A Few Sweet Things

A Few Sweet Things

  1. Cupcake Report – The St. Patrick’s Day cupcakes were  indeed tasty. Would I wait in line again? Probably not. Will I use their menu as a starting point for some delicious experiments? Most likely.
  2. Cooper – We think we’re hitting round two of teething. Drooling – check. Biting things – check. The kid has been such a fussy, restless little guy (both while asleep and awake) lately. He’s only happy if he’s trying to walk or playing with cabinet doors. Unfortunately both activities always seem to end in pinched fingers or a goose-egged noggin.

3. Baking Itch – I keep getting all these great ideas for delicious recipes I want to try, but can’t scratch that itch right now. Someday I want to run a bakery so I can make as many delicious treats as I want, but not have to bear the responsibility of eating everything (such a trial, right?). I made the most delicious, creamy lemon bars a little over a week ago with some lemons I had on hand. We were running low on kitchen supplies, so I did some improvisation. I’m pretty sure this is what I did:

Crust:

8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened

¼ cup powdered sugar

¾ cup unbleached flour

Filling:
~4-5 ounces cream cheese, room temperature

~3/4 cup sugar

2 teaspoons grated lemon zest

~ 1/2 C plain yogurt

~1/2 C fresh lemon juice

3 large eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla

2-3 TBSP flour

powdered sugar for dusting

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees. Beat butter until creamy. Add sugar and and mix until combined. Add the flour. Press the dough evenly over the bottom of an ungreased 8 by 8-inch baking dish. Bake until golden brown, about 15 minutes. Remove and set on a cooling rack while you finish the filling.

2. Cream the cream cheese until it’s completely smooth and creamy. Add the sugar, and lemon zest and beat until light and fluffy.  Add the plain yogurt and lemon juice and beat the mixture on medium speed until smooth. Scrape the bowl. Add the eggs and vanilla and continue mixing until the filling is smooth and creamy. Add flour gradually until you feel good about the consistency. Spread evenly over the cooked crust. It’s okay if the crust is still hot.

3. Bake the bars until the top is slightly golden and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out dry, about 30 minutes. Dust with powdered sugar

Or, if you want the original, no tinkering recipe, go here.

2 thoughts on “A Few Sweet Things

  1. I LOVE lemon bars and anything lemony, I’ll have to give this a try. Oh, and if you have that bakery you were talking about, I would take it upon myself to eat all the stuff for you….It’s the least I could do.

Leave a Reply to glenna Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *