Hello friends! I hope you've had a restful long weekend. Of course, no matter how long the weekend is, it never feels long enough, does it?

A few days ago we were figuring out the menu for our Memorial Day family get-together. I, of course, wanted to bake something new and fun. As I was in thinking mode, Nate happened to mention as an aside that he was afraid to open our bottle of Bloomery Cremma Lemma. What is Cremma Lemma and why would he be afraid to open it?

Bloomery is a distillery in West Virginia. I mentioned it once before on this blog (see Creamsicle Overnight Oats). We love the place and have stopped there every time we've been in West Virginia, most recently for our birthdays last year. Bloomery makes these amazing liqueurs. Our favorites have been the Cremma Lemma, which is like a milky creamy version of limoncello, and Chocolate Raspberry, which tastes as the name suggests. I also picked up a bottle of their seasonal pumpkin flavor on our last stop there (I haven't tried it yet).


When I say they "make" this liqueur, I mean they "made"...kinda. After our most recent trip, Bloomery made the decision to close their tasting room. They now make canned versions of cocktails that use their liqueurs but you can no longer buy bottles of the stuff. So, this is it. This is all we have. We've been treating it like liquid gold.

There is a cocktail you can make with the Cremma Lemma that uses the liqueur, orange juice, soda water, and vanilla and it tastes like this amazing orange, lemon creamsicle concoction. So delicious and perfect for the months when the weather is warm. When Nate brought up the Sweetshine it made me think...putting this flavor into a cupcake could be quite delicious. My goal was to get the flavor of the Cremma Lemma cocktail without actually using some of the Sweetshine since we want to save that to enjoy for a special occasion. And these cupcakes do it quite well. The orange and lemon flavors aren't too overpowering and the creaminess of the icing pairs perfectly.


As an aside: for those of you who speak French, I know "l'orange" is just "orange" in French. I speak a little bit of French myself. "Lemon-orange" just doesn't have the same ring to it. So, in this case, "l'orange" does mean "lemon-orange." It's not meant to be the French word.

These cupcakes were a hit at our Memorial Day cookout. They're a great treat for the spring or summer months.

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~ Ingredients ~

(Makes 12)

Cupcakes

1 ½ c. all-purpose flour
1 c. sugar
2 eggs
½ c. unsalted butter, softened
¼ c. milk
¾ c. Greek yogurt, plain non-fat
1 tsp. vanilla extract
½ tsp. lemon extract
½ tsp. orange extract
1 tsp. baking powder
¼ tsp. salt

Cream Cheese Icing

4 oz. cream cheese brought to room temperature
½ c. heavy whipping cream
½ c. confectioners sugar
½ tsp. vanilla extract

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~ Directions ~

Preheat oven to 350°.

In a medium-sized bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, and salt.

Pro tip: If you don't have a sifter, you can get the same effect by whisking the flour mixture together.

In a separate larger bowl, beat together sugar and butter until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs, milk, Greek yogurt, vanilla extract, lemon extract, and orange extract. Slowly add dry ingredients and beat until combined. Line a cupcake pan with 12 cupcake liners. Divide batter evenly among the cupcake liners.


Bake for 15-20 minutes or until toothpick inserted comes out clean. Remove from oven and allow to cool completely before frosting.

While the cupcakes are baking, make the icing. In one bowl whip together the cream cheese and vanilla extract. In a separate bowl whip the heavy whipping cream and sugar until soft peaks form (about 3 minutes). Add the cream cheese mixture to the whipped cream mixture and whip together until smooth. Refrigerate until ready to use. Pipe over cupcakes once they are completely cooled. Add some orange gummies on top for flair, if you'd like.



Enjoy!