Lemon Bars

We have a tried and true lemon bar recipe in our house, why try another? Oh because maybe whenever I spotted this recipe over at Lick the Bowl Good, I knew I would have a new house favorite on my hands. What really got my attention was how thick the bars were, which I loved. I remembered the old recipe we used having pretty thin bars; delicious, but thin. I wanted thick, gooey, creamy, buttery, lemon-tastic bars!

Besides the juicing of the lemons, this recipe is sooo easy. Juicing does take some time, but the result is worth it. And I'm pretty sure a lot of people can juice better than I can. Zesting is fun and easy, though=) I'm insanely in love with my zester. I went so long without one and I'm so happy to finally have one in my life! Okay, enough about my zester love affair.

I know that lemon is the obvious star of lemon bars, but there needs to be given an M.I.P. award for this recipe. The buttery thick shortbread base is beyond phenomenal! These bars definitely delivered. I brought them into school and got rave reviews. I also ended up eating a number that need not be spoken out loud amount of bars by myself...

Lemon Bars
adapted from Lick the Bowl Good
Makes 24ish bars

For the crust:

• 3/4 lb. unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 3 cup flour
• 1/4 tsp. kosher salt

For the filling:

• 6 large eggs, at room temperature
• 3 cups granulated sugar
• 2 Tbsp. finely grated lemon zest
• 1 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
• 1 cup flour
• Confectioners' sugar, for dusting

Butter a 9 x 13 x 2" baking pan, then line the bottom and sides of the pan with parchment paper.


For the crust: Cream the butter and sugar until light in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment.
Combine the flour and salt and, with the mixer on low, add to the butter mixture until just mixed.
Dump the dough onto a well-floured board and gather into a ball. Flatten the dough with floured hands and press it into the bottom of prepared pan.
Chill the pan while the oven preheats to 350° F.
Bake the crust for 15 to 20 minutes, until very lightly browned. Let cool on a wire rack. Leave the oven on.

For the filling: Whisk together the eggs, sugar, lemon and lime zest, lemon and lime juice, and flour.
Pour over the crust and bake for 35-45 minutes, until filling is set.
Let cool to room temperature. Cut into squares or triangles and dust with confectioners' sugar.

My kitties! Millie and Howie, respectively. They are so happy it's getting warm out because then they can sit in front of our door and watch the world outside. They are they cutest!

7-layers Bar (minus 1 layer)

Snow day! Woohoo! We've had some delays, and that only means one thing: baking day! Duhhhh. I had a ton of items on my "to-bake" list. But what do I go and do, I bake something not even on it! Oh well, it was something I've wanted to try. These were so fun to make too=)


I had a bunch of random bags of chips I had started but never finished using, so I figured this was a good way to get rid of them. And, we FINALLY had some sweetened condensed milk in the house and I was dying to use it. I LOVE sweetened condensed milk!


Anyway, as I started making this beginning with layer one, I didn't think the graham cracker base was enough to fill a 13 x 9 pan. It looked like just enough for a square 8 x 8 pan. So that's what I used. Which meant that by decreasing the surface area I would have a lot more of my filling items squeezed into a smaller space. Problem? I think not. Just more to love in each bite!


I omitted the coconut. Hence the title. And I love all the flavors going on in this. Nuts, Honestly this bars were mmm, mmm, good! There were super rich and ooey gooey! I'm so glad I made them. They're something I won't make often because of how decadent they are, but when I do it will be a great treat to have!


(The recipe I'm posting is including all seven layers.)


7-Layers Bars
from Brown Eyed Baker

1 cup sweetened flaked coconut
8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter
9 graham crackers (5 ounces), crushed
1 cup finely chopped walnuts
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
½ cup white chocolate chips
½ cup butterscotch chips
1 (14-ounce) can sweetened condensed milk

1. Adjust an oven rack to the lower-middle position and preheat to 350°F. Spray a 9×13-inch baking pan with non-stick spray. Line the pan with two overlapping pieces of foil or parchment paper, leaving overhang to act as handles for lifting the bars out of the pan. Spray with non-stick spray.

2. Spread the coconut on a baking sheet and bake until the outer flakes just begin to brown, about 4 minutes. (Keep a close eye on it – coconut can go from slightly browned to burnt in a matter of seconds.) Set aside.

