Do you ever wonder how you ended up where you are? Living in the town you’re living in? With the job you have? The friends you’ve surrounded yourself with? Are you the kind of person who always had a dream, a plan and a checklist with your life all mapped out? And if so, have you followed that plan? Are your past dreams the life you’re living right now?

My husband is the kind of guy with a long term plan. A vision. He sees his future and works determinedly towards it. He has big dreams. He’s a big thinker. I really admire that in him and it’s one of the reasons I love him.

I, on the other hand, don’t really have a long term path (a nice person would call me “free spirited” and must possess an infinite amount of patience dealing with my wandering). I do sometimes see something I want, in the future, and I have grand dreams, but invariably I end up wandering off course, spinning around toward something different then what was my original plan. Sometimes I feel dissatisfied, like I’m orbiting my little life in concentric circles, not really moving in any direction, but often my winding and roaming leads to new discoveries I wouldn’t have come across otherwise (let’s call that trait “open minded”, shall we?). Like my brilliant thought to make home made ricotta cheese. I really had no idea what I was going to do with 2  cups of cheese, since I don’t really eat cheese, but I wanted to prove I could do it. So I did. And then I made these muffins and I have not looked back.

Lemon & Ricotta Muffins

source: Miss Lemonie herself

• 1 Tbsp lemon juice
• 1 Tbsp  lemon zest (about two lemons)
• 1 C ricotta cheese (I used my  fabulous home made, low fat ricotta cheese)
• 2 large eggs
• 1 C buttermilk
• 4 Tbsp butter, melted
• 2 to 3 drops lemon oil (optional)
• 1/2 tsp almond extract
• 2 C all purpose flour
• 3/4 C sugar
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt

• Preheat your oven to 350 degrees and line 12 muffin tins with paper liners.
• Combine the lemon zest and lemon juice. Let that sit and get nice and lemonie while you get the rest of the ingredients together.
• Sift together the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
• Beat the ricotta cheese until it’s smooth. Then add in the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.
• Next, beat in the buttermilk and the extracts.
• Gently fold in the dry ingredients along with the lemon juice/zest mixture.
• Top with almonds and turbino sugar, if you want, and bake for 20 to 25 minutes.
• Cool for 5 minutes before removing and cooling completely on a wire rack.

• Don’t forget to add in the lemon zest/juice mixture at the end. Someone not used to following a plan (and not just because they think they know better), may do so, and then create a glaze to top the muffins with after they are done baking. Which tastes equally yummy and makes a prettier muffin, if I do say so myself.
• If you want, you could chuck in a bunch of fresh blueberries. Or raspberries which go really well with almonds!