Lemon & Thyme Cookies - Crazy Ingredient Challenge

The ingredients for this month's Crazy Ingredient Challenge are lemon and thyme. These ingredients are pretty straightforward to combine so I challenged myself to use them in an unexpected way. Unfortunately, my roller coaster life took an unexpected twist last week and I thought, well, "lemon and thyme" just won't happen. I still had not decided on what to make and I ended up moving to a country where lemons are not easily sourced. We have lots of limes and oranges but lemons are only grown in certain areas. Maybe we just don't like lemons? I am not sure what it is. Thyme, however, is abundant. You will not walk into a kitchen here and not find several bunches of thyme. Sunday through Saturday, we are using thyme.

With all the rushing and figuring things out and trying to settle in, I decided to keep my lemon and thyme ambitions simple. I went with cookies! I keep saying that I am not a cookie baker yet somehow, I keep reaching for cookie recipes when I am in a rut. These were simple and pretty good though. One day, one day, I will be an excellent cookie baker.

Be sure to visit all the other Crazy Ingredient Challengers this month! See what they did below and won't you join us next month?

Lemon Thyme Cookies
Yield: ~36 cookies

Ingredients

2 eggs
2/3 cup of sugar
1/2 cup coconut oil (melted)
zest of 1 lemon
1 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves, minced
1 teaspoon lemon juice
2 cups of flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
pinch of salt
additional sugar for rolling

Directions

Whisk together eggs and sugar until pale colored, thick and frothy. Pour in the coconut oil, lemon zest, thyme and lemon juice and whisk until combined.
In a separate bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder and salt. Stir in the flour mixture into the egg mixture.
The dough is sticky so chill until firm enough to handle.
Preheat oven to 350 F. Line a cookie sheet with parchment.
Take a scant tablespoon of dough and roll into a ball. Damp your hands if dough starts sticking to them. Roll each ball into sugar and place on the prepared cookie sheet.
Bake for about 8 minutes or until very lightly browned.
Cool and enjoy.

An InLinkz Link-up

Garlic Sunflower Bread - #BreadBakers

Today I had a rough day at work. I had to tell my coworkers that I was leaving. It was completely unexpected and sucked big time. In 24 hours, I'll be in a different country, starting a new chapter of my life.

I'm not prepared. I'm reeling. I'm glad that I took time out to bake this bread. I'd been neglecting my blog for the last few months while my life took crazy twists and turns. Hopefully, this new chapter brings back regular blogging.

The bread is supposed to be a sunflower. Clearly, I didn't do as great a job as the original but it's still clearly flower-like. Right? I didn't make any major changes to the recipe. The theme for this month's Bread Bakers is garlic so instead of a plain butter filling, I used garlic butter. I didn't have black sesame seeds so I used parsley. No big deal.

I'll then ask you to visit Jo Cooks for the beautiful version and the recipe. My garlic butter filling that I generously used is below.

Be sure to visit all the other Bread Bakers too!!

Garlic Sunflower Bread

Dough and instructions on Jo Cooks

Garlic Butter Filling
113 grams extremely soft butter
10 cloves finely minced and crushed garlic
Garlic powder to taste

Mix the ingredients together. Taste and add more garlic if needed. A little pepper would be great too.

Brush the garlic butter generously over each layer and over the center dough.

