Luscious Lemon Bars

I love lemon bars, like love love lemon bars. I love the lemony taste and will add even extra lemon juice to get more of that luscious lemon flavor. I have used the standard lemon bar recipe for years and wasn't never really wowed but I made it for that lemon taste I craved. Today, however, my opinion of lemon bars have changed because of this awesome recipe I recently stumbled upon. Do you crave that almost pucker when eating lemon bars, do you want that yummy crust? Make these bars and your life will forever be changed as you know it.

First, gather together your ingredients for the crust: 1 3/4 cup flour, 2/3 cup powdered sugar, 1/4 cup cornstarch, 1 1/2 stick butter (12 tablespoons), room temperature, 1 egg yolk. For the filling: 1/2 cup flour, 2 1/4 cup sugar, zest of 1 lemon, 1 cup fresh lemon juice, 6 eggs plus 1 yolk.

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Grease your 9X13 pan. In your food processor, combine the flour, powdered sugar and cornstarch. Add in the butter and pulse until the ingredients look like wet sand.
*side note, I used my mixer for the above step because my food processor isn't large enough to hold that much flour and butter. The results turned out the same.

Add in the egg yolk to the above ingredients.

Press the dough into an even layer on the bottom of your baking dish.

Freeze the dough for 15 minutes and then bake the crust for about 20 minutes until lightly browned. Remove the crust from the oven and let cool.

While the crust is cooling, it is time to make the lemon filling.
In your mixing bowl, combine the flour and sugar.

Add in the lemon zest and juice. I added zest of 2 lemons because I love that lemon flavor.

Whisk in the eggs and extra yolk.

 Pour the lemon filling over the crust.

Before you put the bars back into the oven, reduce the temperature to 300 degrees. Bake the filling for about 30 minutes or until the filling sets. Cool the bars in the refrigerator for an hour.
Sprinkle with powdered sugar, then serve, eat and enjoy!

Recipe Swap with Elizabeth Ann's Recipe Box

Happy Monday! I have a sweet treat for you today besides the wonderful recipe you will find below. Elizabeth Ann of Elizabeth Ann's Recipe Box and I are recipe swap today. For my recipe, check out her blog and of course her delicious recipe is found here. Elizabeth Ann and I have swapped a few times, last year we both randomly picked a donut recipe. We don't talk about what recipes to swap before, it is a total surprise when she sends me her post. Enjoy what Elizabeth Ann has baked up for you all today.

Hi! I am Elizabeth Ann of Elizabeth Ann's Recipe Box!

I love spending time in the kitchen, cooking and baking for others, and I ADORE home-cooked meals with lots of friends and family around the table!

I am so excited to be swapping recipes with Meg again! :-) Today, I am sharing the perfect cookie for the upcoming holiday months! The amazing saltiness from the pistachios mixed with the sweetness of the sugar cookie makes these cookies addiciting! :-)

Enjoy! :-)

Cran-Pistachio Cookies

Source: Betty Crocker via The Girl Who Ate Everything

Ingredients:

1 pouch Betty Crocker Sugar Cookie Mix

1 box (4 serving size) pistachio instant pudding and pie filling mix

1/4 cup flour

1/2 cup butter, melted

2 eggs

1 cup dry roasted salted pistachio nuts, chopped

1/2 cup dried cranberries, chopped

optional - green food coloring

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a large bowl stir cookie mix, pudding, and flour. Add melted butter and eggs and stir until incorporated.

Add pistachios and cranberries and mix well.

Drop by rounded spoonfuls onto a parchment lined cookie sheet.

Bake for 8-10 minutes. Don't overbake! If you bake them too long you will lose the soft texture and they won't be as green. They will not look done but take them out and let them sit on the pan for about 2 minutes. Cool on a wire rack. Store in an airtight container. Makes about 2 dozen cookies.

Thanks for this yummy recipe today Elizabeth Ann! Looking forward to swapping again with you.

