Lemon-Berry Teacake Accident! Oh yes!

I had a dream this afternoon about some glorious blueberry-pomegranate sugar cookies with honey-glazed almonds and cinnamon crumble. I don't know why I thought this would be good. But it got me inspired to mess around in the kitchen.

But I did not make cookies. The title doesn't suggest that at all, does it?

I was certain I wanted to make a tart berry flavor but something sweet to cut it with. Well, I ALWAYS have box cake on hand (the way my contemporaries have gifts on hand in their gift closet. ;) ) and had recently replenished my cupboard with lemon cake and side-kick lemon sugar-free/fat-free pudding. Over the weekend, I made "Lucious Lemon Cake", the lemon variation of my box cake recipe below, in bundt format. Still hankering for the kick-in-the-jaw punch lemons can give, I opted to get creative this round. I began searching online for cookie recipes thinking I could sneak in that tartness of berries through the vehicle of strong tea. No dice. Not enough water to make a difference. (I may get brave later and do the super concentrated tea additive anyway.) Still wanting to make something, I grabbed the box of cake. What had happened was:

Lemon-Berry Teacakes
pre-heat oven to 350 degrees

• 1 box lemon cake mix
• 1 box lemon pudding mix (SF/FF if you want)
• 4 egg whites
• 1 snack pack container natural apple sauce
• 1 cup of strong, lemon-berry rooibos tea ( I used 2 Table spoons of Archer Farms loose-leaf tea to 1 cup water)
• 1 jar low-sugar strawberry preserves (for filling)
  

Blend cake mix and pudding mix together. Add wet ingredients sans strawberry preserves. Using hand mixer, mix for 2-3 minutes until well-blended. If using muffin pan or mini-loaf pan (the 2X3 inch size loaves), fill half full with batter. Add one spoonful of preserves to each muffin or loaf. Try to grab a berry for each muffin or mini loaf. No need to spread preserves evenly over the size of muffin or loaf. Add one-third more batter to cover each spoonful of preserves. Bake for 20 minutes or until golden brown. Serve warm with your favorite tea. Maybe even lemon-berry tea or chilled lemonade with fresh frozen berries as ice??

>;)

Baby Bundt Teacake- Hello strawberries!

Mini Loaf Teacake- surprise inside!