Culinary Delights

Lemon Sunshine

Posted on by Ang Anderson

I have this lovely association of lemon bars with sunshine. It might have something to do with the fact that the recipe I have for lemon bars is titled “Sunburst Lemon Bars”. There is virtually no snow left here, save for a few sad-looking patches that are slowly meeting their demise. The warm air has given way to tremendous spring fever. All I can think about are the gorgeous days ahead, what I am going to plant in my garden, and how many great outdoor adventures we are going to have this year. The daydreams and sunlight inevitably brought me to these delightful treats, so I thought I’d take a moment to share some sunshine in the form of food.

These lemon bars are a favorite of mine. This was recently confirmed in a rather embarrassing manner. I have determined that these may, in fact, be my all-time favorite dessert bar. I know this because I may or may not have eaten a whole pan single-handedly (or is it single-mouthedly? *cringe*). If I were Superman, these would be my Kryptonite. I am happy to report that I did share some of the last batch with a dear friend and my husband ate one. (Yes, one. He loves me!) The rest I kept. All. To. Myself. I am not proud of this last maneuver. But I feel compelled to confess the possible danger these Sunburst Lemon Bars may create in the consumption zone. They are like little bites of sunshine. Truly. Lemon-filled sunshine. Drizzled with icing. They are good. You should make them. You should share them with friends, husbands, and even neighbors if you are feeling generous.

But, by all means, you should eat them.

You will cut a skinny sliver of a portion and tell yourself, “I’ll just have this skinny little sliver”. Then, a few minutes later, you will go back to the pan and tell yourself the same thing. You will repeat this process until there is nothing left in your pan but a faint hint of crumbs.

On second thought, it might be best to just invite me over to your house. I’ll bring my own fork and we can both eat straight out of the pan. We’ll throw proper manners right out the window. And we will be in lemon-filled, sunshine heaven. Bliss. Epic and wonderful bliss. All from a lemon bar! Oh the joy! It fills my heart (and belly) with gladness. I hope you enjoy these little delights as much as I do. Happy Lemon Sunshine!

Sunburst Lemon Bars

INGREDIENTS

Crust

2 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 cup powdered sugar

1 cup butter, softened

Filling

4 eggs

2 cups granulated sugar

1/4 cup all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

6 Tbsp lemon juice

Glaze

1 cup powdered sugar

2 to 3 tablespoons lemon juice

DIRECTIONS

Heat oven to 350°F. In large bowl with electric mixer, beat crust ingredients on low speed until crumbly. Press mixture evenly in bottom of ungreased 13×9-inch pan. Bake 20 minutes or until light golden brown.  Meanwhile, in large bowl with wire whisk, lightly beat eggs. Beat in remaining filling ingredients except lemon juice until well blended. Beat in 6 Tbsp lemon juice.  Remove partially baked crust from oven. Pour filling evenly over warm base.  Return to oven; bake 25 to 30 minutes longer or until top is light golden brown.Cool completely, about 1 hour. (The waiting is the hardest part!)In small bowl, mix 1 cup powdered sugar and enough lemon juice for desired spreading consistency until smooth. Spread glaze over cooled bars. Cut into bars. Devour. Daintily, of course.

Printable Version

Almond Cranberry Scones

Posted on by Ang Anderson

I have a strong affinity for Almond Extract. If I had to choose an extract to live out my existence as, it would be almond. I am considering bathing in it or possibly putting some in a vial that I can wear around my neck so I can smell it whenever I like. So, it goes without saying that I also have a strong affinity for anything containing Almond Extract. This comes from being blessed with Kringler each Christmas morn, made by mother and also blessed with the wonderful and beyond compare Almond Extract. Apparently, I love Almond Extract so much that I am willing to give my favorite flavor its very own photo shoot. You see, it has even been awarded Royalty, Cupid Arrow and Blue Ribbon accolades as indicated by photo above.

I printed off this recipe last September for Almond Cranberry Scones. I know this because the date is listed at the bottom of the paper. I just had to wait patiently for my heavy cream and cranberry stars to align. You see, I don’t always have heavy cream in the house. My waistline considers this a very good thing. The few times I found myself with heavy cream…alas, no dried cranberries.

The other day, I realized the two elusive ingredients had snuck into my kitchen and caught me unaware. In addition to discovering cream and cranberries together at last, I found I also had the rare ingredient of time. So, I decided to make these scones and I am so glad I did. The kids and hubby both really loved them and thankfully, since I was heading out-of-town, I was able to divulge in just one of these sweet treats.

That will be my new plan. Make treats. Leave town.

Oh. And purchase more Almond Extract.

If you get the chance to make these, I encourage you to bless yourself with the Almond Extract joy that I have found.

