Lemon Bars

These yummy lemon bars are the last installment of baby shower goodies. Amazingly, in all my years of baking I had yet to make lemon bars. I'm not sure why I waited so long. Maybe because they seem to be temperamental at times, or because they can be a lot of lemon in one bite. Who knows. The fact that they are so bright and cheery in this gray, dreary winter and spring should be enough of an excuse to whip up a batch.

As I type this I realize that I have a recipe that my neighbor got from me years ago and used every time she made lemon bars, however I seemed to have forgotten this fact and went searching on the computer for a recipe to use. I think I fall back on the internet way too much when looking for information, namely recipes. It is interesting to think about how I used to go to my recipe books and food magazines to get ideas and try new recipes, and now I just type a food name into a search engine and I get more sites than I can visit. My poor cookbooks that are up in my cupboard. I probably need to make a concerted effort to pull them out more often so they don't feel deprived.

Anyway . . . this particular recipe mentioned that it was a lemon bar recipe for lemon lovers. It could be described as more of a lemon custard sitting atop a shortbread. When you look at the photos that accompany the original post, what drew me to it was the almost perfect ratio of lemon to shortbread. The only downfall, it is definitely lemony. I mean a pucker up, tart, lemon flavor. So if you don't go for overly tart and lemony and are looking more for a sweet lemon bar then this recipe may not be for you.

This recipe was very straight forward and easy to make. The only difference for me was that it took much longer for my lemon bars to cook through than the 20 minutes stated in the original recipe. I just kept checking them every 5 minutes or so until the edges were firm. If I recall correctly, the center was still a bit wobbly. After completely cooling, it was easy to pull the aluminum foil out of the pan to cut into squares. I believe I was able to cut my 9x9 square into 36 pieces because I wanted smaller bite sized bars for the shower. Enjoy!

Lemon Bars
Source: Baking Bites

Crust
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1/3 cup sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1 tbsp lemon zest
1/2 cup butter, room temperature

Filling
4 large eggs
1 1/3 cups sugar
1 cup lemon juice, freshly squeezed and strained

Preheat oven to 350F. Line 9×9-inch baking pan with aluminum foil (bottom and up all 4 sides).

In a large bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, salt and lemon zest. Cut butter into chunks and add to flour mixture. Blend in with an electric mixer at low speed until mixture forms coarse, sandy crumbs. Pour into pan and press mixture down (with your fingers or the back of a spoon) into an even layer. Bake for 16-19 minutes, until just lightly browned around the edges.

While crust is baking, make filling. Whisk together all filling ingredients in a large bowl.

When the crust comes out of the oven and is still hot, pour in filling mixture.
Bake for about 20 minutes, or until filling is set and does not jiggle when the pan is gently shaken.

Cool completely before slicing. Top slices with confectioners’ sugar to serve.

Makes about 24 bars

Salted Caramel Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars

Why is it that salted caramel in a recipe always sounds so good? And when did salted caramel replace regular caramel as the "in" thing? I have no answer to these questions, but what I do know is that these cookie bars are pretty amazing! Two layers of chocolate chip cookies with salted caramel in between. Who could say no to that?

Another plus is that these are easy to make. You whip up your batch of cookies, press half of the mixture into the pan, melt the caramels and pour them over the bottom layer, then spoon the top layer on. The one trick I used was for the second layer. Instead of just spooning the second layer on, I scooped a spoonful and flattened it in my hand before placing it over the caramel. This worked well for me because if I tried to spoon it on then the caramel was moved from where I wanted it.

This is definitely a "must make again" recipe, which is saying a lot since there are so many recipes out there that I still want to make. Enjoy!


Salted Caramel Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars
Source: Two Peas and their Pod

2 1/8 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
12 tablespoons butter, melted and cooled to room temperature
1 cup light brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg
1 large egg yolk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 cups chocolate chips
10 ounces caramel candy squares, unwrapped
3 tablespoons heavy cream
sea salt, for sprinkling over caramel and bars

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Spray a 2-quart baking pan (11x17) with nonstick cooking spray and set aside.

In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, salt, and baking soda. Set aside.

In the bowl of a stand mixer, mix the melted butter and sugars together until combined. Add the egg, egg yolk, and vanilla extract and mix until smooth. Slowly add the dry ingredients and mix on low, just until combined. Stir in the chocolate chips.

In a large microwave safe bowl, combine the caramels and heavy cream. Microwave caramels on High until caramels are melted, stirring every 20 seconds. This will take about 2 minutes, depending on your microwave.

Divide the cookie dough in half. Press half of the cookie dough into the prepared pan, smoothing the top with the spatula. Pour hot caramel over the cookie dough. Sprinkle caramel with sea salt. Drop spoonfuls of cookie dough over the caramel and spread dough with a spatula until the caramel is covered. Sprinkle the bars with additional sea salt.

Bake cookie bars for 30 minutes or until the top of the bars are light golden brown and the edges start to pull away from the pan. Cool bars on a wire rack to room temperature. Cut bars into squares and serve.

