Lemon Bars

It's been a long time, friend! I do realize that the last post I made was in August. Horrible, I know. I can't blame my lack of updating on anything except my laziness. Thank you to my friend, Debbie, for the constant encouragement to update my blog...AND for passing along this recipe! Let's get straight to it!

I've come to realize that this lemon bar recipe is one that everyone enjoys, even people who don't normally like lemon bars love this recipe. It's not as goopy as the ones you eat/buy in restaurants or bakeries. I love them because they have this delicate, lemon flavor, and the crust is to die for!

It's been awhile, so I forgot to take a picture of the ingredients that you'll need, but I'm sure you'll figure it out. :)

First off, combine flour, powdered sugar, and cold butter into a food processor.

Pulse until the butter is incorporated and it starts clumping together.

Dump the dough into a 9x13 baking dish.

Spread evenly before pressing it down to make the crust.

Here's what the crust should look like before putting it into the oven to bake.

While the crust is baking, start making the filling. Combine eggs and sugar.

Add lemon juice and mix well.

In a separate bowl, combine flour, baking powder, and salt.

Add the flour mixture to the wet ingredients.

Here's the important part: FOLD GENTLY AND DON'T OVERMIX!

It's okay if there are a couple small clumps of flour. 

The crust should be lightly browned.

Add the lemon filling on top of the crust and put back into the oven

Bake lemon bars for 25 minutes, or until it is lightly browned.

The final product: Chewy, lemony goodness!

Lemon Bars by Claudia Hinnebusch

For the crust:

1c butter

2c flour

1/2c powdered sugar

Mix as pie crust. pat into 9x12 pan. 

Bake 350 for 20 min or until light brown

For the filling:

4 eggs

2c sugar

4T lemon juice

4T flour

1/2 t salt

1/2 t baking powder

Beat eggs & sugar - 3 min

Add lemon juice & mix

Gently fold in flour salt, baking powder

Spread on crust and bake 350F for 25 min until set

Once it has cooled, dust with powdered sugar. 

Cut into squares and serve!

Lemon Blueberry Cheesecake Bars

This is my last week before I start work again, and I wanted to bake as many things as possible before I say goodbye to my freedom. With 1 lemon and half a bag of frozen wild blueberries needing to be used, I decided to try making these bars that I once saw on someone else's blog. These bars have a light lemon flavor from the lemon zest and juice, and the wild blueberries offer a little pop of sweet juice as you're eating them. I absolutely love the combination of lemon and blueberries. 

So here we go. First off, you need to make the crust for the bars. I love crust on cheesecake and wanted to make sure that I had enough to suit my liking. You can always lessen the amount of crust if you're not as big of a fan as I am. Also, the fact that these are bars and not a normal round cheesecake gave me even more reason to up the amount of crust. Do as you like! I found this box in the baking aisle. 

Already crushed graham crackers for baking! How great is that?? It saves you the time and energy of crushing them yourself, although if you're in need of stress pounding, by all means, go and buy the regular box of graham crackers and pound away! To the graham crackers, add 2 tablespoons of sugar and a stick and a half melted butter. 

I like to do the hand squish test to know if the graham crackers are at the right consistency. Take a chunk of graham cracker in your hand and squeeze it together. If it stays together easily, then it's good to go. If it falls apart or crumbles as you open your hand, then it probably needs a little more melted butter. Go ahead and try it.

Once you get the right consistency, grab a 9x13 pan and spray it with a little baking spray for easy release later. Pat the graham cracker firmly into the pan so that it's even. Bake in the oven at 325F for 10 minutes. After you take it out, let it cool on a wire rack while you make your cheesecake filling.

On to the filling. Using a stand mixer, mix together the cream cheese and the sour cream until it's smooth. Add the sugar next and mix until light and fluffy. 

Once it's incorporated, add in the eggs one at a time, mixing well between each egg. 

In a small bowl, combine the lemon zest, lemon juice, and the vanilla. Add that into the cream cheese mixture and mix well.

When the cream cheese mixture is nice and smooth, pour it on top of the graham cracker crust. 

Sprinkle the blueberries on top. You can use fresh blueberries, but I only had frozen wild blueberries on hand. If you're using frozen blueberries, don't thaw them beforehand because they'll leave purple streaks everywhere. 

Bake for about 35-40 minutes. You'll know when it's done when the middle of the cheesecake stops jiggling and is semi-firm. Don't worry if it isn't completely firm because it'll harden in the fridge. Take the cheesecake out of the oven and let cool to room temperature before you put it into the fridge. This is very important that you wait for it to cool! Let it chill in the fridge for 3-4 hours before you slice and serve. Enjoy!

Ingredients:

-13.5oz box of graham cracker crumbs

-2 tbl sugar

-1 1/2 stick butter, melted

-16 oz cream cheese, room temperature (I might use 24oz next time)

-8 oz sour cream

-3/4 cup sugar

-2 eggs

-juice and zest of 1 lemon

-1 tsp vanilla

-1.5 cups blueberries, fresh or frozen

Directions:

Preheat oven to 325F. Lightly grease a 13x9in pan.

1. To make the crust, combine graham crackers, sugar, and melted butter until fully incorporated. Crust should not fall apart easily.

2. Press crust into the pan firmly and evenly.

3. Bake for 10 minutes.

4. Cool on wire rack while making the filling.

5. To make the filling, with a stand/hand mixer, mix together the cream cheese and sour cream until smooth on medium speed.