3. Melt the butter and combine with graham cracker crumbs in a small bowl. Toss with your fingers until the butter is evenly distributed. Press the crumbs evenly onto the bottom of the prepared pan.

4. In order, sprinkle the walnuts, chocolate chips, white chocolate chips, butterscotch chips, and coconut over the graham crumbs. Pour the condensed milk evenly over the entire dish.

5. Bake until the top is golden brown, about 25 minutes. Cool in the pan on a wire rack to room temperature, about 2 hours.

6. Remove the bars from the pan using the foil or parchment handles and transfer to a cutting board. Using a sharp knife or bench cutter, cut into 2 by 3-inch bars.

No-Bake Peanut Butter Cups, or Bars

These honestly taste like the real deal. The peanut butter part tastes EXACTLY like the filling of a Reese's peanut better cup. I thought I would be creative and use white chocolate instead of regular, but by then adding some marshmallow fluff to it, I just got a really stiff mixture that was unspreadable. Not cool. So I ended up molding it on like fondant. But worse. It looked pretty bad, but tasted beautiful. It was dead on. I think regular chocolate would have been fabulous too, though I am partial to white. And it would have spread nicer.


So for those of you who love Reese's cups and want to try and make them yourself, look no further! You could make them into cups by using cupcake liners to get the ridges like a real Reese's cup. But I just thought this method was easier and you got the same great taste.



No-Bake Chocolate Peanut Butter Bars
found at The Sweetest Kitchen
Makes 12-16 squares, depending on how you want to cut it

3/4 cups graham cracker crumbs
1 3/4 cups powdered sugar
3/4 cups creamy peanut butter
1 stick unsalted butter, melted
6oz semisweet chocolate, chopped (I used white chocolate)
2 teaspoons Nutella (or peanut butter) (I used marshmallow fluff)

In a large mixing bowl, combine graham cracker crumbs, powdered sugar, peanut butter and butter and beat until combined. Press into a parchment-lined 8×8-inch pan, making sure top is smooth and level.

Melt chocolate and Nutella in a double boiler. Pour chocolate over peanut butter layer and spread out evenly (I tilted the pan around to get a smooth top, instead of spreading it out with a knife). Place pan in refrigerator just until chocolate is set and then cut into bars. Best served at room temperature.

Pumpkin Bars

Let Pumpkin Week officially start here at Sherry Starts Cooking!

I have already professed my love for the blog Cassie Craves, but let me do it again! Cassie not only has some of the best and easiest dinner ideas, but some really great desserts. And when I saw the title of the recipe was "The Best Pumpkin Bars Ever", I knew she had to be telling the truth.


We have a tried and tested pumpkin bar recipe in our family, but I've honestly never liked it. They were always very gooey and too dense. I was never blown away by the cream cheese frosting either. When I saw this recipe described as "light and fluffy, but moist", I knew that's what I wanted. And that's what I got! They are the perfect ratio of light and fluffy to moist. I could not stop eating these!


I made this recipe wile watching "The Shining" with my mom. Anyone ever see it? I came in near the end, like where the wife reads "All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy". A pretty good spot to jump in, I'd say. One of my favorite things about Halloween time is scary movies. I haven't watched many yet, but I'd really like to. I am a HUGE fan of the Scream movies. I What You Did Last Summer. I recommend that movie as well.

What are some of your favorite scary movies?

Cassie's Best Pumpkin Bars Ever
from Cassie Craves

Ingredients:

For the bars:

4 large eggs
2 cups sugar
1 cup butter, melted
1 cup canned pumpkin
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

For the frosting:

8 ounces cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup butter, softened
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 cups powdered sugar
1/2 cup chopped pecans (I didn't use these because then I knew my sister wouldn't try them, but I suggest it to you!)

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. In a large mixing bowl of an electric mixer, beat the eggs well, add in the sugar and butter and mix well. Add the pumpkin and vanilla and mix. Add the flour and spices and mix well. Spread in a 9 x 13-inch greased pan.

3. Bake for 25-35 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Let cool.

4. To make frosting, in a small bowl, beat cream cheese, butter, vanilla and powdered sugar until just mixed. Stir in pecans. When the brownies are cool, frost. Cut into squares and serve.