• Black Garlic Parmesan Sourdough Bread from Magnolia Days
• Buttery Garlic Cheddar Rolls from Kylee Cooks
• Buttery Garlic Knots from Sara's Tasty Buds
• Buttery Garlic Pull Apart Bread from Cook's Hideout
• Caramelized Garlic Chèvre Stuffed Bread from Food Lust People Love
• Cheddar, Garlic and Jalapeno Beer Bread from A Palatable Pastime
• Cheddar Garlic Dinner Rolls from Hezzi-D's Books and Cooks
• Cream Cheese Stuffed Garlic Rolls from Herbivore Cucina
• Domino's Style Garlic Bread from Gayathri's Cook Spot
• Easy-Peasy Garlic-ky Mini Rolls from G'Gina's Kitchenette
• Garlic Batard from Hostess at Heart
• Garlic & Gorgonzola Focaccia from Baking in Pyjamas
• Garlic, Herbs and Cheese Bread from La Cocina de Aisha
• Garlic Naan with Green Chiles from Karen's Kitchen Stories
• Garlic Pull Apart Rolls from A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Garlic Sunflower Bread from Passion Kneaded
• Gluten Free & Vegan Garlic Breadsticks from What Smells So Good?
• {Gluten Free} Seeded Black Garlic Flat Bread from Culinary Adventures with Camilla
• Green Garlic Parathas - Flat Bread from Sneha's Recipes
• Herbed Garlic Butter Garland Bread from Ruchik Randhap
• Multi Grain Garlic Naan from Mayuri's Jikoni
• Pissaladière from The Bread She Bakes
• Roasted Garlic Focaccia from Sizzling Tastebuds
• Triple Garlic Knots from Cindy's Recipes and Writings
• Whole Wheat Garlic Ciabatta Bread from Cooking Club

#BreadBakers is a group of bread loving bakers who get together once a month to bake bread with a common ingredient or theme. Follow our Pinterest board right here. Links are also updated each month on this home page.

We take turns hosting each month and choosing the theme/ingredient.

If you are a food blogger and would like to join us, just send Stacy an email with your blog URL to foodlustpeoplelove@gmail.com.

Marmite Muffins - #MuffinMonday

I opened the jar and stared at the dark coloured contents. I took a deep breath. Oh sure, I was being dramatic. But the contents of the little jar sitting in front of me are polarizing. Love or hate. And most say that those who love it, acquired the taste. I did not have time to acquire a taste. It was this or nothing. I was going to make muffins with Marmite.

I'm not going to lie to you, if you don't like Marmite, these muffins are not for you. I could have added more cheese. I could have used less Marmite. Hidden that very bold Marmots taste. But that wouldn't be in keeping with the theme of my year and the theme of this month's Muffin Monday. Leap of Faith.

I went all in.

I still don't know how I feel about Marmite. At this point, I neither love it or hate it. I was wary when I first bit into a muffin. But I happily took the next few bites. Maybe I'm already acquiring a taste for Marmite? I better. That tiny jar was pricey!

Here's to a year of taking leaps! Be sure to check out all the other muffins today.

Marmite Muffin
Ingredients
2 cups flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
4 oz cheddar cheese, grated
1 cup milk
1/4 cup oil
1 egg
2 tablespoons Marmite
Cayenne pepper
Directions
Whisk together flour and baking powder. Add the grated cheese and toss to evenly distribute.
In a separate bowl, whisk milk, oil, egg and Marmite.

Gently stir the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients.

Divide among 10-12 muffin wells. Bake at 425F for 5 minutes, lower heat to 350F for another 13-15 minutes.

Notes
Add more cheese!! Sprinkle tops  with cayenne or paprika and cheese

• Berry Mango Swirl Muffins from Farm Fresh Feasts
• Brown Sugar, Pistachio and Garam Masala Muffins from Karen's Kitchen Stories
• Carrot Muffins from Kelli's Kitchen
• Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins with Cardamom Browned Butter from The Spiced Life
• Marmite Muffins from Passion Kneaded
• Prawn and Curry Leaf Muffins from Food Lust People Love
• Rosewater Banana White Chocolate Muffins from Making Miracles
• Spinach, Bacon and Cheese Breakfast Muffins from A Day in the Life on the Farm

#MuffinMonday is a group of muffin loving bakers who get together once a month to bake muffins. You can see all our of lovely muffins by following our Pinterest board.

Updated links for all of our past events and more information about Muffin Monday, can be found on our home page.