Recipe of the Week: Lemon-licious!

OH MY GOODNESS all you lemon lovers out there are in for a treat with these little pieces of heaven!! My mom and grandma are both huge lemon fans, and went nuts for these! A wonderful combination of both sweet and tart; a refreshing flavor perfect for those blistering hot summer days. Normally if I'm going to bake I want it to be 100% homemade and I honestly get joy out of measuring every small detail that goes into my goodies. BUT sometimes you just want fun and simple! When I came upon this fast and equally scrumptious recipe by Paula Deen (whom I adore) I just had to try it. I did adjust the originial glaze recipe to give it a bit more of a kick. Hope you enjoy, and don't forget to check back next week for the latest update!

Lemon-licious Cupcakes

Ingredients:

Cake-
1 package yellow cake mix

1 3.5oz package instant lemon pudding mix

3/4 cup vegetable oil

4 large eggs

Glaze-

2 cups confectioners' sugar

1/3 cup fresh lemon juice

grated zest of 1/2-1 lemon

1 tbsp butter (vegetable oil can be substituted)

2-3 tbsp milk

Directions:

Combine cake mix, pudding mix, and oil in an electric mixer until smooth, about 2 minutes. Add eggs one at a time, making sure to incoperate completely each time. Pour batter into lined muffin tin, half way up each cup. Bake for 12-15 minutes until bouncy to the touch. Let them cool for a minute or 2, and while they are still hot turn onto a tea towel.

To make the glaze, in a medium bowl add sugar, lemon juice, zest and oil, combine well. Add milk 1 tbsp at a time until reaching the desired consistency for dipping.

With your fingers, dip the cupcakes into the glaze while they are still warm, covering the entire top of cupcake. Place on wire racks with wax paper underneath to catch any glaze that may drip. Let the glaze set (for about an hour) before storing in air-tight containers.