Chocolate Walnut Pie Bars

Super sweet! That is an appropriate description for this tasty treat.We started out with bars cut to the size you see, but after our first round of dessert we cut them in fourths. Yep, they were that sweet. They sure were yummy though. Enjoy!  

Chocolate Walnut Pie Bars
Crust:
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup packed brown sugar

Filling:
3 eggs
3/4 cup light corn syrup
3/4 cup granulated sugar
2 tablespoons butter, melted
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 1/2 cups coarsely chopped walnut

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9x13 inch baking pan.

Beat flour, butter, and brown sugar in small mixer bowl until crumbly. Press onto bottom of prepared pan. Bake for 12 to 15 minutes or until lightly browned.

Beat together eggs, corn syrup, granulated sugar, butter and vanilla in large mixer bowl. Stir in morsels and walnuts; pour over hot crust.

Bake for 25 to 30 minutes or until center is set. Cool completely in pan on wire rack. Cut into bars.

Makes 3 dozen bars

Granola Bars (Fig, Date, and Almond)

Homemade granola bars! Doesn’t the idea sound great? I love a good granola bar but I find that I am no longer into the ones that I used to enjoy as a kid. Now I want something a bit hearty, and while I like a bit of sweet added to it I don’t crave something that is over the top sugar.

When I came across a post on homemade granola bars I was very excited! Not only did she give a recipe for the particular granola bars that she made, but she also gave the necessary components for a granola bar so that you could mix and match any number of ingredients and still have a granola bar for the finished product.

For my first foray into the homemade granola bar arena I chose to use her basic recipe but I am really looking forward to experimenting with other flavor combinations. My husband and son devoured them but I have to admit that my first bite was a little disappointing. I was anticipating these granola bars to be like the ones I had always eaten that were pre-packaged, but once you get past the fact that they are not dry, but are moist and chewy and fresh you really won’t mind that you didn’t take it out of a package. Add to that the fact that you can make just about any flavor you want and that you have endless possibilities waiting for you. Enjoy!

Granola Bars (Fig, Date, and Almond)

Source: Brown-Eyed Baker

1 cup unsweetened applesauce
1/3 + ¼ cup honey
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
¾ teaspoon vanilla extract
2½ cups rolled oats
1 cup chopped almonds
1/3 cup chopped dried figs
1/3 cup chopped dried dates
1/3 cup raisins

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Line an 8×8-inch baking pan with parchment paper.
In a large bowl, whisk together the honey, applesauce, cinnamon and vanilla extract. Stir in the oats, making sure that it is evenly mixed and all of the oats are moistened. Mix in the almonds, figs, dates and raisins.

Turn the mixture out into the baking pan and press into the pan, making sure it is evenly distributed and tightly packed.

Bake for 25 minutes. Remove from the oven and cool in the freezer until the bars are firm, at least 1 hour. Remove from the pan and cut into bars. Store in an airtight container for up to 1 week.

Scotcharoos

“How many ways can you make rice krispy treats?” I remember thinking this when I put rice krispy treats on my top 100 things list. My reply to myself, “There can’t be that many.” Apparently I was wrong.

I have made rice krispy treats many times over the years that I have been cooking and baking. These always used to be a staple in our food items when we went camping, and I now prepare them at the beginning of the month for our youth group’s birthday celebration. However, in all those preparations I have rarely varied the ingredients. Really, why try to improve on an already good thing? I have added a few ingredients here and there, like chocolate chips and chopped up chocolate candies. But this batch of scotcharoos was definitely a variant of rice krispy treats.

I originally thought you just added butterscotch chips to the mix, but I was mistaken. Not only do you add butterscotch chips, but you also add peanut butter and there are none of the traditional marshmallows. The original recipe that I found I thought used way too much sugar so I actually didn’t add any to the batch. I guess if you like your scotcharoos super sweet you may want to track down the original recipe. I thought it was perfect. Enjoy!

Scotcharoos

Source: Adapted from RiceKrispies.com

  

1 cup  light corn syrup 

1 cup  peanut butter

6 cups crispy rice cereal

1 cup semi-sweet chocolate morsels 

1 cup  butterscotch chips

Place corn syrup into a 3-quart saucepan. Cook over medium heat, stirring frequently, until it begins to boil. Remove from heat. Stir in peanut butter. Mix well. Add crispy rice cereal. Stir until well coated. Press mixture into 13 x 9 x 2-inch pan coated with cooking spray. Set aside.

Melt chocolate and butterscotch chips together in 1-quart saucepan over low heat, stirring constantly. Spread evenly over cereal mixture. Let stand until firm. Cut into 2 x 1-inch bars when cool.

Chocolate Chip & Prezel Cookie Bars

Another good one from the Brown Eyed Baker! When looking for a sweet and salty treat for our Superbowl festivities I thought this one would fit the bill nicely. I love warm chocolate chip cookies, and having crushed pretzels drizzled with peanut butter and chocolate sounded like a yummy combination. I was actually going to make just half of this recipe, but then a friend was unexpectedly put on bed rest and I figured it wouldn't hurt to make the whole thing and take them half. Yah, I totally could have made the half batch and taken them a fourth and still had plenty. They are pretty rich so we found it was best to cut them into little squares. Enjoy! 

