Treat Day Wednesday–Lemon Curd Cheesecake Bars

This might be a day late in posting but these treats were definitely on the counter when the girls got home from school yesterday.  This is also another treat made with what I had on hand in the fridge and pantry.  My favourite kind.

We, as you may know, are selling our house.  So baking and cleaning as you go bites.  I feel like you just can’t get into baking without making a mess.  Have you sold a house?  If so, then you know what I’m going through.  I mean I’m not a dirty person, lazy maybe, dirty no.  But when you have two hundred pounds of dogs, two kids and a husband; it all makes for an unreasonable amount of cleaning when there could be a showing at any moment. It’s also very stressful and when I’m stressed I bake and there you see my dilemma.  Good times indeed :)

I may not be blogging or baking cookies regularly but I wanted to keep the Wednesday treat day going for the girls.  Plus I happen to have an hour to sit down and write the blog post.  Yay me!

Here it goes!  Lemon Curd Cheesecake Bars

Crust

• one package graham crackers
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 4 tbsp melted butter

Cheesecake

• one 8oz package softened cream cheese
• 1 egg
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1/2 tsp vanilla bean paste
• zest of one lemon
• 1 tsp lemon juice

Lemon Curd

• 3 eggs
• 1 cup sugar
• 1/3 cup lemon juice
• 1/4 cup unsalted butter
• 2 tsp lemon zest

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Pulse graham crackers and sugar until finely ground.
3. Add melted butter until they graham crackers come together.
4. Press into 8” square pan. Set aside
5. In a medium bowl, cream together the cheesecake ingredients.
6. Pour on top of graham cracker crust.  Bake for 17-20 minutes until cream cheese is set. Let cool.
7. In medium saucepan.  Whisk together the eggs, sugar and lemon juice.  Add the zest and butter.  Turn onto medium heat and cook.
8. Continually whisk until the mixture thickens.  Pour mixture through a mesh sieve to remove any larger bits.  Cover with plastic wrap and store in fridge until cool. 30-40 minutes.
9. Pour curd over cheesecake and chill for at least an hour.
10. Remove from fridge and cut into bars.
11. Enjoy!

Now these are some tasty little treats.  Little bars of sunshine. 

Whilst I don’t recommend living through the sale of a house if you are a baker but I do recommend these bars!

Thanks for looking!

Treat Day Wednesday–Snow Day Lemon Bars

Today is not only Treat Day but it’s also a Snow Day!!!!  ok, I’m not that excited about it but everyone on our street is uber excited.  They all want to spend all day outside.  I guess after 40 years of 4 months of snow each year, it’s not that big of a deal to me.  The girls are loving it too!

So what do you make on a snow day???? Well lemon bars of course!  I decided to try a new recipe.  It all started with some Nilla wafers and some lemons.  40 minutes later these came out of the oven.

Recipe:

• 1/2 package Nilla wafers crushed
• 1/4 cup melted unsalted butter
• 4 eggs
• Juice of 2 lemons plus the zest of one lemon
• 1 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup flour

1. Mix the butter and crushed Nila wafers and press into an 8” square pan.  Bake at 350 for 20 minutes.
2. Combine the eggs, lemon juice, sugar, flour and zest together.  Pour over baked crust and put it back into the oven for 20 more minutes.
3. Let cool and then slice into bars.
4. Enjoy!

These are divine!  Simple, clean and wondrous, just like fresh fallen snow!

Thanks for looking!

Treat Day Wednesday–Lemon Yogurt Cupcakes

I got today’s recipe while watching the Barefoot Contessa with Abby.  Actually Abby saw this and said we had to make them and since I needed an easy treat, here we are.  Now Ina made hers into a cake with blueberry sauce and I made mine into cupcakes and left out the sauce.  These are for kids and that’s just too messy. Especially for my kids.

I also made a couple extra for my friend Tara as it’s her birthday today!

Lemon is one of the most revered flavours in our house and these are perfect. Making the batter into a cake would also be fabulous but as a little bit sized treat, you can grab and go!

To find the recipe, just click here.  Thank you Ina for another great one :)

Thanks for looking!

Blueberry Scones with Lemon Glaze

Ok, so apparently scones aren’t well known in the south, they’re called biscuits. And neither is a good cup of tea.  So what’s a girl to do? 

Ok, so I import my tea from Canada and you guessed it,  I make my own scones.  And with all the blueberries on hand I busted out my favourite scone recipe and then saw on the Food Network a lemon glaze on a muffin and thought, ooooh that’d be good!

And you know what???? I was right!

Recipe:

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 5 tablespoons unsalted butter, cold, cut in chunks
• 1 cup fresh blueberries
• 1 cup heavy cream, plus more for brushing the scones
• 1 cup icing sugar
• 1/4 cup lemon juice
• 1 tbsp butter

1. In a large bowl mix flour, baking powder, salt and sugar.
2. Cut butter into flour until it’s like oatmeal.
3. Fold in blueberries.
4. Make a well in the centre of bowl and add cream.  Mix gently until the dough comes together.  Do not over knead.
5. Put out on a well floured surface and press into square.  Cut into squares or triangles.
6. Bake at 400F for 10-15 minutes or until golden brown.
7. While scones are cooling make glaze.
8. Combine icing sugar and lemon juice until sugar is dissolved.
9. Add butter and place in microwave for 30 seconds.
10. Stir until completely combined and then drizzle over scones.
11. Enjoy!