Lemon Butter Bars

I can't believe I haven't made any lemony treats yet this summer! It's absurd. And with only one lemon on hand, I was still able to make the most recognizable lemon treat out there! This classic lemon bar recipe is as perfect as it gets. It has a soft and thick shortbread crust, then a creamy and buttery lemony filling. It's all topped with a supper thin powdered sugar top crust.


I thought of making this quite randomly and, while still in a quirky frame of mind, I decided to make these in a round pan. I also cut them into very small squares, that way you can eat a lot more and not feel as guilty hehe.


Cutting lemon bars is always a messy thing. But I was most frustrated with my camera. It's not a bad camera actually, it's pretty nice. Nowhere near professional, but not the "facebook pics only" type. But I seriously have so many issues with it. It gives me grief. I can't take close up shots. Ever. I don;t know why this is, but it always always comes out blurry if I try. And zooming in? Don't get me started. It just gets blurrier.


These took little time to put together. Almost every single recipe in this book is easy effort and fairly fast. I really take this fabulous book for granted, but I have been trying to use it more.

Lemon Butter Bars
from Land O Lakes: Treasury of Country Recipes

Crust:
1 1/3 c. ap flour1/4 c. sugar
1/2 c. softened butter

Filling:
3/4 c. sugar
2 eggs
2 tbsp. ap flour
1/4 tsp. baking powder3 tbsp. lemon juice

powdered sugar

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350.
In a small bowl, combine crust ingredients. Beat at low speed, scraping down sides of the bowl, until mixture is crumbly (2 to 3 mins.) Press onto bottom of an 8" baking pan. Bake for 15 to 20 mins, or until edges are lightly browned.

Meanwhile, combine filling ingredients in a small mixer bowl. Beat on low, scraping down sides of the bowl, until well mixed. Pour filling over hot crust. Continue baking for 18 to 20 mins, or until filling is set. Sprinkle generously with powdered sugar. Let cool slightly.

S'mores Bars!

Here it is. The third and final item for my honors chorus bake sale! I have to put it out there right away: these were the best of the three. By miles. And miles and miles. I loved these.

I have proclaimed many times that I am not a chocolate fan. But when taken in moderation, and paired with other equally sized ingredients, it can be tolerable, if not yumm-o. And thus my weakness for the concept of s'mores is justified. I adored the s'mores cupcakes from Martha Stewart and these are right up there with them.

These were an easy item for a bake sale as they were in bar form and so quick to make. However, they did get a tad melty as it was a hot weekend here in Pittsburgh. I would say the are perfect for anytime of the year. Like now, as I am writing this. I weant them.

These were so delicious and the perfect (and I mea

n perfect ) way to satisfy your sweet tooth. Assembling them was very fun because it was just like making a mega s'more!

Laying down the graham cracker base

Adding in the lovely chocolate layer

Spreading on the fluffy gooey marshmallow layer

Topping it off with the final graham cracker layer

S'more Cookie Bars
from Baked Perfection

1/2 cup butter, room temperature
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup sugar
1 large egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/3 cups all purpose flour
3/4 cup graham cracker crumbs (approximately 7 full graham crackers)
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
2 super-sized (5 oz.) dark chocolate bars (e.g. Hershey’s)
1 1/2 cups marshmallow creme/fluff (not melted marshmallows)

Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease an 8-inch square baking pan.

In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar until light. Beat in egg and vanilla.

In a small bowl, whisk together flour, graham cracker crumbs, baking powder and salt. Add to butter mixture and mix at a low speed until combined.

Divide dough in half and press half of dough into an even layer on the bottom of the prepared pan.

Place chocolate bars over dough.

Spread marshmallow fluff evenly over the chocolate layer.

Place remaining dough in a single layer on top of the fluff.

Bake for 30 to 35 minutes, until lightly browned. Cool completely before cutting into bars

Sugar Cookie Bars

Okay this is a sad excuse of a post, but it's the only kind of baking I had time for due to my hectic life recently.


This month sucked in terms of baking. I had to skip this month's MSC, which I was mega looking forward to. (Don't worry. I'll be making it as soon as I get the chance!)

