Instant Lemonade using Lemon syrup

A very philosophical take on lemonade for this post, I am so in that mood!. Lemonade over the past week has repeatedly made me think about the saying "when life gives you a lemon make lemonade". I have never thought about this quote as much as I did over the last few weeks. I dont care where it comes from, but it oozes optimism and thats what matters. There is really no point in cribbing about certain things that are beyond your grasp and do not go your way, the best thing to do is to move on with a positive mind-set and make the best of the current situation.

Another positive thought that I heard recently and it couples together well with the lemonade saying - "Don't look for a solution to a problem, turn the problem into a solution". I have been doing precisely that and it works like a charm. So when things that are not in your control get messy, don't sweat it, make sure its a blessing in disguise! :)

Now coming to this instant lemonade, its a very easy one. Its basically mixing sugar syrup with lemon juice to make lemon syrup. The best part is that the lemon syrup keeps well for a month, so you can make huge quantities of this lemon syrup to store. Then its as easy as rubbing your magic lamp to get your instant lemonade. :)

Ingredients

Serves - Makes 10 glasses of lemonade

Lemon - 8
Sugar - 3/4 cup
Water - 1 cup

How do you do it

1. Take a pan and add the sugar and water in it and bring to boil. It will bubble up and start to thicken - 15-20 minutes. When the quantity is reduced to half, switch off flame. Cool the sugar syrup completely

2. Squeeze the lemon juice from the lemons and keep aside. Take care not to squeeze too much to avoid the final lemon syrup having traces of bitterness.

3. Once the sugar syrup is cooled completely, mix it with the lemon juice. This is the lemon syrup that you can use later to make lemonade by mixing water to it. Store the lemon syrup in refrigerator, it will keep good for up-to a month.

4. To make lemon juice, fill 1/4 of a cup with this lemon syrup, and remaining 3/4 with cold water to make a glass of lemonade [adjust proportions according to your taste]. Top it up with few ice-cubes/mint leaves while serving.


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Mango Lemonade

One thing I really look forward to during the summer season is the mangoes. And this time, we had that in plenty, almost every other night after dinner, eating mangoes became a routine. I wanted to make some dessert but never got to it :|. I saw this refreshing mango lemonade recipe recently and was tempted to make it before the season got over. I have made this twice now in a span of two weeks time, it was that good :).

Mango Lemonade

Ingredients

Adapted from Red chillies

Serves - 3

Mango pulp - 1/2 cup
Sugar - 1/4 cup
Water - 1/2 cup
Lemon - 1 Large  - remove the juice of this.

Cold water - as per need
Ice cubes - as per need

How do you do it

First step is to make the sugar syrup. Boil 1/2 cup water in a pan, add the sugar into it, and on low flame, keep stirring until sugar dissolves. Switch off flame and cool this syrup completely. Next make the mango pulp by blending the mango pieces without any water. Once the sugar syrup is cooled, add it to the mango pulp along with the lemon juice and blend once again completely. So your mango lemonade concentrate/mix is ready.

Now use this concentrate with chilled water to make the mango lemonade drink. The ratio of the concentrate and chilled water varies as per need. I got about 3-4 glasses of mango lemonade.The concentrate stays good for about 2 days when refrigerated.

I also added extra lemon juice from another half of a lemon, wanted the lemon to dominate more. 

While serving add ice cubes and maybe add some mint leaves if you like it. :)


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Walnut Jam Lemon-zest Muffins

It has been a long time since I baked, and this walnut jam muffin has been on my mind for quite some time. Since we don't get fresh blueberries in India, the bakeries here use a blueberry preserve , or a blueberry shot. I love how these blueberry muffins when you take a bite into it, the jam just bursts into your mouth. :). Heaven!

I dint have blueberry jam, hence used the regular mixed fruit jam, along with some walnuts to make this. It worked out fine, S loved it and finished almost all the muffins I baked in a couple of days.Yes , in my home if you don't eat cookies/chocolates/pastries or must I say "anything sweet" fast, you just don't eat them at all  ;) .  Lucky for S, that I don't have much of a sweet tooth. :)

This recipe was also inspired after looking into William Sonomas Hazelnut-Strawberry jam muffins.
My friend N who blogs here [BTW you get some super baking recipes from her] introduced me to his recipes and they are awesome. :).

 Walnut Jam Muffins

 
Ingredients


Serves - makes about 10 muffins


 All Purpose flour - 1.5 cups
 Castor sugar, white - 1/2 cup
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt
1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted
1 cup butter milk
1 egg at room temp
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1/3 cup finely chopped walnuts
1 Tsp of Kissan mixed fruit jam / muffin
1 Tbsp Lemon zest

Method

Preheat you oven to 180 deg C for 10 minutes. Line a muffin tray with muffin liners and keep aside.

Mix all the dry ingredients except sugar - flour, baking powder, baking soda,salt in bowl and give it a stir with a spatula. Take 2 tbspn of this flour and mix well the chopped walnuts. The walnuts are floured this way to make sure they spread evenly across the muffins and prevent from sinking to the bottom of the muffin.

Cream [mix with a spatula] the butter and sugar in a bowl until you get a creamy texture . Add egg, and mix well.Now add in the vanilla extract and stir. Add in the buttermilk and flour alternately and mix with the liquids, mix until the flour is moistened with the liquids. Don't over-mix. Add in chopped walnuts and lemon zest and give a quick stir.

Now spoon the muffin mixture and drop until 3/4 of the muffin liner is full. Drop a tsp of jam into the center of the mixture and poke it with the back of a spoon until the jam color just peeks from inside. Fill all the muffins this way. Bake at 180 deg C for 25 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean when poked into the center of the muffin.Once the muffins are done, get  the top rod alone of the oven heated [grill mode] and let it be for 3-5 minutes until the top of the muffin slightly browns.

Once done, cool the muffins in a wire rack for 30 minutes and then start gobbling. ;)



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