Ok, so I may have eaten most of these.  The lemon drizzle is genius.  I grew up fairly “British”, in that we ate a lot of scones and drank a ton of tea, so to me this is like home.  I mean my favourite scone is actually plain but with some fresh blueberries they are pretty damn good too.  We also use to eat them with crème fresh and homemade jam.  Both my grandmother’s could make a mean scone, so my love for them is genetic.

So the next time you want a little something different for breakfast, break out this recipe and I promise you won’t be disappointed and if so, send them to me because I’ll eat them!

Thanks for looking!

Cosmopolitan Cupcakes with Lemon Buttercream

Just over a month ago a threw a martini party.  I had bought some different martini mixes and since then always thought I should attempt a cupcake version of said martinis.

Now I’m not a huge drink drinker. I love a really good really cold red beer as well as a really nice glass of Cabernet Sauvignon.  But every now and again I’ll drink a martini. 

I decided to choose the Cosmo because it reminded me of my first trip to New York City some 15 years ago.  I went with my best friend, Sapna and we stayed with a friend of hers, Randy,  who lived in Manhattan.  Now Randy was the concierge at the Four Seasons hotel and his partner (at the time) was a modeling agent.  So basically we went to NYC and hung out in somewhat fancier digs then we were use to as well as with really beautiful people.  It was a blast and an eye opening experience all at once.

Now because we were hanging with the “beautiful” people we got to get into some pretty funky clubs.  At one club you needed to know someone to get in but then you needed to know someone else to go into the back room.  It was like being in a movie.  I actually walked into the bathroom whilst a stick figure did a line of what one would assume was cocaine, but who knows. I felt like I was invading her privacy but I really had to pee.  I know I’m all class!  Sapna and I decided to go fancy and order a Cosmo.  It was really quite tasty but the funny part of this story, or just proving how sheltered a life we led was when the bill came.  The waitress said 16 dollars please.  It didn’t take long to realize she meant each.  Che-Ching!  I mean it was good, but not 16 bucks good.  That’s 4 beers at a pub :)  Needless to say, it was the last drink I bought that evening.

So when I picked Cosmo, it reminded me of my first visit to NYC.  Good times!

Cosmopolitan Cupcakes (adapted by A Cup Full of Cake)

• 1/2 cup butter room temp
• 2 cups sugar
• 2 eggs room temp
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2-1/2 tsp baking powder
• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/4 cup buttermilk
• 1 1/4 cup Cosmopolitan Mix

Directions:

1. Allow all ingredients to come to room temperature. Preheat the oven to 350F. Line muffin pans with cupcake papers.
2. With a mixer, beat together the butter and sugar until fluffy.
   Add the eggs 1 at a time and beat until well combined.
3. Combine all dry ingredients in a separate bowl and set aside
4. Combine the buttermilk and Cosmo Mix.
5. Add in 1 cup each of the dry and wet mixtures alternately, beating on low until the whole mixture is well combined.
6. Fill cups with batter two-thirds full. Bake at 350 F for 18-22 minutes or until cupcakes
   spring back in the middle when touched lightly. Cool for 10 minutes in pan.

Lemon Buttercream

• 1/2 cup butter softened
• 1/2 cup shortening
• 4 cups icing sugar
• 6 tbsp lemon juice

1. In stand mixer, combine all ingredients together and beat on med-high until smooth.

Now you can add red food colouring to the cupcakes it you want them a more true cosmo colour.  I really liked these, however Rob wasn’t a huge fan.  He did say the buttercream has the perfect lemony flavour.  The leftovers went into Rob’s work and were demolished.  So despite Rob’s nonchalance towards them, they were well received by his office.  So I say success!

Thanks for looking!

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Meyer Lemon Bars

I never really bought Meyer lemons until I moved south.  Even when I do, it’s usually at Whole Foods and one or two at a time, but when I saw a bag of them at Walmart, of all places, I knew it was a sign to make something.

Meyer lemons are a citrus usually native to China and are thought to be a cross between a lemon and a mandarin orange. So they are sweet and tart!  Lemon, in our house, is one of the most requested flavours.  You could even just eat this type of lemon like an orange, if you are so inclined

So I made these bars and they are so simple and so yummy!  And it got me out of cleaning, which is always a plus because I am a professional procrastinator.

Recipe: Adapted from GroupRecipes.com

Crust:

• 1 cup all purpose flour
• 1/2 cup confectioners' sugar
• 1/8 tsp salt
• 4 ounces (1 stick) unsalted butter, cold and cut into 1/2 inch pieces
• Juice of two lemons

Filling:

• 2 large eggs
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 tbsp all purpose flour
• 1/8 tsp salt
• 2 tsp finely grated meyer lemon zest
• 1/4 cup freshly squeezed meyer lemon juice

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350F. Butter and line an 8-inch square pan with parchment paper.
2. In food processor, combine flour, sugar, salt,  and butter until it’s like oatmeal.  Then add juice and pulse until it starts to come together.
3. Press into pan and bake for 15 minutes, or until the crust starts to brown.
4. In another bowl combine eggs, sugar, flour, salt, zest and juice.  Mix completely.
5. Once crust is removed from oven, pour egg mixture over and put back into oven for another 15 minutes, or until the mixture is set.
6. Cool completely, dust with icing sugar.  Slice and serve!
7. Enjoy!

Adding the lemon juice to crust really enhances the lemon flavour of the entire bar!

Since I’ve started being good about nutrition, I also started creating nutrition labels.  I hope this helps too :)  The recipe makes about 16 bars, this label is for one bar.  You can do it too with Self Nutrition Data.  You input your recipe and voila, it creates a nutrition facts label!  So Cool!

Thanks for looking!

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