Chocolate Chip & Pretzel Cookie Bars
Source: Brown Eyed Baker


2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
3/4 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup light brown sugar
½ cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
12-ounce bag bittersweet (or semisweet, if you prefer) chocolate chips
1½ cups mini pretzel twists, coarsely chopped
¼ cup chocolate chips, for drizzling (optional)
¼ cup peanut butter, for drizzling (optional)
¼ cup pretzels, crumbled, for topping (optional)

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Spray a 9×13 pan with cooking spray.

In a bowl, whisk the flour, baking soda and salt. Using a mixer, beat the butter and both sugars at medium speed until light and fluffy, about 1 minute. Beat in the eggs and the vanilla extract. On low speed, beat in the dry ingredients just until incorporated. Stir in the chocolate chips and pretzel pieces.

Spread the batter evenly in the pan and press it down evenly with a spatula. Bake for 30 minutes, until golden brown. Transfer the pan to a rack and cool completely.

In separate sandwich size baggies, melt the chocolate chips and peanut butter. Cut off a small corner on each bag and drizzle the chocolate and peanut butter over the top of the bars. Sprinkle the extra crushed pretzels on top. Let set and then cut into squares.

Peanut Butter Paisley Brownies

When making the oatmeal raisin cookies that I posted a few weeks ago I was also looking for a bar/brownie recipe that I could bake to accompany them to the homes of my friends. While scouring my baking cookbooks I came across a picture for Peanut Butter Paisley Brownies and thought they looked visually appealing and sounded different enough in ingredients from the cookies I was already baking. Not only that but I actually had all the ingredients on hand.

They were very easy to bake but I had difficulty swirling the batter for a marbled effect. Instead, as you can see from the photo, it ended up that the chocolate pretty much just covered the top layer. Oh well. Not every recipe can turn out like the photo in the cookbook, right? In case you hadn't guessed I am one of those visual people who always wants her food to look just like the picture. Ask my husband about Black Forest Cake and he'll have a story for you.

There is also an option to make Double Peanut Butter Paisley Brownies by adding peanut butter chips into the batter. If you want a stronger peanut butter flavor I would suggest adding the chips. While these brownies tasted good, there was not an overwhelming flavor of chocolate or peanut butter that I could detect. For me they were something that grew on me instead of a "wham these are great right out of the pan the very first bite" type of reaction. Enjoy!

Peanut Butter Paisley Brownies
Makes about 3 dozen brownies

1/2 cup butter or margarine, softened
1/4 cup peanut butter
1 cup sugar
1 cup packed light brown sugar
3 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups sifted all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup (5.5 ounce can) chocolate syrup

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Blend butter and peanut butter in large mixer bowl. Add sugar and brown sugar; beat well. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Blend in vanilla. Combine flour, baking powder and salt; add to peanut butter mixture.

Spread half the batter in greased 9x13 inch pan. Spoon syrup over top. Carefully spread with remaining batter. Swirl with spatula or knife for marbled effect. (I found that half my batter didn't even fill the bottom of a 9x13 pan so I ended up putting all of it in, pouring the syrup over the top and trying to marble it with a knife. It ended blending instead of swirling.)

Bake for 35 to 40 mninutes or until lightly browned. Cool; cut into squares.

Coconut Chocolate Chunk Blondies

Brownies = chocolate. At least that is the assumption that I have been going off of for my entire life. I have always figured that if I am going to make a brownie it's going to be a chocolate brownie, typically with as much chocolate as possible. So, in an effort to begin working on my Top 100 list I decided to bite the bullet and bake a blondie. For those of you who are in the dark as I was, a blondie is basically a brownie without the cocoa powder. It has a butter and sugar base so it tastes more like toffee. Of course, as you can see from my photo that chocolate can be added to the blondie if you can't live without it.

I enjoyed the detour from a chocolate based brownie. And yes, it took me summoning up all of my will power to not eat the whole pan in one day! Enjoy!

Coconut Chocolate Chunk Blondies
Source: Southern Food and Brown Eyed Baker

1 cup flour
1/8 teaspoon salt
4 ounces unsalted butter, melted and cooled to room temperature
1 cup light brown sugar, packed
1 large egg
1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup flaked coconut
1 cup chocolate chunks or chips

--Optional Topping--
1 cup semisweet or bittersweet chocolate chips
1 teaspoon butter or shortening


Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour an 8 or 9 inch square baking pan.

Combine the flour and salt; set aside.

Stir together the melted butter and brown sugar until smooth; beat in egg and vanilla extract until well blended.

Slowly beat in the flour mixture until blended, then stir in the coconut and chocolate chunks.

Scrape the batter into the prepared pan and smooth even with a rubber spatula. Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until set in the center but still soft. Do not overbake.

For the optional topping: Combine the chocolate chips and butter in a small bowl and microwave in 30 second intervals until melted and smooth. Let the bars cool slightly before drizzling with chocolate. Cool completely before cutting them into bars.