These Mini Meyer Lemon Loaves are drenched in a sweet lemon syrup and topped with a sugary glaze.
This only my second time baking with meyer lemons, and I’m seriously wondering why I haven’t done it more often. Have you tried a Meyer Lemon? They are the BEST. Sweeter than your regular old less exciting lemons, they are said to be a cross between a lemon and a mandarin, and they are delicious! For this post, I’ve collaborated with some fabulous bloggers to bring you sweet and savory recipes all made with lemon!
I love lemon desserts. If there’s a lemon meringue pie or lemon tart on the dessert menu, you can bet I’m going for that over anything chocolate – I love the sweet/tart flavor, and generally find lemon desserts to be less heavy.
These mini meyer lemon loaves are the perfect pairing for your afternoon tea/coffee, or even breakfast if you desire. No judgement here – this is a desserts all the time kinda zone.
I found these super cute pastel colored mini-loaf pans was dying to use them. Nothing quite screams SPRING like pretty pastels. I know it’s technically still February and we’re just past Valentine’s Day, but we’re exactly one month from the first day of spring, so I think spring-looking recipes are fair game.
The recipe for these mini meyer lemon loaves is really simple. The biggest pain in the butt is zesting the lemons, but it really doesn’t take that much time and it’s really worth it. Zest is crucial in my opinion, and really adds a depth of flavor. The syrup is optional, but again, it really intensifies the flavor, so I wouldn’t skip it!
If you don’t have mini loaf pans (not many do), you can easily make this recipe in a regular sized loaf pan or a 6-cup Bundt pan. Just be sure to adjust the baking time accordingly. Meyer lemons are in season from November to March, so if you’re looking to try them, don’t dawdle or you’ll miss out!
If you love lemons as much as I do, be sure to check out the lemon flavored recipes from my blogger friends below!
Mini Meyer Lemon Loaves
Ingredients
Loaves:
- 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/4 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter
- 1 cups granulated sugar
- 1 Tbsp Meyer lemon zest approx. 2 lemons
- 2 large eggs
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/3 cup milk
- 1/4 cup sour cream
- 1 Tbsp Meyer lemon juice approx. 1/2 lemon
Syrup:
- 2 Tbsp Meyer lemon juice approx. 1 lemon
- 2 Tbsp granulated sugar
Glaze:
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- 3 Tbsp water or milk
Instructions
Loaves:
- Preheat oven to 350F and grease & flour a mini-loaf pan. I use homemade cake release.
- Whisk flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt together, set aside.
- Beat butter until smooth. Add sugar and lemon zest and beat until light and fluffy.
- Add eggs one at a time, fully incorporating after each addition. Add vanilla.
- Add flour and milk alternately, beginning and ending with flour (2 additions of flour and 1 of milk). Fully incorporating after each addition.
- Add sour cream and lemon juice and mix until combined.
- Spoon or pipe batter into pan.
- Bake for 20-25mins or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out mostly clean.
- Cool in pan for 10mins, then turn loaves out onto wire rack.
- While the loaves are still hot, poke with a toothpick or skewer and immediately brush with syrup. Allow to cool completely. Once cooled, drizzle glaze over top.
Syrup:
- Place lemon juice and sugar into a small saucepan. Cook over medium heat, stirring often, until simmering and all sugar has dissolved. Set aside until loaves are ready.
Glaze:
- Place powdered sugar and water into a measuring cup. Stir with a fork until fully combined. Drizzle over loaves. Top with lemon zest if desired.
Check out all the other lovely lemon recipes below from bloggers who took part in our 30 Day Lemon Challenge!
- Buttery Lemon Garlic Rice by Hot Eats and Cool Reads
- Lemon Brulee Tart by Life Currents
- Lemon Cardamom Scones by Manila Spoon
- Lemon Garlic Chicken by Savory Experiments
- Creamy Lemon Layered Pie by Who Needs A Cape?
- Lemon Panna Cotta by Culinary Ginger
- Lemon Pie Bars by Noshing With The Nolands
- Lemon Pudding Cheesecake by Serena Bakes Simply From Scratch
- No Bake Lemon Cheesecake by Num’s the Word
- Zingy Lemon Chicken Wings by Lovefoodies
Celine H says
I made this for a Super Bowl party and it was a huge hit. Instead of mini loaves I used a standard glass loaf pan and increased the time to about 45-50 min and it was still moist. Great recipe.
Olivia says
Hi Celine! I’m so glad you loved the recipe 🙂
Casey Pelzl says
Although it says this will make 8 mini loaves, I have no idea how that could happen. I *doubled* the recipe, and I could barely fill 6 mini loaf pans. Furthermore, they took an additional 10 minutes to bake. Please include the number and size of your pans (I had to scour the comments to find the quantity of loaves this would make) in the instructions because, otherwise, those of us that aren’t expert bakers won’t intuitively know what size pan the volumes will fill. Additionally, I agree with the commenter that described these as “gummy”. Although I followed the directions to a T, the texture just did not achieve the correct consistency. The taste is great though.
vanessa mariscal says
Delicious and pretty easy to make. The presentation is great as well 🙂 I love how its not too sweet. Perfect amount of goodness and sweetness.
Olivia says
So happy you loved these, Vanessa! 🙂