Whenever I see Meyer lemons in the store, I am instantly reminded of warm California sunshine. I can actually almost feel the sunshine on my face when I see Meyer lemons. Maybe that's because I grew up surrounded by these delicious citrus fruits in California, where it seems like nearly every house has a Meyer lemon tree in the yard.
If you aren't familiar with Meyer lemons, they are a sweet variety of citrus with low acidity which makes them perfect for baking since you don't need to add much sugar. Since moving to Colorado, Meyer lemons have become a luxury item because they are not grown here. So when my parents plan a trip out to visit me here, I am always secretly hoping that it's the right time of year so their Meyer lemon tree is producing. Luckily for me when my parents came to visit last weekend, their tree is in full-on fruit mode so they were able to bring two bags of lemons for me!
I am going to be preserving a lot of the lemons for use throughout the summer and fall, but I also really wanted to bake something sweet so I decided to make a Meyer lemon breakfast loaf. You can eat it anytime you like, but I find it is especially delightful with a cup of black or earl grey tea with milk in the morning. The recipe does call for sugar or honey, but you can also feel free to leave these out of the main loaf recipe and only use the honey in the glaze - the bread will be tart and delicious with just the natural sweetness of the lemons. Also, the sugar used in the loaf is sucanat sugar. This is a whole-cane form of sugar that still has molasses in the crystals so it gives a nice depth to the loaf. If you don't have access to this sugar, you can feel free to use the same amount of a more refined sugar.
(Also, my loaf pan broke because I have butterfingers, so the photo above is a not-loaf pan. I tell you this to say that if you don't have a loaf pan just use something small and around 9 inches!)
--------------------------------
Meyer Lemon Loaf
2 large eggs
1/4 cup coconut oil or butter
1/4 cup yogurt or buttermilk
2 heaping tablespoons of meyer lemon zest
2 tablespoons of meyer lemon juice, with pulp
1/3 cup sucanat sugar or 3 tablespoons of honey
1 1/2 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
-- Lemon Glaze --
1/3 cup meyer lemon juice (save the peels for citrus vinegar!)
2 teaspoons of honey
Preheat oven to 350°. Grease a 9 inch loaf pan with butter, almond oil or coconut oil. Whisk eggs, oil, yogurt, zest and juice together well. In another bowl, combine sugars, flours, salt, baking soda and baking powder together. Add 1/2 of the dry mixture to the wet mixture, stir, and add the rest of the dry mixture and stir well to combine. Pour into loaf pan. Bake for 30-45 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
While the loaf bakes, make the glaze:
Combine the lemon juice and honey in a small saucepan over low heat and cook until the honey is fully dissolved.
Once the loaf is cooked, remove it from the oven and let it cool for 10 minutes before adding the glaze. While it is cooling, prick holes in the loaf using the toothpick you used to test the doneness. After the 10 minutes of the loaf cooling, pour the glaze over it. Let the loaf cool completely while it absorbs the glaze.
--------------------------------
Happy spring and sunshine, everyone! Be sure to let me know in the comments below if you decide to make this recipe, I'd love to hear how yours turns out!