6. Add sugar and mix on med-high speed.

7. Drop in 1 egg at a time, mixing well between each egg.

8. Add lemon juice, zest, and vanilla extract to the mixture and mix until smooth.

9. Pour cream cheese onto the graham cracker crust and smooth evenly with your spatula.

10. Sprinkle the blueberries on top.

11. Bake at 325F for 35-40 minutes or until cream cheese is slightly firm. It shouldn't jiggle like jello if it's done, nor should it be completely firm. 

12. Let cool to room temperature then place in the fridge for 3-4 hours before slicing. 

Lemon Pound Cake

The best thing I like about this recipe is that it is so simple. It's a true "no fuss, no muss" type of loaf. And what's even better, you probably already have all the ingredients in your kitchen! The only advice I can give for those of you who wish to make this lemon cake is to watch how much you mix the batter. You don't want to over mix as this will cause the cake to become tough. Mix just until the ingredients are incorporated together. Then stop. Just stop. Leave it alone. It's okay if there are lumps. The final cake will be soft and moist. I really like that this cake is more of a mix between pound cake (dense) and normal cake (fluffy). Delicious.

So here is the recipe for Easy Lemon Pound Cake:

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup butter, melted
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 eggs, well beaten
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/2 cups flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1/3 cup lemon juice
• 1/4 cup sugar

Directions:

1. Mix together 1 cup sugar and butter.
   
   
   Add eggs and 2 tablespoons of lemon juice; mix well. (I also added the zest of 1 lemon)
2. Add salt, flour, and baking powder to mixture.
3. Add milk and stir until it becomes a smooth batter. (Don't overmix!)
4. Bake at 325°F in a well greased loaf pan for 1 hour,or until golden brown.
5. Mix 1/3 cup lemon juice and 1/4 cup sugar.
6. Use a toothpick to make holes in top of cake and drizzle lemon juice and sugar mixture over the top of the cake when removed from the oven.
7. Serve warm or cool. 

Meyers Lemon Bundt Cake

Last week, I won a new Kitchenaid Artisan Stand Mixer in an online auction for $2.75. Yup, you read that right - $2.75. With shipping and handling, the total came out to a whopping $30. With these stand mixers retailing at $300, I was beside myself with joy and vowed to make everyone I knew some type of baked good with all the money I saved. Well, the stand mixer came in the mail. It was quite an adventure opening up the box, within a box, within a box. Pretty intense packaging if you ask me, but I don't mind as long as it keeps my baby safe!

Box 1

Box 2

At last! The last box!

It's just so beautiful...and NEW!

It just so happens that my wonderful aunt supplies me with a steady supply of Meyers lemons. Meyers lemons, if you don't know, are a little different from regular lemons. They are slightly sweeter and have an orange tint to the peel making them perfect for baking. I was recently browsing through a few blogs and found this mouth-watering Meyer Lemon Bundt Cake recipe that I wanted to try. So here we go!

Meyers Lemons

Here are the lemons graciously provided by my aunt...beautiful, aren't they?

The ingredients that you'll need.

Grease and flour a bundt pan.

Lemon juice...

Meyer Lemon Bundt Cake by Baking Bites

3 cups all purpose flour

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

3/4 cup butter, room temperature

1 1/2 cups sugar

3 large eggs

2 tbsp Meyer lemon zest

1/2 cup Meyer lemon juice

1/2 cup buttermilk

2 tbsp Meyer lemon juice

1 cup confectioners sugar

Preheat oven to 350F. Grease and flour a 10 or 12 cup bundt pan. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar until fluffy. Beat in eggs, one at a time, followed by lemon zest. Stir 1/3 of the flour mixture into the butter mixture, followed by the Meyer lemon juice. Add in additional 1/3 of the flour mixture, followed by the buttermilk. Stir in all remaining flour, mixing only until no streaks of flour remain visible. Pour into prepared pan. Bake for 40-45 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean or with only a few moist crumbs attached. Let cake rest in pan for 15 minutes, then turn out on to a wire rack to cool completely.

For the glaze, whisk together lemon juice and confectioners’ sugar in a small bowl. Drizzle over cooled cake.

Serves 12-14

Tall Lemon Cheesecake with Fresh Raspberry Sauce

I love cheesecake. It may be one of my favorite desserts along with creme brulee and chocolate cake. The cold, creamy texture of the cheesecake mixed with the buttery crust makes for one delicious comfort food.

The other day, I saw a pound of raspberries on sale for $1.60 at the market! $1.60!!! Somebody must've made a mistake and wrote the wrong price, but who am I to point that out? With 2 lemons and an abundance of raspberries, I could think of no other thing to bake besides cheesecake.

I wanted to make sure that this cheesecake turned out perfectly, so I did my research and found the best recipe for a tall and creamy style cheesecake. In order to make it a little lemony, I added the zest of 2 lemons, and the juice of 1. The final product had a light lemony flavor -- perfectly refreshing in this odd California heatwave. The raspberry sauce is Emeril's recipe, which you can find on the food network. You can find the cheesecake recipe here.

You start with 4 blocks of cheesecake (8oz blocks). It sounds like a lot, but you need four to make a nice, tall cheesecake.




The recipe calls for 1 1/3 cup of heavy cream or sour cream, so I did 1/2 heavy cream, 1/2 sour cream to make the 1 1/3 cup.


Don't forget to zest the lemon before you start the whole process. Isn't my lemon zester just the cutest thing ever?


Mix all the ingredients until it's smooth and creamy.


Follow the directions to make the crust. I didn't quite have the amount of crumbs required of this recipe, so my crust wasn't as thick.


Pour the creamy mixture onto the baked crust and bake for a long time in a water bath.


Here's the final product...





Bon appetit!