By Christie Vanover | Published January 17, 2015 | Last Updated December 29, 2022
Every winter, my friends in the Southwest come to me with the same question: “What should I do with all of these lemons?”
Lemon trees grow great in Las Vegas, and come December, a thriving tree can produce around 100 plump, beautiful fruit.
Lemons only last in the fridge or on the counter for so long in their whole state. So my advice is always to save the best parts: the zest and the juice.
To zest a lemon, get a good grater or microplane. Grate the peel into a bowl. I like to store it in a baggy in the freezer. You can also let it air dry and store it in the pantry.
To juice the lemons, I like to use a reamer. It allows me to dig and press out all of the juice. Then, I strain out the seeds and pulp, and freeze the juice in small containers or ice cube trays.
Of course, you should use some of your lemons fresh while they’re in season. My trees are too new to produce fruit, so a friend gave be about a dozen of hers. To thank her, I made this lemon monkey bread.
Monkey bread is a classic American sweet pull-apart bread made in a bundt pan with canned biscuits, brown sugar, cinnamon and butter. I followed the same concept with this recipe, but instead of the brown sugar, I used homemade lemon curd.
The result is a deliciously sweet and tart pull-apart bread with slivered almonds. Enjoy!
Lemon Monkey Bread
Ingredients
- 3 cans buttermilk biscuits
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- ⅓ cup sliced almonds
- zest of 2 lemons
- ¾ cup granulated sugar
- 4 tablespoons butter room temperature
- 2 eggs
- juice of 2 lemons ½ cup
- pinch of salt
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 C)
- Place ½ cup sugar, almonds and lemon zest in a large bowl. Using scissors, cut each biscuit into 4 pieces. Using your hands, toss in the bowl with the sugar almond mixture.
- Cream ¾ cup sugar and butter together. Mix in the eggs, lemon juice and salt. Pour the lemon juice mixture into the bowl. Stir to combine.
- Grease a bundt pan. Pour the biscuits into the bundt pan. Bake in a preheated 350-degree oven for 45 minutes.
- Remove from the oven. Cool for 5 minutes. Run a knife around the edges of the pan and flip onto a platter. For an added touch, sprinkle with more almonds.
- Serve in slices or set it on the table and let people pull it apart.
This estimate was created using an online nutrition calculator
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