and salt in a large bowl. Cut the cream cheese into 1/4-inch cubes and work it into the dry ingredients, using a pastry blender or your hands, until small and large chunks of cream cheese remain. Beat together the egg, oil, milk, 2 Tbsp of the lemon juice and the lemon zest. Stir this gently into the dry ingredients until just combined.

Scoop the batter into the prepared muffin pan so the cups are about three-quarters full, and bake for 20–25 minutes, until the tops are golden, the tops spring back when lightly touched and a toothpick inserted in the centre of a muffin comes out clean. Stir together the remaining 2 Tbsp of sugar and remaining 2 Tbsp of lemon juice in a small bowl. Use a pastry brush to brush this mixture on top of the hot muffins. Let them cool in the pan on a wire rack for 5 minutes, then remove them from the pan and let cool completely on the rack.

Store the muffins in an airtight container for 1 day, or freeze for up to 1 month.

Recipe by Renée Kohlman. Reprinted with permission from "All the Sweet Things: Baked Goods and Stories from the Kitchen of Sweetsugarbean" published by Tourchwood Editions, 2017.

Comments

[glassesshop coupon codes]

So nice article, glad to read this post, thanks so much!

[Marlene]

I agree that this is a lovely cookbook. I've made three recipes from it already, but have yet to try these muffins ... they might be just the thing to celebrate this weekend!

[Jan Scott]

I think so, too, Marlene! :)

[sylvia]

A nice article

[dan]

Just awesome recipe,and lots of thanks fro posting the recipe.

[sophy]

Thank you for this awesome recipe and i love it.

[Bradley Alvarez]

Awesome article and recipe. Thanks a lot. Please keep it up...