Almond Cranberry Scones

Ingredients

  • FOR THE SCONES:
  • 2 cups All-purpose Flour
  • ½ cups Sugar
  • 1 Tablespoon Baking Powder
  • ½ teaspoons Salt
  • 6 Tablespoons Unsalted Butter, Cut Into Small Cubes And Kept Cold
  • 2 whole Large Eggs
  • ½ cups Heavy Cream
  • 1-½ teaspoon Almond Extract
  • ½ cups Dried Cranberries
  • FOR THE GLAZE:
  • ¼ cups Powdered Sugar
  • 2 teaspoons Milk
  • ½ teaspoons Almond Extract
  • ¼ cups Slivered Or Crushed Almonds (optional)

Preparation Instructions

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

Combine flour, sugar, baking powder and salt in a large bowl and whisk to combine. Add butter and combine with a pastry cutter or two forks until the mixture resembles sand. Add eggs, heavy cream and almond extract and stir until well combined. Add in dried cranberries and stir.

Transfer dough to a lightly floured surface and roll out until the dough is 1/2 inch thick. Shape the dough into a circle and cut in a similar fashion to a pizza, creating 8 wedge-shaped scones. You could cut them smaller if you wish or use a cookie cutter to cut specific shapes.

Transfer the scones to a large baking sheet lined with parchment paper and bake for 16-17 minutes. The tops will be slightly golden brown. Transfer to a wire rack to cool.

Meanwhile, combine the powdered sugar, milk, and the remaining almond extract for the glaze. Glaze the cooled scones and top with almonds, if desired.

Recipe Courtesy of Tasty Kitchen by BakeYourDay

Put a Lid On Your Dessert

Posted on by Ang Anderson

Okay.  Get to ready to be amazed.  You might want to take a seat if you are not sitting down already.

I have four little words that will change your life.  Ready?

Cake.  In.  A.  Jar.

Yea… I know.  Cake.  Jar.  Huh?  What?

But it really is that simple.  You put cake batter in a jar and make the cake in the jar.  I made these sweet little novelties for Valentine’s Day and am just now getting around to posting about it.  Because some of my time is actually spent looking after my little ones, doing laundry, and all that other mom and wife business that I do.  But I actually made these again today, which prompted the post about them.  We were gifting dinner tonight and thought this might be a good gift too.  Try as I might, I could not get my little jars of goodness to look at all like the gorgeous one pictured above.  So none of my own pics on this one.  I did revise the recipe a bit, since I felt like a 16 ounce jar of dessert seemed a bit…shall we say…plentiful.  I am not saying that I couldn’t eat an entire pound of dessert because I am quite sure that I could.  But I am trying not to gain twenty pounds by Easter so I used smaller jars half-pint jars in place of the pint jars on the original recipe.  You could easily use the pint jars if you prefer and they are actually a bit easier to pretty up with ribbon and a tag.  Half-pints worked but didn’t have that nice neck on them like the pint size one pictured above.  You can even do these in a coffee mug.  I never dreamed I would bake cake in my microwave but alas, I have done it.  Twice.  Thank you to my sweet friend Beth for sharing the link with me and changing my microwave forever.  Astounding.

I encourage you to play around with this to make your own personalized version.  For a fun cake twist, I might even serve them at our next birthday party.  Mmmm…

Cake In A Jar

Adapted from Red Velvet Nutella Cake in a Jar posted on Babble by Brooke McLay

  • 1 box chocolate cake mix, prepared according to package directions
  • 1 jar of Nutella
  • 1 jar cream cheese frosting
  • 6 to 8 half-pint-sized canning jars

Thoroughly wash and dry the inside of each canning jar. Spray the inside of each jar thoroughly with nonstick cooking spray. Set aside.

Prepare cake batter according to package directions.  Spoon about 1/2 cup of cake batter into each jar.  Cook one jar at a time in the microwave for 1-2 minutes, or until the cake is cooked through.  I did two 30 second intervals, allowing for it to rest a bit in between and then another 20 seconds.  You might need to play around with it a bit because it will depend on your microwave.  Allow jars to cool for a few minutes (caution: they will be HOT), then scoop the top half of cake from the jar. Spoon a tablespoon or so of Nutella into the center of the jar, top with a dollop of cream cheese frosting, then replace the top half of the cake back in the jar, add another layer of Nutella, then enough frosting to fill the rest of the jar.

Serve immediately or cover with a lid and store in the fridge or pop into the mail & surprise someone you love! Cakes should stay fresh in the fridge for up to 5 days, and can be mailed so long as they are topped with a canning jar lid and arrive at their final destination within 3 days.

Photo courtesy of Brooke McLay from Babble.com