Uppity Middle Schoolers have to eat, too.

The cookies, they were a hit at work. It was pretty fun; I forgot how much I enjoy feeding people. I think I understand that Jewish mother thing. Too bad I'm not Jewish; I'd be pretty good at it, at forcing people to eat when they think they don't want to.


In fact, I'm so not Jewish, when I looked for a recipe for this week, I looked to church. See, when I was in middle school, in Confirmation class, I had this Sunday school teacher named Martha. Martha was great. She was a fantastic Sunday school teacher; she helped us think about the big questions that we liked to talk about in our hippy dippy, oh-so-Cambridge church, and when I got all uppity, and started questioning everything they said (I went through a brief Christian fundamentalist phase in eighth grade. Cambridge churches don't tend towards very literal interpretations of the bible), Martha took it all in stride, and explained what our church believed and why we believed it. Despite all of her wonderful qualities as a teacher of uppity middle school youth, though, the thing that I will always remember the most about Martha was her muffins. She brought us homemade muffins every single week. My favorites, by far, were the lemon chocolate chip ones.


And so, this week, when I was looking for something to impress my coworkers, the first thing that came to mind was Martha's Lemon Chocolate Chip muffins. (Actually, they are not really my coworkers, since I'm just the lowly intern. They're all better than I am. But whatever.)


Unfortunately, it was night time when I got this idea in my head, so I couldn't call Martha (she lives just down the street) and get the recipe. So I had to resort to the internet. This recipe turned out pretty well. I might try to get Martha's recipe, and I'll certainly share it with you if I do get it. For now, though, this will have to suffice. And it will suffice pretty well.
Lemon Chocolate Chip Muffins
Adapted from a recipe on CDKitchen.com
The zest from 1 medium lemon (I used two small lemons, and I might use even more next time)
1 cup sugar (my mom thought the muffins were a bit too sweet, and I agreed. Next time I might cut down on the sugar a smidge)
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup plain buttermilk or yogurt (I used skim milk with white vinegar because, well, that was what we had at my house)
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
1/2 cup butter
2 large eggs
2 cups flour
3/4 cup chocolate chips

Finely grate lemon peel, avoiding pith. Beat butter and sugar until pale and creamy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each. Stir in baking soda and grated peel. Fold in half the flour, then half the buttermilk. Repeat. Fold in chocolate chips. Scoop 1/4 cup batter into prepared muffin tins. Bake at 375 degrees for 20-25 minutes. Remove from oven. Brush lemon juice over hot muffins until used up. Sprinkle with sugar. Let stand 5 minutes before removing from pans.