This recipe is nothing I'm too proud of. I just had a major sweet tooth one night and needed a fast fix. I just dumped it in a pan and iced it as I ate it! That explains why the big cookie remained un-iced in the pictures.

I'm not real proud of this post or the pictures or anything, but I feel like I need to show something of what I did with myself in March!

Sugar Cookie Bars
from The Repressed Pastry Chef

1 cup butter; room temp.
2 cups sugar
4 eggs
2 tsp vanilla
5 cups flour
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp soda

Cream butter and sugar until fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, mixing after each egg. Add vanilla & mix well. In a separate bowl combine flour, salt & soda & stir with a whisk to combine. Add to wet mixture and mix just until combined. Spread on a greased baking sheet (use a 13 x 18 pan). Bake at 375 degrees for 10-15 min, until light golden brown or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool completely and frost.

Frosting
1/2 cup butter; room temp
1/2 cup shortening
1 tsp vanilla
pinch of salt
4 cups powdered sugar
5 Tbsp milk
food coloring (if desired)

For frosting combine butter and shortening until smooth and creamy. Add vanilla and salt. Add powdered sugar in 1-2 cup increments until combined, then add milk & mix until smooth and spreading consistency. Spread over cooled cookie, then cut into bars.

Cranberry Shortbread Bars

Since I had leftover cranberries I had the joy of picking out another cranberry recipe to make. I didn't have much time for anything too elaborate as I was bringing it to a new years party for the same night, so I chose simple cranberry shortbread bars.
I will say I ate some of the cranberries as I boiled them because they are just that good! I thought these were actually best eaten warm-out-the-oven. They were fine room temp. but even then I put them in the microwave to enjoy warm. Served with some whipped topping it also good. It helps temper the tartness. these pretty good. Almost too simple for me though. I'll be looking forward to more cranberry recipes in the future!

Cranberry Shortbread Bars
from The Joy of Baking

Cranberry Filling:
8 ounces (2 1/4 cups) fresh cranberries
2/3 cup granulated white sugar
3 tablespoons water

Shortbread Bars:
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons cornstarch
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
1/3 cup light brown sugar
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F and place the wire oven rack in the center of the oven. Butter a 9 x 9 inch pan.

Cranberry Filling: In a medium sized saucepan, place all the ingredients. Then, over medium-high heat, cook the ingredients until boiling. Continue to boil the filling until it becomes thick and syrupy, about 5 minutes. Remove from heat and let cool while you make the shortbread.


Shortbread: In a separate bowl whisk the flour, cornstarch, and salt.
In a bowl cream the butter until smooth (about 1 minute). Add the sugar and beat until smooth (about 2 minutes). Beat in the vanilla extract. Gently stir in the flour mixture just until incorporated. You want the mixture still somewhat crumbly but mixed well.

Evenly press two-thirds of the shortbread into the bottom of the prepared pan. Then evenly spread the cranberry filling over the shortbread base, leaving a 1/4 inch border.



With the remaining shortbread dough, using your fingers, crumble it over the top of the cranberry filling. Then lightly press the dough into the filling.

Bake in the preheated oven for about 30 minutes, or until golden brown on top. Remove from oven, place on a wire rack, and while still hot, cut into 16 squares. Allow to cool completely in pan.

Gingerbread Squares

I'm a member of the National Honor Society (NHS) at my school. And our biggest fundraiser of the year is definitely the Turkey Bingo. It's a huge bingo where if you're the only one to win a bingo for that round and don't have to share your prize, you get a turkey. Otherwise you get money. This also means we haven't bought our turkey yet because my mom is hoping she'll win.

As a member of NHS you have to do a ton of stuff for this bingo; make a $50 dollar basket for the Chinese auction, buy a door prize, help set-up, work from 6-10, help clean-up, cut and staple bingo cards, sell tickets, and bring a baked goodie. All of which are pretty annoying, except for the last one. At one of our meetings they asked us right on the spot what we were going to bring. What? No googling? No looking at my favorite blogs for inspration? No checking our recipe bucket in the kitchen? Nope.

