It’s been a while since I have baked any desserts. I have been on a protein enhanced, sugar-free muffin (aka Buffins) kick lately. I have been feeding these to my athletic kids in lieu of store bought protein bars.

The muffins may be healthy to eat, but easing stress is healthy, too. For me, baking is a stress relief. I was in need of a little baking stress relief this week. I’m gluten free, so I rarely make anything that I can actually eat. I don’t have to face the temptation of eating too much of what I bake. I also gift most of the baked goods that I make so that there aren’t too many sweets in the house for my kids.

Once I decided to bake a real dessert, I was determined to find something worthy of a Guilty Pleasure title. Now that spring has sprung, I wanted to find a delicious fruity find. Lemon and Blueberry go together extraordinarily well. That’s where my inspiration began. I found this lemon gooey butter cookie recipe and I was well on my way to creating a new dessert.

First, let’s talk the cookie on the top. Why? The dough needs to chill for at least 2 hours or overnight. Keep this in mind if you plan on making these cupcakes.

Lemon Gooey Butter Cake

found this receip at http://wickedgoodkitchen.com/lemon-gooey-butter-cookies-best-ever-from-scratch/

Prep Time: 30 minutes

Cook Time: 45 minutes

Total Time: 1 hour, 15 minutes

Yield: Makes about 2½ dozen cookies

Ingredients:

2¼ cups (270 grams) organic all-purpose flour, such as King Arthur Flour®

2 teaspoons (about 8 grams) baking powder

1 (8-ounce/226-gram) package cream cheese, such as Philadelphia®, softened

½ cup (1 stick/113 grams) unsalted butter, softened

1½ cups (300 grams) granulated sugar

2 tablespoons (12 grams) freshly grated lemon zest, from 2 large lemons

1½ tablespoons (22.5 ml) freshly squeezed lemon juice

1 teaspoon (5 ml) pure vanilla extract

1/8 teaspoon (a few drops) lemon oil, such as Boyajian® -Omit for gluten-free variation.

1/8 teaspoon natural yellow gel based food coloring, such as CHEFMASTER®

1 teaspoon (5 grams) kosher salt, or ¾ teaspoon regular table salt

1 large egg plus 1 large egg yolk (mine weighed 71 grams w/o shells)

1 cup (120 grams) confectioners’ sugar, sifted, for rolling & dusting cookies

Preparation:

In a medium bowl, whisk together flour and baking powder until well blended. Set aside.

Using an electric stand mixer fitted with paddle attachment, or handheld electric mixer, cream together cream cheese and butter until well blended, creamy and smooth. Beat in sugar, lemon zest and juice, vanilla, lemon oil, food coloring and salt; mix until well combined, light and fluffy, scraping the bowl with a rubber spatula when necessary. Add egg and egg yolk and beat in well until creamy and light, about 1 to 2 minutes on medium speed.

On low speed, gradually add flour mixture and mix until just fully incorporated. Dough will be very sticky. Cover work bowl and refrigerate at least 2 hours or overnight.

Meanwhile, arrange oven rack in lower third of oven and preheat oven to 325ºF. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper; set aside. Place confectioners’ sugar in a small bowl; set aside.

Measure enough dough to roll into generous 1-inch balls, using a 1 1/3-inch spring-loaded cookie scoop (or by measuring a generous tablespoon of dough with a measuring spoon) making sure each scoopful is in equal amounts. This is important for evenly baked cookies.

Roll dough between palms of hands to achieve a small rounded ball and then roll in confectioners’ sugar to lightly coat. Place dough balls on prepared baking sheets at least 2 inches apart.

Bake in preheated oven until cookies have spread into round cookie shapes and are puffed and crackly, about 14 minutes. Do not overbake. The cookies will still be soft in the centers. If they start to brown around the edges, they have baked too long. The underside of the cookies should be only very lightly browned.

Transfer to wire rack and allow cookies to cool completely on baking sheet. Once completely cooled, carefully remove cookies from baking sheet using a thin metal cookie spatula and transfer to an airtight container. Repeat with remaining dough on prepared cookie sheets.

Tips:

Only use completely cooled cookie sheets lined with a fresh sheet of parchment paper before baking each batch.Avoid crowding the cookies on baking sheets by spacing apart at least by 2 inches.

Blueberry Frosting

I used a cream cheese based frosting because I thought it would hold up better against the acid in the blueberries. Also, the cheese flavor would go nicely with the lemon in the cookie.

Ingredients:

8 oz. cream cheese (room temperature)

1 stick butter

4 1/2 cups of powdered sugar

1 tsp vanilla

1 cup pureed blueberries (cleaned fresh or defrosted)

Directions:

Whip the cream cheese and butter until fluffy. Slowly add powdered sugar. Add vanilla. Beat until smooth. Add pureed blueberry. Beat until fully incorporated.

Cupcake

Any vanilla cupcake recipe will do, even a mix. It is not a predominant flavor in this combined dessert. Make sure that cupcakes are cool before assembly.