I started cooking at the age of 10. I just happened to be the first one home, so it landed in my lap. My mom would leave a recipe and I would make it. Usually it turned out pretty good. Although once I did not cook the chicken through for my first chicken parmesan! Anyway, through this experience, I began experimenting with my own recipes. I am a cook without a recipe book, just like my grandmother. Perhaps it runs in the family? I know my older brother does the same, yet my mom is a tried and true recipe gal, so it might just be a fluke. Either way, I was excited to hear of an exciting cinnamon bun recipe from a fellow Canadian and seasoned experimental cook – cinnamon buns but with lemon. Yum! (1)

Surprising Lemon Buns

“I surprised myself with this idea,” says home cook, Rebecca Brauen of Tagish, Yukon. She came up with the idea when she decided to bake something special for her daughter, Benja. “At the last minute I changed to a lemon twist. It was so fun!” (1)

Raves For Lemon Buns

According to the raves on her Facebook post, there’s a lot of lemon fans in Canada! I am one of them. Give me anything lemon and I will cheerfully gobble it down. When I was little one of my favorite snacks was lemon curd danishes. I am drooling at the pictures on her post imagining these lemon curd buns would be very close in flavor to my long-lost childhood treat. (2)

No Icing Needed For Lemon Buns

“My concern with this idea was if the lemon curd would all melt out, but it stayed put,” she confesses on her Facebook post. “Win! No icing needed — it would be too much. Whipped cream and extra curd to dress works nicely.” Well, that sounds just fine to me. (1)

Experimenting With Baking

I’ve never been much of a baker unfortunately because you do really need recipes for that. The only recipe I ever invented for baked goods was a killer brownie. The only reason I even attempted it was because my daughter had an urge for brownies and I quickly jumped on board. The problem? No eggs. I decided to use extra chocolate to get the gooeyness of eggs and it worked.

Yukon Lemon Bun Recipe

So how did Rebecca go about her special lemon buns? “I made lemon ‘curd’ (not homemade today, from the package) and warmed up half a block of cream cheese with a whole lemons zest and 1/4 cup granulated sugar,” she explains. “I Rolled out dough and laid down cream cheese, zest, sugar combo first, then spread lemon curd. Rolled, cut and placed in greased baking tray with extra butter underneath and left them to raise.” (2)

She then baked them at 375 but without a timer. “I time by nose and feel,” she says. She promises to use a timer the next time she bakes a batch. (2)

“It was possibly the best bite I have ever had,” says Rebecca. “Cooking for loved ones is my true joy.” I know just how you feel Rebecca! And I’m sure Benja is glad it is so. (1)