So I opted to sign up last in order give myself more time to think. Bad idea. I hadn't realized but only a certain number of people could sign up for each dessert category. When I got there here's what I saw. Brownines= full. Cakes= full. Pies= full. Cookies= full. Bread= still open! I wasn't super excited for bread, though. Pumpkin, banana, and lemon had all already been taken so there wasn't a ton of choices left. And then it came to me. Gingerbread! How appropriately seasonal, too.

I did, however, bend the rules. I made gingerbread, but I cut it into bars. Whatever, it's the same thing. It came together so fast! And it turned out so perfect! I used the recommended time and it cooked evenly.


from Pie Town
Gingerbread Squares:
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 1/2 cup molasses
- 1/4 cup melted butter
- 2 eggs
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 2 cups flour
- 1 tsp ground ginger
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp cinnamon
- 1/4 tsp ground cloves
- generous 1/4 tsp salt

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees; line a 13 x 9 inch pan with parchment.
Whisk together dry ingredients in small bowl, minus the sugar. In larger bowl, whisk together butter, sugar, molasses, eggs, and vanilla. Add dry ingredients to wet, mix until combined, then pour into prepared pan. Bake until toothpick is clean, about 40 minutes.
Watch it before then, though. On another blog they said it was done a bit before then.
Cool in pan for 45 minutes, then spread on icing.


Icing:
4 cups powdered sugar
1/4 cup milk
1/4 cup softened butter
1 tsp orange peel ( I prefer it from the jar actually. It's better texture wise and tastewise.)

Combine all ingredients in a bowl. Spread over gingerbread when it's completely cool. Add festive sprinkles if you like.

Unfortunately, I couldn't try any=((. But, I'll probably end up buying it at the bingo just so I can tell you how it tastes! I'll post it soon.

Added later on...: I tried them at the bingo and they were absolutely perfect! They were exactly as I could have hoped or imagined. They were dense and chewy with a dominant flavor. The icing, though from a different recipe, is my dad's favorite and well worth it. That orange peel adds so much dimension to it. It's also fabulous because there's a wonderful 1/4 inch layer of frosting that pairs so beautifully with the gingerbread... ahh. Gingerbread at its perfection. Look no further for a better recipe!

Blueberry Crumble Bars!!

So I confess I've never actually really truly eaten blueberries before. Weird, I know. But when I saw this recipe, I was dying to try it. I was not disappointed.

I changed the recipe slightly by using a 8 x 8 pyrex pan (instead of the 9 x 13 recommended). Because of this, I probably had a thicker bottom than the original recipe called for. I did leave out about 1/4 of the crumble crust before baking because my pan was much smaller. Also, the recipe says to use the zest and juice of a whole lemon, but oddly I only had half a lemon available. We had used up all our lemons the night before with a fish dinner even though I had planned to use those lemons in this recipe for awhile now. It wasn't noticeable at all.


This was really simple to make and it produced amazing results. I mean AMAZING! Just put down your crust, slab on the blueberries, and sprinkle over the topping. Then pop it in the oven and wait. And although it says to eat the bars chilled, I just had to try it warm. Eaten warm, it has a cobbler taste to it. Not bad at all. But chilled, well then the true flavors come out and you're blown away! I did add some whipped cream to mine. It covers the flavors a bit but if you eat them separately, like one then the other, then it's "money".


Blueberry Crumble Bars
from Smitten Kitchen

1 cup white sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup cold unsalted butter (2 sticks or 8 ounces)
1 egg
1/4 teaspoon salt
Zest and juice of one lemon
4 cups fresh blueberries
1/2 cup white sugar
4 teaspoons cornstarch

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Grease a 9×13 inch pan.

2. In a medium bowl, stir together 1 cup sugar, 3 cups flour, and baking powder. Mix in salt and lemon zest. Use a fork or pastry cutter to blend in the butter and egg. Dough will be crumbly. Pat half of dough into the prepared pan.

3. In another bowl, stir together the sugar, cornstarch and lemon juice. Gently mix in the blueberries. Sprinkle the blueberry mixture evenly over the crust. Crumble remaining dough over the berry layer.

4. Bake in preheated oven for 45 minutes, or until top is slightly brown. (This took an extra 10 to 15 minutes in my oven.) Cool completely before cutting into squares.