Coffee S'mores Pie

If you follow me regularly then you know for a week back in August, I was in Tucson. Another great thing I wanted to mention about being in Tucson of course hanging out with my parents all week, is pouring through all of my mom's food magazines, Fine Cooking, Bon Appetit, all of it. I was thumbing through one issue and normally I don't go for Bon Appetit recipes honestly. Their recipes can be too complicated for a quick-dinner cook like myself and some of the ingredients are too pricy or I will never find myself using that ingredient frequently. However, this one recipe I knew my husband would love and I could easily make it plus when I read there was Nutella in the graham cracker crust, I was sold!

First, gather together your ingredients.

9 whole graham crackers, finely ground in food processor, 2 tablespoons heavy cream, 2 tablespoons Nutella, 1 ounce semisweet chocolate, melted, 1 tablespoon butter, melted, 12 ounces semisweet chocolate, finely chopped (chocolate chips are ok), 2 tablespoon butter cubed, 1 1/4 cup heavy cream, 2 tablespoon finely ground coffee beans, 2 egg whites, 1/2 cup sugar. 

In a mixing bowl, combine the graham cracker crumbs with the melted butter, chocolate, heavy cream and Nutella. 

Mix all the ingredients together well and then press the crust into a glass 9 inch pie pan.

 Place the crust in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes to set. 

Next you will make the coffee ganache, which is the pie filling. In a large bowl, put the chocolate chips or chopped chocolate along with the cubed butter. 

In a sauce pan, add the heavy cream, ground coffee (I used instant espresso) and 2 tablespoons water. 

Let these ingredients come to a boil, remove the sauce pan from the heat and let it sit for 5 minutes. After 5 minutes, strain the heavy cream mixture to collect the chopped coffee beans into the bowl with the chopped chocolate and butter. If you used instant espresso like me, you don't need to use a strainer since the instant espresso dissolved into the heavy cream. Stir the heavy cream and chocolate together until the chocolate and butter is completely melted and the ganache is smooth. 

Let the ganache chill in the refrigerator for at least an hour to set. After the ganache is set, beat the egg whites with the sugar in your mixer until they are stiff and glossy. Pile the egg whites on top of the ganache and then torch if desired.

*Instead of the egg whites, I made a whipped cream for the topping on my pie.

Then slice, eat and enjoy!

Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookies

Another great thing about being at my parents' house is my mom's awesome kitchen, seriously it is like a dream kitchen and the creativity just flows there. I was tasked with baking my sweet grandma some cookies and my grandma is a chocolate-lover, hm.. I wonder if that is where I get my love of chocolate from? Anyways I decided upon baking her chocolate chocolate chip cookies. My parents raved about them when they came out of the oven and then when my grandma received them in the mail, and only 3 were broken, she raved about them too. So I suggest you make these cookies for those special people in your life and have them rave about how great these cookies are and you get all the credit ;-)

 

First, gather together your ingredients.

2 1/4 cup all-purpose flour, 1 teaspoon baking soda, 1 cup (2 sticks) butter, room temperature, 1 cup white sugar, 1 cup packed brown sugar, 2 large eggs, slightly beaten, 1 tablespoon vanilla extract, 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa, 2 cups chocolate chips (you could also use peanut butter chips, M&M's). Add 1 cup of walnuts if you want some crunch in your cookies.

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees.  Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

Put your butter in a mixing bowl and give it a good creaming with your mixer. 

 

Add in the white and brown sugars and mix again.

 

 Add in the eggs and vanilla to the butter and sugar mixture. Cream all these ingredients together. 

 

 

Next add in the flour, baking soda and cocoa powder.

 

 Give all the ingredients a good mix, scraping down the sides of your mixing bowl if necessary. Last, add in the chocolate chips or whatever nut or chocolate item you are using. 

 

Roll out the dough into 1 inch balls and place them on your baking sheet about 2 inches a part, 

they will spread out a bit.

 

Pop your cookies into the oven for 10 minutes. After 10 minutes, pull the cookies out of then oven, let them cool slightly on the cookie sheet to set and then take them off the cookie sheet onto a rack to cool. 

 

Then serve, eat and enjoy with a tall glass of ice cold milk!

recipe found here